Task Tracker API

A small REST API built with Node.js and Express.js for BEM30 Lab 01 — RESTful APIs with Express.js. It exposes CRUD endpoints under /api/tasks for managing simple task records (id, title, completed). Data lives in memory on the running server — there is no database in this lab, so anything you create is lost when the server restarts.

Tech Stack

• Node.js (LTS) — JavaScript runtime
• Express.js — web framework providing routing and the middleware pipeline
• dotenv — loads variables from .env into process.env
• nodemon (dev only) — auto-restarts the server on file save

Setup

1. Clone the repo

   git clone https://github.com/illonaaddae/Lab-01---Task-Tracker-API.git

2. Move into the project folder

   cd Lab-01---Task-Tracker-API

3. Install dependencies

   npm install

4. Copy the env template

   cp .env.example .env

5. Start the server

   npm run dev    # development with auto-reload
   # or
   npm start      # plain node

The server listens on the port defined in .env (default 3000).

Project Structure

lab-01-task-tracker-api/
├── .env                   # local config (NOT committed)
├── .env.example           # template config (committed)
├── .gitignore
├── package.json
├── README.md
├── server.js              # entry point — wires everything together
├── routes/
│   └── taskRoutes.js      # maps HTTP verbs+paths to controller functions
├── controllers/
│   └── taskController.js  # request validation + calls into the model
├── models/
│   └── taskModel.js       # in-memory tasks array + data-access helpers
├── middleware/
│   ├── logger.js          # custom request logger
│   ├── notFound.js        # 404 catch-all
│   └── errorHandler.js    # global error handler (4-arg)
└── utils/
    └── ApiError.js        # custom Error subclass that carries an HTTP status

API Endpoints

Base path: /api/tasks

Method	Path	Body	Success	Errors
GET	/api/tasks	—	200 array	—
GET	/api/tasks/:id	—	200 task	400 invalid id · 404 not found
POST	/api/tasks	{ title, completed? }	201 task	400 invalid body
PUT	/api/tasks/:id	{ title?, completed? }	200 task	400 invalid id/body · 404 not found
DELETE	/api/tasks/:id	—	204 no body	400 invalid id · 404 not found

Plus a healthcheck:

Method	Path	Returns
GET	/health	200 { "status": "ok" }

Example Requests

# Healthcheck
curl -i http://localhost:3000/health

# List tasks
curl -i http://localhost:3000/api/tasks

# Create a task
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/tasks \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Learn Express"}'

# Get one task
curl -i http://localhost:3000/api/tasks/1

# Update a task
curl -i -X PUT http://localhost:3000/api/tasks/1 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"completed":true}'

# Delete a task
curl -i -X DELETE http://localhost:3000/api/tasks/1

Error Format

Every error response uses a single JSON envelope:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Task not found",
    "status": 404
  }
}

DELETE success responses return 204 No Content with no body — this is the REST convention for successful deletes.

Notes

Tasks are kept in an in-memory array inside models/taskModel.js. Restarting the server (manually or via nodemon) clears all tasks and resets the id counter. Adding real persistence (SQLite, MongoDB, Postgres) is out of scope for this lab and will be covered in a later module.