REST API example with mongodb, node and express

basic node REST API with express & mongodb.

features and todo

• basic CRUD REST API (book catalog)
• basic token-based authentication REST API (register & login, token-protected endpoints)
• persistence with mongodb via mongoose
• hashed passwords with bcrypt
• token issuance and verification with jsonwebtokens (jwt)
• (todo) caching some endpoints with redis
• (todo) add mongodb auth
• (todo) javascript style docstrings
• (todo) dockerized deployment

requirements

• npm + node
• docker and (optionally) docker-compose for running mongodb or else a local mongodb install
• (optional) python + jupyter for testing the api, else use Postman or VS Code "REST Client" extension

start

# start mongodb (from ./docker/dev)
docker-compose up -d

# install necessary packages
npm install

# run with nodemon
npm start

you will need a .env file like below for testing:

MONGODB_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/<db_name>
TOKEN_SECRET=<some random string>
REDIS_PORT=6379
API_PORT=<port_to_run_on, default 5000>

for development, you can access mongodb and redis like:

# start mongo shell from docker-compose mongo
docker exec -it dev_devmongo_1 mongo

# start redis-cli from docker-compose redis
docker exec -it dev_devredis_1 redis-cli

usage/testing

see the included test-xxx.ipynb in /tests for testing with python notebook, or see the test.rest file for testing with VS Code extension.

user endpoints

POST /api/user/register

post new user

Request:

{
    name: string, required
    username: string, required
    email: string, required
    password: string, required
}

POST /api/user/login

post

Request:

{
    username: string, required
    password: string, required
}

books endpoints

GET /hello

hello world test

GET /helloauth

hello world test, with authentication

you should get response with {"hello": <username> } if you send your JWT token as header (after registering, see below)

GET /books

return list of all books in the db

GET /books/bookId

get a book by its id

POST /books

post book to db

Request:

{
    title: string, required
    author: string, required
    genre: string
    isbn: string
    publisher: string
    description: string
}

PATCH /books

update a book in the db. only send the fields to update.

{
    title: string
    author: string
    genre: string
    isbn: string
    publisher: string
    description: string
}

DELETE /books/bookId

remove a book from the database

search endpoints

GET /search?key=value

search for book(s) with the associated key-value pair. e.g. ?genre=fantasy or ?author=Robert Jordan

references

Build A Restful Api With Node.js Express & MongoDB | Rest Api Tutorial
Build A Node.js API Authentication With JWT Tutorial
Build A REST API With Node.js, Express, & MongoDB - Quick
Node.js Crash Course Tutorial #9 - MongoDB
Redis Caching in Node.js