NoteVault — Backend

🔗 Live API: https://notevault-backend-mmn5.onrender.com/api

⚠️ Hosted on Render's free tier. The first request after inactivity may take 30–60 seconds to respond while the server spins up.

A RESTful API for the NoteVault notes app, built with Express.js and MongoDB (Mongoose). Provides JWT-based authentication and full CRUD for notes, including search and pagination.

Screenshots

Features

JWT Authentication — Register and login with hashed passwords (bcrypt) Protected Routes — All note routes require a valid Bearer token Notes CRUD — Create, read, update, and delete notes scoped to the logged-in user Search — Case-insensitive search across note title and content Pagination — Paginated note listing for infinite scroll support Validation — Request validation via express-validator Centralized Error Handling — Consistent error responses via a custom HttpError model

Tech Stack

Layer Technology Runtime Node.js Framework Express.js Database MongoDB ODM Mongoose Auth JSON Web Tokens (jsonwebtoken) PasswordHashing bcrypt Validation express-validator Dev Tooling nodemon

Project Structure

. ├── controllers/ │ ├── authController.js # register, login │ └── noteController.js # CRUD, search, pagination ├── middleware/ │ ├── auth.js # JWT verification │ └── validate.js # express-validator error handler ├── models/ │ ├── User.js │ ├── Note.js │ └── http-error.js ├── routes/ │ ├── auth-routes.js │ └── note-routes.js ├── validators/ │ ├── userValidator.js │ └── noteValidator.js ├── app.js └── .env

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/Viswanath95/notevault-backend.git cd notevault-backend npm install

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory:

envPORT=5000 DB_USER=your_database_user DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password DB_NAME=notevault JWT_KEY=your_jwt_secret_key

Run the server

npm start

The API will be available at https://notevault-backend-mmn5.onrender.com/api.

API Reference

Auth

Method Endpoint Description POST /api/auth/register Register a new user, returns JWT POST /api/auth/login Login, returns JWT

Register / Login response

json{ "success": true, "user": { "id": "...", "name": "...", "email": "..." }, "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs..." }

Notes

All note routes require an Authorization: Bearer header.

Method Endpoint Description GET /api/notes?page=1&limit=6 Get paginated notes for the logged-in user GET /api/notes/search?q=keyword Search notes by title or content POST /api/notes Create a new note PUT /api/notes/:id Update a note (title, content, colour, isPinned) DELETE /api/notes/:id Delete a note

Get notes response

json{ "success": true, "notes": [ ... ], "pagination": { "page": 1, "limit": 6, "total": 14, "totalPages": 3, "hasNextPage": true } }

Data Models

User

js{ name: String, email: String, passwordHash: String, createdAt: Date }

Note

js{ userId: ObjectId, title: String, content: String, colour: String, isPinned: Boolean, createdAt: Date, updatedAt: Date }

Error Responses

All errors follow a consistent shape via the HttpError model:

json{ "message": "Invalid credentials, could not log you in." }

Status Meaning 400 Bad request / validation error 401 / 403 Authentication failed 404 Resource not found 409 Conflict (e.g. email already in use) 500 Server error