BlogSphere Backend (My Blog API)

This is the REST API I built for my own blog platform using Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL. It includes core features like JWT-based auth, category/tag management, comments, reactions, bookmarks, notifications, and file uploads.

What It Includes

• Create, list, update, delete blog posts
• Comments, reactions (like/dislike etc.), and bookmarks
• Category and tag management
• JWT-based user sign up/sign in
• Password reset flow
• Image/file uploads (static serving at /uploads)

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• PostgreSQL 14+ (I run it locally)
• npm

Setup

npm install

Environment Variables (.env)

The server uses dotenv. At minimum, I define the following:

PORT=3000
JWT_SECRET=put-a-long-and-strong-secret-here
# You can also set PostgreSQL here if you prefer; there are defaults in db.js
# PGUSER=firat
# PGHOST=localhost
# PGDATABASE=blogdb
# PGPASSWORD=
# PGPORT=5432

Note: Right now, PostgreSQL connection defaults are set for my local environment in db.js. You can update db.js for your machine or extend it to read all connection details from environment variables.

Database

I create the database first, then load the schema:

# create database
psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE blogdb;"

# base schema
psql -U postgres -d blogdb -f database_schema.sql

# run migration files as needed, in order
# examples:
# psql -U postgres -d blogdb -f migrate_add_view_count.sql
# psql -U postgres -d blogdb -f migrate_add_blog_views_table.sql
# psql -U postgres -d blogdb -f migrate_add_missing_features_fixed.sql
# psql -U postgres -d blogdb -f migrate_add_category_icons.sql
# psql -U postgres -d blogdb -f migrate_add_password_reset_tables_fixed.sql

Run

For development:

npm run dev

Production-like start:

npm start

After starting, health check:

GET http://localhost:3000/api/health

API Roots

Once the server is up, main endpoints are:

• /api/blogs
• /api/users (also aliased as /api/auth)
• /api/categories
• /api/comments
• /api/reactions
• /api/bookmarks
• /api/tags
• /api/notifications
• /api/uploads (upload operations) and GET /uploads/... (static serving)

For detailed routes/params, I look into the routes/ and controllers/ folders.

Test/Sample Scripts

I added small scripts for local testing:

node test_view_count.js
node test_bookmark.js
node test_profile.js

Notes

• Uploaded files go under the uploads/ directory. In production, I recommend using persistent storage for this folder.
• The password reset flow needs an email service; I tested with my SMTP settings. In your environment, you may need to provide SMTP configuration according to how it's used under services/.

License

ISC