Community Skill Exchange API

A RESTful API that connects people who want to share skills with those who want to learn them. No money involved — just community members helping each other for free.

Live Demo

Base URL: https://skill-exchange-production.up.railway.app

Tech Stack

• Java 21
• Spring Boot 3.5
• Spring Security + JWT for authentication
• Spring Data JPA + Hibernate for database access
• PostgreSQL for the database
• Maven for dependency management
• Deployed on Railway

How It Works

1. Register as a MEMBER
2. Browse available skills by category
3. Post a skill offer — "I can teach Guitar"
4. Post a skill request — "I want to learn Guitar"
5. When matched, request status updates to MATCHED
6. Community members help each other for free

Project Structure

src/main/java/com/iggy/skillexchange/
├── controller/       # REST API endpoints
├── service/          # Business logic
├── repository/       # Database access
├── entity/           # JPA entities
├── security/         # JWT and Spring Security config

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Java 21
• PostgreSQL
• Maven

Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/erdkash1/Skill-Exchange.git
cd Skill-Exchange

2. Create a PostgreSQL database

CREATE DATABASE skillexchange_db;

3. Update src/main/resources/application.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/skillexchange_db
spring.datasource.username=your_username
spring.datasource.password=your_password
jwt.secret=your_base64_encoded_secret
jwt.expiration=86400000

4. Run the application

./mvnw spring-boot:run

The API will start on http://localhost:8080

Authentication

This API uses JWT authentication. To access protected endpoints:

1. Register or login to get a token
2. Add the token to the Authorization header of every request:

Authorization: Bearer your_token_here

API Endpoints

Auth

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	/auth/register	Register as a member	No
POST	/auth/login	Login and get JWT token	No

Skills

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	/skills	Browse all skills	Yes
GET	/skills/{id}	Get skill by ID	Yes
GET	/skills/category/{category}	Find skills by category	Yes
POST	/skills	Create a skill	Yes
DELETE	/skills/{id}	Delete a skill	Yes

Skill Offers

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	/offers	See all offers	Yes
GET	/offers/{id}	Get offer by ID	Yes
POST	/offers	Post a skill you can teach	Yes
DELETE	/offers/{id}	Remove your offer	Yes

Skill Requests

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	/requests	See all requests	Yes
GET	/requests/{id}	Get request by ID	Yes
POST	/requests	Post a skill you want to learn	Yes
PATCH	/requests/{id}/status	Update status (OPEN/MATCHED/CLOSED)	Yes
DELETE	/requests/{id}	Remove your request	Yes

Example Requests

Register

POST https://skill-exchange-production.up.railway.app/auth/register

{
    "name": "John Doe",
    "email": "john@example.com",
    "password": "password123"
}

Post a Skill Offer

POST https://skill-exchange-production.up.railway.app/offers

{
    "skillId": 1,
    "description": "I can teach beginner guitar lessons online"
}

Post a Skill Request

POST https://skill-exchange-production.up.railway.app/requests

{
    "skillId": 1,
    "description": "Looking to learn basic guitar chords"
}

Author

Erdenesuren Shirmen — Senior Computer Science Student GitHub: @erdkash1

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