Express-Mongo-Template

A template for node express-mongo-rest-api backend. It is secured and fast. Global error handler, JWT authorization system, request rate limiter, best security practices for express are already setup in this template.

Table of Content

• How to use
• Routes
• Models
• Controllers
• Middlewares
  • Error Handler
  • Limiter
  • Protect
• Authorization
• Contribution

How to use

There is a Use Template button on top of the repository page. You can generate your back-end by simply clicking the button.

Then create a .env file. Look at the .env.example file for help. Then run npm install to install the required packages.

Now run npm start to start the development server. You must have nodemon globally installed. to install nodemon globally, run npm i nodemon -g use sudo if you get any permission error.

Routes

Create a js file inside the routes folder and import the file in the routes/index.js. Then create express route in your js file. Have a look at the userRoutes.js as an example.

Models

Create your models inside the models folder. Go to Mongoose Documentation for more information.

Controllers

Create your controllers inside the controllers folder. If you look at the userController.js file, you'll see that I used a function called cathAsync in every controller function. This is a helper function to avoid writing try-catch block for every async function.

Middlewares

Error Handler

The Error Handler Middleware is used to capture all of the errors from any middleware or controller and send a response according to the error. Just use next(Error) from any of the middleware or controller to use it. There are a class called AppError extended from the Error class for better error responses.

So you can use the error handler like this:

// Inside any middleware or controller
const error = new AppError(errorMessage, errorCode);
next(error);

Limiter

If you want to limit the amount of request coming from any IP address you can use the limiter middleware. To use this you have to set the environment variables RATE_LIMIT_RESETS_IN (minute) and RATE_LIMIT. Now add the limiter middleware to any route you want.

Protect

This middleware is used to protect a particular route from unauthorized users. Add thr protect middleware to any route you want.

Authorization

I used JWT to do the authorization process. Send a post request to the /users/login route with the email and password and a token will be sent in both cokkies (http-only) and response json. Now, you can use Bearer token or token in your cookie to authorize the user.

Contribution

Any kind of contribution is welcome. Have a look at the CONTRIBUTING.md file for details.

Credits

Table of contents generated with markdown-toc