Backend Foundation

Backend Foundation is my personal backend learning repository where I document and practice core backend development concepts by building real-world projects using Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB. This repository tracks my journey of learning server-side development, authentication, APIs, database integration, and scalable backend architecture.

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Terminal-Based Project Setup

Follow these terminal commands to set up the initial backend project structure from scratch.

Step 1: Create the project folder and move into it

mkdir backend-foundation && \
cd backend-foundation

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Step 2: Initialize the Node.js project and generate package.json

npm init

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Step 3: Install Prettier as a development dependency

npm install --save-dev --save-exact prettier

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Step 4: Create the complete project folder structure in a single command

mkdir public src && \
mkdir public/images && \
cd src && \
mkdir controllers models routes middlewares utils db validators && \
touch app.js index.js && \
touch controllers/.gitkeep models/.gitkeep routes/.gitkeep middlewares/.gitkeep utils/.gitkeep db/.gitkeep validators/.gitkeep && \
cd .. && \
touch public/images/.gitkeep .env .gitignore .prettierrc .prettierignore

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Step 5: Configure .gitignore

node_modules/
.env
.vscode/
.DS_Store
dist/

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Step 6: Configure .prettierrc

{
  "tabWidth": 2,
  "useTabs": false,
  "semi": true,
  "singleQuote": false,
  "trailingComma": "all",
  "bracketSpacing": true,
  "arrowParens": "always"
}

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Step 7: Configure .prettierignore

node_modules
dist
.env
package-lock.json

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Project Structure

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Installing Required Dependencies

Install dotenv to manage environment variables from a .env file.

npm i dotenv

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Install nodemon to automatically restart the server when file changes are detected.

npm i nodemon

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Installs Express framework for building backend APIs and handling routes.

npm i express

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Enables CORS for handling cross-origin requests.

npm i cors

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Installs Mongoose for interacting with MongoDB using schemas and models.

npm i mongoose

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Installs bcrypt for hashing and securing user passwords.

npm i bcrypt

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Installs JSON Web Token for authentication and secure token generation.

npm i jsonwebtoken

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Provides cryptographic functionality for hashing, encryption, and secure token generation.

npm i crypto

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Installs Nodemailer for sending emails from the application.

npm i nodemailer

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Installs Mailgen for generating beautiful email templates.

npm i mailgen

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Installs express-validator for validating and sanitizing incoming request data.

npm i express-validator

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Installs cookie-parser for parsing cookies from incoming client requests.

npm i cookie-parser

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Installs Resend for handling and sending transactional emails.

npm install resend

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API Documentation

Content Type

All request bodies must use:

Content-Type: application/json

POST auth/register

Request Body:

{
  "username": "testuser",
  "email": "testuser@example.com",
  "password": "TestPass123"
}

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POST auth/verify-email

Verify a user's email address using the verification token and email received through the URL parameters

Request Body:

{
  "verificationToken:": "EMAIL_VERIFICATION_TOKEN"
}

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POST auth/resend-email-verification

Send a new email verification link by using the expired token and email received through the URL parameters when the previous verification token has expired. Request Body:

{
  "expiredToken": "EXPIRED_TOKEN",
  "email": "testuser@example.com"
}

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POST /auth/login

Request Body:

{
  "username": "testuser",
  "email": "testuser@example.com",
  "password": "TestPass123"
}

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POST /auth/forgot-password

Request Body:

{
  "email": "testuser@example.com"
}

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POST /auth/reset-password

Reset the user's password using the reset token received via email.
Request Body:

{
  "token": "RESET_TOKEN_FROM_EMAIL",
  "newPassword": "NewPass123"
}

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POST /auth/change-password

Protected Route:

Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

Request Body:

{
  "oldPassword": "OldPass123",
  "newPassword": "NewPass123"
}

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POST /auth/current-user

Retrieve the profile details of the currently authenticated user using the access token.
Protected Route:

Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

OR

Cookie: accessToken=<httpOnly-cookie>

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POST /healthcheck

Check whether the server is running and responding correctly.

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POST /auth/refresh-token

Request Body:

{
  "refreshToken": "your_refresh_token"
}

OR

Cookie: accessToken=<httpOnly-cookie>

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POST /auth/logout

Protected Route:

Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

OR

Cookie: accessToken=<httpOnly-cookie>