Task Management Backend (Jira-Style)

A production-ready backend system inspired by Jira, built to demonstrate real-world backend engineering concepts such as authentication, authorization, pagination, validation, and soft deletion.

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Features

Authentication & Authorization

• JWT-based user authentication (Register / Login)
• Role-based and resource-based authorization
• Secure password hashing using bcrypt

Project Management

• Create, view, and delete projects
• Project ownership & member access control
• Soft delete for safe project removal

Task Management

• Create tasks within projects
• Assign tasks to users
• Update task status (todo → in-progress → done)
• Delete tasks using soft delete
• Filter tasks by status & priority

Backend Engineering Concepts

• RESTful API design
• Pagination & filtering
• Input validation (express-validator)
• Centralized error handling
• Clean, modular ES-module architecture

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Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js (ES Modules)
• Database: MongoDB (Mongoose)
• Authentication: JWT, bcrypt
• Validation: express-validator
• Tools: Postman, Nodemon
• Architecture: MVC-style modular structure

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System Architecture

Client (Postman / Frontend)
|
v
Express API (Auth, Projects, Tasks)
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v
MongoDB

• Stateless backend using JWT
• Authorization handled via middleware
• Soft deletes to prevent accidental data loss

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Project Structure

src/
├── controllers/  
├── models/  
├── routes/  
├── middleware/   
├── validators/  
├── config/    
└── app.js  

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API Endpoints

Authentication

POST /api/auth/register
POST /api/auth/login

Projects

POST /api/projects
GET /api/projects?page=1&limit=5
DELETE /api/projects/:projectId (soft delete)

Tasks

POST /api/projects/:projectId/tasks
GET /api/projects/:projectId/tasks?page=1&limit=5
PATCH /api/tasks/:taskId/status
DELETE /api/tasks/:taskId (soft delete)

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API Testing

• All APIs tested end-to-end using Postman
• Verified authentication, authorization, pagination, filters, and soft delete behavior

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Soft Delete Strategy

Instead of permanently deleting records:

• isDeleted: true flag is used
• Deleted records are excluded from queries
• Prevents accidental data loss
• Supports recovery and auditing

Why soft delete?
To preserve data integrity and meet real-world business requirements.

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Future Improvements

• Centralized logging

• Rate limiting on authentication endpoints

• Admin-level access control

• Unit and integration tests

Key Learnings

• Designing secure and scalable REST APIs

• Implementing authorization beyond basic authentication

• Handling real-world backend concerns like pagination and soft delete

• Structuring a maintainable backend codebase