Social-API REST

A RESTful backend API built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. This API powers a social media application with users, posts, comments, replies, and private messaging.

Overview

Social-API REST is a scalable and secure REST API designed to handle the core features of a social platform. It follows best practices in API design, authentication, data modeling, and middleware usage.

The API is frontend-agnostic and can be consumed by any client (React, Flutter, mobile apps, etc.).

Key Features

User Management

• Secure registration and login with JWT
• Password hashing with bcrypt
• Profile updates

Posts

• Create, read, update, delete posts
• Comments and threaded replies
• Likes system (optional)

Messaging

• Send private messages
• Real-time notifications with Socket.io
• Mark messages as read
• Count unread messages
• Update and delete messages

Notifications

• Track user notifications
• Mark notifications as read

Security

• JWT authentication
• Middleware for protected routes
• Input validation
• Environment variables for sensitive data

Additional Features

• Modular project structure
• Clean code with controllers, middleware, and routes
• Ready for deployment (Heroku, Render, Railway, etc.)

Tech Stack

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Mongoose
• JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
• bcrypt
• dotenv
• cors

Project Structure

backend/
├── config/
│   └── db.js                         # MongoDB connection
│
├── controllers/
│   ├── auth.controller.js            # Authentication logic
│   ├── user.controller.js            # User-related actions
│   ├── post.controller.js            # Posts logic
│   ├── notification.controller.js    # Notification logic
│   ├── message.controller.js         # Messaging logic
│
├── middleware/
│   ├── auth.middleware.js            # JWT authentication
│   ├── upload.middleware.js          # Config upload file
│
├── models/
│   ├── user.model.js                 # user shema
│   ├── notification.model.js         # notification shema
│   ├── message.model.js              # message shema
│
├── routes/
│   ├── auth.routes.js
│   ├── notification.routes.js
│   ├── post.routes.js
│
├── utils/
│   └──createNotification.js
│
├── server.js                         # App entry point
├── package.json
└── .env

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• MongoDB (local instance or MongoDB Atlas)

Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/fetrafanevacontent-api-backend.git
   cd backend
   

2. Install dependencies:

   cd backend
   npm install
   

3. Configure environment variables:

• Create .env in /server:

  PORT=your_port
  
  MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_URI
  
  JWT_SECRET=your_secure_jwt_secret
  

4. Start the application:

   npm run server (with nodemon)
   

API Endpoints

Authentication

Method	Endpoint	Description	Authentication Required
POST	/api/auth/register	Register a new user	No
POST	/api/auth/login	User login	No
GET	/api/auth/logout	User logout	yes

Posts

Method	Endpoint	Description	Authentication Required
POST	/api/post	Create post	yes
GET	/api/post	Get all post	yes
PUT	/api/post/:id	Update post	yes
DELETE	/api/auth/:id	Delete post	yes

Comments & Replies

Method	Endpoint	Description	Authentication Required
POST	/api/post/:id/comment	Get message	yes
POST	/api/post/:postId/comment/:commentId/reply	Reply to comment	yes
PATCH	/api/post/:postId/comment/:commentId/reply/:replyId	Uptdate reply	yes
DELETE	/api/post/:postId/comment/:commentId/reply/:replyId	Delete reply	yes

Messages

Method	Endpoint	Description	Authentication Required
POST	/api/message/	Send message	yes
GET	/api/message/inbox	Comment a post	yes
GET	/api/message/unread/count	Count unread message	yes
GET	/api/message/conversations	GET all conversations	yes
GET	/api/message/conversation/:userId	Get users conversation	yes
PATCH	/api/message/conversations/:userId/read	Mark conversation as read	yes
PATCH	/api/message/:id/read	Mark message as read	yes
PUT	/api/message/:id	Update message	yes
DELETE	/api/message/:id	Delete message	yes

Notification

Method	Endpoint	Description	Authentication Required
GET	/api/notification/	Get notification	yes
PATCH	/api/notification/:id/read	Mark notiication as read	yes

Security Practices

• Passwords hashed with bcrypt
• JWT authentication with middleware
• Protected routes for sensitive actions
• Input validation on backend
• Environment variables for sensitive keys
• CORS configuration for frontend only

Testing

• Use Postman or Insomnia to test endpoints
• Use Postman or Insomnia to test endpoints

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

If this project helps you, consider starring the repository!