ShelfLife Backend

This repository contains the backend API for the ShelfLife application, a book tracking app built with the MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) stack.

Table of Contents

• ShelfLife Backend
  • Table of Contents
  • Getting Started
    • Prerequisites
    • Installation
    • Environment Variables
    • Running the Server
  • API Endpoints
  • Testing
  • Contributing

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm (or yarn) installed on your system.
• A MongoDB database (local or cloud-based).

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/blockchaincyberpunk1/shelflife-backend.git 

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd shelflife-backend

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install 

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory of the project and add the following environment variables:

MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string 
JWT_SECRET=your_strong_random_secret
PORT=your_desired_port (optional)

• Replace the placeholders with your actual values.

Running the Server

• Development Mode:

  npm run dev  // Uses nodemon to automatically restart the server on changes

• Production Mode:

  npm start

  (Make sure to build your app for production using npm run build before deploying.)

API Endpoints

The following API endpoints are available:

Books:

• GET /api/books: Fetch all books.
• GET /api/books/shelf/:shelf: Fetch books by shelf (replace :shelf with the shelf name, e.g., currentlyReading).
• PUT /api/books/:id: Update a book's shelf (replace :id with the book's ID).
• POST /api/books (optional): Add a new book.

Authentication (if implemented):

• POST /api/auth/signup: Create a new user account.
• POST /api/auth/login: Log in a user.

Testing

To run the tests, execute the following command:

npm test

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request if you'd like to contribute to the project.