Task Management App

A production-ready task management application built with Next.js App Router, MongoDB, and JWT authentication stored in HTTP-only cookies.

Public Access Checklist

Before handing this repository over, update the placeholders below with your actual links after deployment:

• Live URL: https://task-management-indol-phi.vercel.app/
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/SaratSatya/task_management

This repository now includes setup instructions, architecture documentation, deployment guidance, and sample API request/response documentation. The only remaining manual step is publishing the app to your hosting account and replacing the placeholders above with the real URLs.

Features

• User signup, login, logout, and current-user APIs
• JWT authentication stored in secure HTTP-only cookies
• Protected frontend routes for authenticated task management
• Per-user task CRUD backed by MongoDB and Mongoose
• Paginated task listing with status filtering and title search
• Structured JSON success and error responses
• Encrypted task descriptions at rest before persistence

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 16 App Router
• Language: TypeScript
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose
• Authentication: JWT in HTTP-only cookies
• Validation: Zod
• Styling: Tailwind CSS v4
• Password Hashing: bcryptjs

Project Structure

app/
  api/                 API route handlers
  (auth)/              login and signup pages
  dashboard/           protected task management UI
components/            shared client-side UI
lib/                   auth, env, DB, encryption, validation helpers
models/                Mongoose schemas
public/                static assets
docs/                  deployment, architecture, and API documentation

Architecture Overview

The application uses a server-first Next.js architecture:

1. UI layer: App Router pages render the landing page, auth pages, and the protected dashboard.
2. API layer: Route handlers under app/api/** expose JSON endpoints for authentication, health checks, and task CRUD.
3. Auth layer: Successful login/signup issues a signed JWT that is stored in an HTTP-only cookie.
4. Data layer: Mongoose models persist users and tasks in MongoDB.
5. Security layer: Task descriptions are encrypted before being stored, and every task query is scoped to the authenticated user.

See docs/architecture.md for the detailed architecture explanation.

Environment Variables

Create .env.local with the following values:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/task-management
JWT_SECRET=replace-with-a-secure-secret
TASK_ENCRYPTION_KEY=64-char-hex-string-for-aes-256-key

Generate a valid encryption key with:

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

Local Setup

1. Install dependencies

npm install

2. Configure environment variables

Create .env.local using the values shown above.

3. Start the development server

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

4. Run quality checks

npm run lint
npm run build

Deployment Instructions

This project is ready to deploy to Vercel and can also run on any platform that supports Next.js server deployments.

Recommended Vercel deployment

1. Push this repository to GitHub.
2. Import the repository into Vercel.
3. Set the following environment variables in the Vercel project:
   • MONGODB_URI
   • JWT_SECRET
   • TASK_ENCRYPTION_KEY
4. Redeploy after confirming the environment variables are saved.
5. Copy the generated Vercel production URL into the Live URL placeholder above.

Notes for production

• Use a hosted MongoDB instance such as MongoDB Atlas.
• Use a strong random JWT_SECRET.
• Use a 64-character hex key for TASK_ENCRYPTION_KEY.
• Secure cookies automatically enable secure: true in production.

Routes

Frontend routes

• / — marketing landing page
• /signup — sign-up form
• /login — login form
• /dashboard — protected task dashboard

Utility APIs

• GET /api/health
• GET /api/db-test

Auth APIs

• POST /api/auth/signup
• POST /api/auth/login
• POST /api/auth/logout
• GET /api/auth/me

Task APIs

• GET /api/tasks?page=1&limit=10&status=pending&search=report
• POST /api/tasks
• GET /api/tasks/:taskId
• PATCH /api/tasks/:taskId
• DELETE /api/tasks/:taskId

API Documentation

Sample requests and responses are documented in docs/api.md.

Additional Documentation

• Architecture explanation
• API request/response samples