🚀 Social Media Backend API (Node.js + Express)

A production-ready, scalable backend for a social media platform built with Node.js, Express, MySQL, and modern backend architecture patterns.

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✨ Features

• 🔐 Authentication & Authorization (JWT Access + Refresh Tokens)
• 👤 User Management (profile, avatar, password, account)
• 📝 Posts (CRUD + visibility control + image upload)
• ❤️ Likes System
• 💬 Comments System
• 👥 Follow/Unfollow System
• 📚 Saved Posts (Bookmarks)
• 📸 Stories (like Instagram stories)
• 🔔 Real-time Notifications (SSE - Server-Sent Events)
• ⚡ Event-driven architecture
• ⏱ Cron Jobs (background tasks)
• 📧 Email OTP Verification (SendGrid or fallback to console)
• 🛡 Rate Limiting & Validation (Zod)
• 📁 File Upload Support (Multer)
• 🌐 CORS Enabled

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🧱 Tech Stack

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MySQL
• JWT (Authentication)
• Zod (Validation)
• Multer (File Upload)
• SendGrid (Emails)
• SSE (Real-time notifications)

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⚙️ Environment Setup

Create a .env file in the root directory:

PORT=5000
DB_NAME=social_media
HOST=localhost
USER=root
PASSWORD=

CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173

JWT_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_secret
JWT_REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your_refresh_secret
JWT_ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY=1h
JWT_REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY=7d

SEND_GRID_API_KEY=your_sendgrid_key
EMAIL_FROM=test@example.com

⚠️ If you do NOT provide SEND_GRID_API_KEY, OTP will be logged in the console.

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📦 Installation & Run

# Clone repository
 git clone https://github.com/imranmalakzai/social-media-platform-backend

# Navigate
 cd project-folder

# Install dependencies
 npm install

# Run development server
 npm run dev

# Run production
 npm start

Server runs on:

http://localhost:5000

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🧪 API Base URL

http://localhost:5000/api

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🔐 AUTH ROUTES

Register

POST /auth/register

Login

POST /auth/login

Logout

POST /auth/logout

Refresh Token

POST /auth/refresh-token

Verify Email

POST /auth/verify-email

Forgot Password

POST /auth/forget-password

Reset Password

POST /auth/reset-password

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👤 USER ROUTES

Get Current User

GET /users/me

Delete Account

DELETE /users/me

Update Profile

PATCH /users/me/update-profile

Change Password

PATCH /users/me/change-password

Change Avatar

PATCH /users/me/change-avatar

Change Cover Image

PATCH /users/me/change-coverimage

Get All Users

GET /users

Get User by ID

GET /users/:userId

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📝 POSTS ROUTES

Get Public Posts

GET /posts

Get Post by ID

GET /posts/:postId

Create Post

POST /users/me/posts

Get My Posts

GET /users/me/posts

Get My Post by ID

GET /users/me/posts/:postId

Update Post

PATCH /users/me/posts/:postId

Delete Post

PATCH /users/me/posts/:postId

Update Visibility

PATCH /users/me/posts/:postId/visibility

Get User Posts

GET /users/:userId/posts

Get User Post by ID

GET /users/:userId/posts/:postId

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❤️ LIKES ROUTES

Like a Post

POST /likes/post/:postId

Get Users Who Liked

GET /likes/post/:postId

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💬 COMMENTS ROUTES

Create Comment

POST /posts/:postId/comments

Get All Comments

GET /posts/:postId/comments

Get Comment by ID

GET /posts/:postId/comments/:commentId

Delete Comment

DELETE /posts/:postId/comments/:commentId

Update Comment

PATCH /posts/:postId/comments/:commentId

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👥 FOLLOW ROUTES

Follow User

POST /users/me/follow/:userId

Unfollow User

DELETE /users/me/follow/:userId

My Following

GET /users/me/following

My Followers

GET /users/me/followers

User Followers

GET /users/:userId/followers

User Following

GET /users/:userId/following

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📚 SAVED POSTS

Get Saved Posts

GET /me/saved-posts

Save Post

POST /me/saved-posts/:postId

Remove Saved Post

DELETE /me/saved-posts/:postId

Get Saved Post by ID

GET /me/saved-posts/:postId

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📸 STORIES ROUTES

Create Story

POST /stories

Get All Stories

GET /stories

Get Story by ID

GET /stories/:storyId

Delete Story

DELETE /stories/:storyId

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🔔 NOTIFICATIONS

Real-time Notifications (SSE)

GET /me/notifications/stream

Get Notifications

GET /me/notifications

Get Notification by ID

GET /me/notifications/:notificationId

Mark All as Read

PATCH /me/notifications/read-all

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⚡ Real-time (SSE Usage)

Example:

const eventSource = new EventSource(
  "http://localhost:5000/api/me/notifications/stream",
  { withCredentials: true },
);

eventSource.onmessage = (event) => {
  console.log(JSON.parse(event.data));
};

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📁 File Uploads

• Uses Multer
• Supported in:
  • Posts (image)
  • Avatar
  • Cover Image
  • Stories

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🛡 Security Features

• JWT Authentication
• HTTP-only Cookies
• Rate Limiting
• Input Validation (Zod)
• Global Error Handler

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🧠 Architecture

• MVC Pattern
• Event-driven system (listeners)
• Modular routes & controllers
• Middleware-based architecture

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🧑‍💻 Author

Imran Malakzai

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⭐ Final Notes

This project is designed as a real-world, scalable backend system and is suitable for:

• Learning advanced Node.js concepts
• Portfolio / GitHub showcase
• Production-level API design reference

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🔥 If you like this