To-Do List Application with Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and Redis

This project is a To-Do List application built using Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Redis, and JWT authentication. It allows users to register, log in, create, update, delete, and retrieve to-do items. The application also includes pagination for efficient data handling and Redis for caching and session management.

Table of Contents

• Project Overview
• Features
• Technologies Used
• Project Structure
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Running the Application
• API Endpoints
• Successes and Challenges
• Next Steps
• License

Project Overview

This is a full-stack To-Do List application where users can manage their tasks by performing CRUD operations. The app supports:

• User authentication via JWT.
• Secure password hashing with bcryptjs.
• Session management and caching with Redis.
• Pagination for managing a large number of tasks.
• RESTful API structure.

Features

• User Registration and Authentication: Users can register, log in, and manage their own tasks.
• Task Management: Users can create, update, delete, and retrieve to-do items.
• Pagination: Large task lists are paginated for optimized performance.
• Session Management with Redis: User sessions are stored and managed using Redis for improved performance and scalability.
• JWT-based Authentication: Secure user authentication via JWT tokens.

Technologies Used

• Node.js: Server-side runtime environment.
• Express.js: Framework for building RESTful APIs.
• MongoDB: NoSQL database for storing users and tasks.
• Mongoose: ODM for MongoDB.
• Redis: In-memory data structure store used for session management and caching.
• JWT (jsonwebtoken): Authentication using JSON Web Tokens.
• bcryptjs: For hashing user passwords.
• dotenv: For managing environment variables.
• mongoose-paginate-v2: Pagination support for MongoDB queries.
• express-session: Session management middleware.

Project Structure

├── config
│   └── db.js          # MongoDB and Redis configuration
├── controllers
│   ├── authController.js
│   └── todoController.js
├── middlewares
│   └── auth.js        # Middleware for authentication
├── models
│   ├── User.js
│   └── Todo.js
├── routes
│   ├── authRoutes.js
│   └── todoRoutes.js
├── .env               # Environment variables
├── server.js          # Entry point of the application
└── package.json       # Project dependencies

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following software installed:

• Node.js (version 14+)
• MongoDB (local or Atlas)
• Redis (local or remote instance)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/nchimunyascripts/node-todo-list
   cd node-todo-list

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables by creating a .env file:

   PORT=5000
   MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/todolist
   REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
   JWT_SECRET=supersecretkey

Running the Application

Start the application:

npm run start

Or to run the application with nodemon

npm run dev

The server will run on http://localhost:5000.

API Endpoints

User Authentication

• POST /api/auth/register: Register a new user.
• POST /api/auth/login: Log in a user and return a JWT token.

To-Do Operations

• GET /api/todos: Get all to-dos for a logged-in user (supports pagination).
• POST /api/todos: Create a new to-do.
• PUT /api/todos/:id: Update an existing to-do by its ID.
• DELETE /api/todos/:id: Delete a to-do by its ID.

Successes and Challenges

Successes

• Redis integration: Efficient session management using Redis for storing user sessions.
• Pagination: Successful implementation of pagination to handle large datasets in MongoDB.
• Authentication: Secure authentication using JWT and password hashing with bcryptjs.

Challenges

• Redis v4+ Compatibility: Faced challenges with configuring connect-redis with Redis v4+.
• Error Handling: Handling different error cases, especially during authentication and CRUD operations, was complex and required extra attention.

Next Steps

• Add Role-based Access Control: Implement roles like admin and user.
• Deploy to Production: Deploy the app to cloud services such as AWS or Heroku.
• Real-time Features: Introduce real-time task updates using WebSockets or Socket.io.
• Testing: Add unit and integration tests to cover all API endpoints.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.