CSTech Infosolutions — MERN Stack Admin Dashboard

A full-stack admin application built with MongoDB, Express.js, React.js (Vite), and Node.js — submitted as part of the CSTech Infosolutions Full Stack Development Internship Machine Test.

Features

• Admin authentication with JWT (7-day expiry), bcrypt password hashing, protected routes
• Agent management — create and view agents with name, email, mobile (country code), password
• CSV / XLSX / XLS upload — validates file type, validates columns, distributes rows equally among 5 agents
• Automatic list distribution — remainder items go to agents sequentially (oldest-first by creation date)
• Live stats dashboard — total agents, total list items, total upload batches
• Protected routes — all pages except /login require a valid JWT

---

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Database	MongoDB + Mongoose
Backend	Node.js + Express.js
Authentication	JSON Web Tokens (JWT) + bcryptjs
File Upload	Multer + csv-parser + xlsx
Frontend	React.js (Vite)
Styling	Tailwind CSS
Notifications	react-hot-toast
Phone Input	react-phone-input-2

---

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18 or higher
• MongoDB — local installation (mongod) or a free MongoDB Atlas cluster
• npm v9 or higher

---

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

git clone <repo-url>
cd cstch-mern-test

2. Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env

Open backend/.env and set your values:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/cstch_mern_test
JWT_SECRET=your_long_random_secret_here

Start the backend dev server:

npm run dev
# Terminal should show:
# ✅ MongoDB Connected: localhost
# 🚀 Server running on http://localhost:5000

3. Seed the Admin User

Call this once after the backend is running. It creates the admin account in MongoDB:

curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/auth/seed-admin

Or use Postman / Thunder Client: POST http://localhost:5000/api/auth/seed-admin

Expected response:

{ "message": "Admin seeded successfully.", "email": "admin@cstch.com" }

Calling it a second time safely returns 400 Admin already seeded — it is idempotent.

4. Frontend Setup

cd ../frontend
npm install
npm run dev
# Vite starts on http://localhost:5173

5. Open the app

Visit http://localhost:5173 in your browser.

---

Default Admin Credentials

Field	Value
Email	admin@cstch.com
Password	Admin@123

---

Environment Variables (backend/.env)

Variable	Description	Example
PORT	Express server port	5000
MONGO_URI	MongoDB connection string	mongodb://localhost:27017/cstch_mern_test
JWT_SECRET	Secret for signing JWTs — keep this private	Any long random string

---

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Auth Required	Description
POST	/api/auth/seed-admin	No	Create the initial admin user (run once)
POST	/api/auth/login	No	Admin login → returns JWT
GET	/api/agents	Yes	List all agents (sorted by creation date)
POST	/api/agents	Yes	Create a new agent
POST	/api/lists/upload	Yes	Upload CSV/XLSX and distribute to agents
GET	/api/lists	Yes	Get all distributed list items grouped by agent

All protected endpoints expect the header: Authorization: Bearer <token>

---

CSV / Excel File Format

The uploaded file must contain exactly these three columns (case-insensitive):

Column	Type	Required
FirstName	Text	Yes
Phone	Number / Text	Yes
Notes	Text	No (can be empty)

Example CSV:

FirstName,Phone,Notes
Alice,9876543210,Follow up Monday
Bob,8765432109,
Charlie,7654321098,High priority

---

Distribution Rules

Given N uploaded rows and 5 agents (sorted by creation date, oldest first):

• Base items per agent = Math.floor(N / 5)
• Remainder = N % 5
• First remainder agents each receive one extra item

Examples:

N	Distribution
25	[5, 5, 5, 5, 5]
27	[6, 6, 5, 5, 5]
3	[1, 1, 1, 0, 0]

---

Notes

• Exactly 5 agents must exist before uploading a CSV. The API returns a descriptive error if fewer exist.
• Uploaded files are deleted from /backend/uploads/ immediately after processing — no file accumulation.
• JWT tokens expire after 7 days. Log in again if you see a 401 Token invalid or expired error.
• The /api/auth/seed-admin route has no authentication — it is only for initial setup.

---

Project Structure

cstch-mern-test/
├── backend/
│   ├── .env                    ← Environment variables (not committed)
│   ├── .env.example            ← Template for setup
│   ├── server.js               ← Express app entry point
│   ├── config/db.js            ← MongoDB connection
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── Admin.js
│   │   ├── Agent.js
│   │   └── ListItem.js
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   └── auth.middleware.js  ← JWT verifyToken
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── auth.controller.js
│   │   ├── agent.controller.js
│   │   └── list.controller.js
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── auth.routes.js
│   │   ├── agent.routes.js
│   │   └── list.routes.js
│   └── uploads/                ← Temp storage (auto-cleared after each upload)
└── frontend/
    ├── src/
    │   ├── api/axios.js         ← Axios instance + JWT interceptor
    │   ├── context/AuthContext.jsx
    │   ├── components/
    │   │   ├── PrivateRoute.jsx
    │   │   ├── Layout.jsx
    │   │   └── Sidebar.jsx
    │   └── pages/
    │       ├── Login.jsx
    │       ├── Dashboard.jsx
    │       ├── Agents.jsx
    │       └── Lists.jsx
    ├── tailwind.config.js
    └── vite.config.js

---

Built by Dharshan S — B.E. AI & ML, Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Bengaluru (2022–2026)