📦 Inventory Management API

A robust and scalable Inventory Management API built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. This API provides secure authentication, role-based access control, product management, image uploads, email notifications, and advanced querying capabilities (search, filtering, sorting and pagination).

🚀 Live Features • 🔐 JWT Authentication & Authorization • 👥 Role-Based Access Control (Admin, Storekeeper, Salesperson) • 📦 Full Product Management (CRUD) • 🖼 Image Upload with Cloudinary • 📧 Email Notifications using Nodemailer • 🔍 Search (Regex-based) • 🎯 Filtering (Price range, category, etc.) • 🔃 Sorting (Ascending & Descending) • 📄 Pagination • 🎛 Field Selection • ⚙️ Centralized Error Handling • 🌱 Environment Variables Configuration

🧠 Tech Stack • Backend: Node.js, Express.js • Database: MongoDB (Mongoose) • Authentication: JSON Web Token (JWT) • File Upload: Multer • Cloud Storage: Cloudinary • Email Service: Nodemailer (Gmail App Password)

📁 Project Structure inventory-api/ │ ├── config/ # Database configuration ├── controllers/ # Route logic ├── middleware/ # Auth & error handling ├── models/ # Mongoose schemas ├── routes/ # API routes ├── services/ # Helper functions (cloudinary, emailService) │ ├── .env # Environment variables ├── .gitignore ├── index.js # Entry point └── README.md

⚙️ Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/Yel-lowBaby/Inventory-Manager-API.git cd inventory-api

2. Install dependencies npm install

3. Create .env file PORT=1004 MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

EMAIL_USER=your_email@gmail.com EMAIL_PASS=your_app_password

4. Run the server npm run dev

Server runs on: http://localhost:1004

🔐 Authentication

All protected routes require a Bearer token: Authorization: Bearer <your_token>

📦 API Endpoints

🔹 Auth Routes Register User: POST /api/auth/register

Login User: POST /api/auth/login

🔹 Product Routes Create Product: POST /api/products • Requires authentication • Supports image upload (form-data)

Get Products GET /api/products

Supports: /api/products?name=laptop /api/products?price[gte]=40000 /api/products?price[lte]=100000 /api/products?sort=price /api/products?sort=-price /api/products?page=1&limit=5 /api/products?fields=name,price

Update Product PUT /api/products/:id • Use raw JSON

Delete Product DELETE /api/products/:id

🧪 Postman Documentation

A complete Postman collection is included in this repository: Inventory Manager API.postman_collection.json

Import into Postman to test all endpoints easily.

🧠 Key Learnings • Handling authentication with JWT • Implementing role-based authorization • Managing file uploads with Multer & Cloudinary • Sending automated emails with Nodemailer • Building advanced query systems (search, filter, sort, pagination) • Structuring scalable backend applications • Debugging real-world backend issues

⚠️ Important Notes • Ensure all numeric fields (price, quantity) are stored as numbers • Use JSON body for updates (not form-data unless uploading files) • Keep .env file private and never commit it

🚀 Future Improvements • 📊 Sales tracking & analytics • 📉 Stock alerts & notifications • 🧾 Order management system • 🌐 Frontend integration (React / Next.js)

👨‍💻 Author Olayinka Adedapo Abioye