PlantBase Backend

API Documentation: https://plantbase-be.onrender.com/

A Node.js and Express backend for the PlantBase application, providing RESTful APIs for user authentication, plant management, care scheduling, and tasks using Supabase Auth and PostgreSQL.

Table of Contents

• Tech Stack
• Features
• Prerequisites
• Environment Variables
• Installation
• Database Setup & Seeding
• Running the Application
• Testing
• API Documentation
• Contributing

Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js (TypeScript)
• Web Framework: Express
• Database: PostgreSQL (pg)
• Authentication: Supabase Auth
• Seeding & Migrations: Custom SQL + pg-format
• Testing: Jest + Supertest

Features

• Supabase Auth for signup/login (email/password)
• CRUD operations for plants
• Care schedule management (water, fertilise, prune tasks)
• Task completion/advancement logic
• Profile management and user-specific endpoints
• Error handling with custom handlers (404, 400, 403, 500)

Prerequisites

• Node.js v16 or higher
• PostgreSQL v12 or higher
• A Supabase project (used for authentication)

Environment Variables

Create .env.development and .env.test in the project root with the following variables:

PGDATABASE=<your_database_name>
SUPABASE_URL=<your_supabase_url>
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=<your_supabase_anon_key>
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=<your_supabase_service_role_key>

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Emiltps/plantBase-Backend.git
   cd plantBase-Backend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Development Mode

   The default scripts in package.json target production builds. For a faster development cycle, add a development script:

   "scripts": {
     "dev": "ts-node-dev --respawn --transpile-only ./bin/www.ts",
     // ... existing scripts
   }

   Then run:

   npm run dev

4. For production start:

   npm start

Database Setup & Seeding

# Create development and test databases
npm run setup-dbs

# Seed the development database with sample data
npm run seed-dev

Running the Application

# Start the server in development mode (using ts-node)
npm start

Testing

# Run unit and integration tests
npm test

API Documentation

Interactive API docs are available at:
https://plantbase-be.onrender.com/

Frontend:
https://github.com/Emiltps/plantBase-Frontend