📝 Blog Ninja — A Minimalist, Secure Blogging Platform

Blog Ninja is a sleek, full-stack blogging platform built using the PERN stack (PostgreSQL, Express, React, Node.js)—but currently leverages EJS for simple server-side rendering. It allows user authentication (local & Google OAuth), blog creation and management, and displays random motivational quotes to boost creativity while writing.

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🚀 Features

• 🔐 User Authentication — Secure login/signup using Local Strategy and Google OAuth via Passport.js
• 📝 Blog CRUD — Create, view, edit, and delete blog posts
• 💬 Quotes — Random quotes injected from quotesy to inspire writing
• 💾 Sessions — Secure session management using PostgreSQL store
• 🖤 Clean UI — Minimal, modern black-and-white EJS-based layout
• 📑 API Docs — Built-in /documentation route for exploring API endpoints

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📦 Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Frontend: EJS templates
• Authentication: Passport.js (Local + Google OAuth 2.0)
• Security: bcrypt, express-session
• Extras: quotesy, dotenv, connect-pg-simple

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📂 Project Structure

blog-ninja/
├── public/           # Static files (CSS, images)
├── views/            # EJS templates (home, compose, login, etc.)
├── auth.js           # Authentication logic
├── index.js          # Blog CRUD routes
├── server.js         # Entry point for the backend API
├── .env              # Environment variables
├── package.json
└── README.md

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🛠️ Getting Started

Follow these steps to run the project locally:

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/blog-ninja.git
cd blog-ninja

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Set Up Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory and add the following:

PostgreSQL Config
PG_USER=your_postgres_username
PG_HOST=localhost
PG_DATABASE=your_database_name
PG_PASSWORD=your_postgres_password
PG_PORT=5432

Session Secret
SESSION_SECRET=your_secret_key_here

Google OAuth Credentials

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_google_client_id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_google_client_secret

⚠️ Make sure PostgreSQL is installed and running on your system, and that your database exists.

4. Start the Server

node index.js
node server.js(for backend api)

By default, the app will run at: http://localhost:3001

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✅ TODOs

• Add support for Markdown in blog posts
• Add user profile pages
• Add post search & category filters
• Integrate React frontend (SPA) in v2
• Add Swagger or ReDoc-based API docs

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📸 Screenshots

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📜 License

MIT License — Feel free to fork, modify, and use this project however you like.

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💬 Want to Contribute?

Pull requests are welcome! For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

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✨ Made with coffee, code, and creativity.