iyf-s10-week-10-mwas12345spec

Week 10: CommunityHub Backend API

Author

• Name: Mark Mwangi
• GitHub: mwas12345spec
• Date: April 21, 2026

Project Description

This project is a backend REST API for CommunityHub built using Node.js and Express.

The goal of this project was to learn backend fundamentals by building a server, creating routes, implementing CRUD operations, using middleware, handling errors, organizing code into modules, and working with environment variables.

The API allows users to:

• Create posts
• View all posts
• View a single post
• Update posts
• Delete posts
• Like posts

---

Technologies Used

• Node.js
• Express.js
• JavaScript
• Dotenv
• REST API
• JSON
• Middleware
• Postman / Thunder Client
• Git
• GitHub

---

Features

• Express server setup
• Full CRUD operations
• RESTful posts API
• Middleware logging
• Validation middleware
• Error handling middleware
• Environment variables support
• Query filtering and sorting
• Modular backend folder structure
• API testing with Postman or Thunder Client

---

How to Run

1. Clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/your-github-username/iyf-s10-week-10-your-github-username.git

1. Navigate into the project folder

cd iyf-s10-week-10-your-github-username

1. Install dependencies

npm install

1. Start the server

npm start

OR

node server.js

1. Test the API at:

http://localhost:3000/api/posts

---

API Endpoints

Get all posts

GET /api/posts

Get one post

GET /api/posts/:id

Create a post

POST /api/posts

Update a post

PUT /api/posts/:id

Delete a post

DELETE /api/posts/:id

Like a post

PATCH /api/posts/:id/like

---

Lessons Learned

Through this project I learned:

• How Node.js runs JavaScript outside the browser
• How Express simplifies server development
• How REST APIs work
• How CRUD operations are built
• How middleware processes requests
• How to validate incoming data
• How to handle errors properly
• How to organize backend code into routes and controllers
• How to use environment variables
• How to test APIs using Postman and Thunder Client

---

Challenges Faced

Challenge 1: Understanding CRUD logic

Initially it was difficult understanding how GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE work together.

Solution:

Practiced each route individually and tested each endpoint.

---

Challenge 2: Organizing project files

Separating routes, controllers, middleware, and data was confusing.

Solution:

Used a modular project structure to keep the code organized.

---

Challenge 3: Handling validation errors

POST requests failed when data was incomplete.

Solution:

Added validation middleware to check request data before saving posts.

---

Challenge 4: Debugging Express errors

Some routes returned errors due to syntax and route mistakes.

Solution:

Used console logging, error middleware, and incremental testing.

Live Demo

View Live Demo