Lost & Found Hub

🧭 Lost & Found Hub

A lightweight full-stack app to post, discover and manage lost & found items in your community.

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🔍 Overview

Lost & Found Hub lets users register, post items they lost or found (with optional images), and browse/search items posted by others. It's built to be simple, mobile-friendly, and easy to deploy.

✨ Features

• User registration & login (JWT)
• Create / Read / Update / Delete items
• Image uploads (local; Cloudinary optional)
• Search and basic filtering
• Profile page with user's posts
• Responsive React + Tailwind frontend

🧰 Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express, MongoDB (Mongoose)
• Auth: bcryptjs, jsonwebtoken (JWT)
• File uploads: multer (Cloudinary integration optional)
• Frontend: React (Vite) + Tailwind CSS
• HTTP client: Axios

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⚙️ Installation (Local)

Prerequisites:

• Node.js (16+)
• npm or yarn
• MongoDB (Atlas or local)

1. Clone the repo

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd "lost found"

2. Server setup

cd backend
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env: set MONGO_URI, JWT_SECRET, (optional) Cloudinary keys, PORT
npm install
npm run dev

By default the server runs on: http://localhost:5000

3. Frontend setup

cd ../frontend
cp .env.example .env
# If needed set VITE_API_URL to http://localhost:5000
npm install
npm run dev

Open the site at: http://localhost:3000

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🧭 Usage

• Register a new account or login with existing credentials
• Click "Add Item" to post a lost or found item (title, description, category, image)
• Browse the feed, use search to find items, click an item to view details
• Edit or delete items from your Profile page (owner-only actions)

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📡 API Endpoints

Base URL: http://localhost:5000/api

Auth

• POST /auth/register — Register (name, email, password)
• POST /auth/login — Login (email, password)

Items

• GET /items — List items (supports pagination & filters)
• GET /items/:id — Get single item
• POST /items — Create item (authenticated; multipart/form-data)
• PUT /items/:id — Update item (authenticated, owner only)
• DELETE /items/:id — Delete item (authenticated, owner only)

Protected endpoints require the header: Authorization: Bearer <token>

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🧾 License

MIT — see the LICENSE file for full details.

👤 Author

Your Name — your.email@example.com

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