Technology Stack#

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• Caching: Redis
• Message Broker: RabbitMQ
• Media Storage: Cloudinary
• Authentication: JSON Web Tokens (JWT), Argon2 for password hashing
• Containerization: Docker

1. API Gateway#

• Responsibility: Acts as a reverse proxy, routing incoming requests to the correct microservice. It is the sole entry point for the frontend.
• Features:
  • JWT validation for protecting routes.
  • Rate limiting using Redis to prevent abuse.
  • Request logging and error handling.
  • Proxies requests to identity-service, post-service, media-service, and search-service.

2. Identity Service#

• Responsibility: Manages user accounts and authentication.
• Features:
  • User registration with username, email, and hashed password (Argon2).
  • User login and generation of JWT access and refresh tokens.
  • Refresh token rotation and secure storage.
  • User logout, which invalidates the refresh token.

3. Post Service#

• Responsibility: Manages the lifecycle of user posts.
• Features:
  • CRUD operations for posts (Create, Read, Delete).
  • Caches post data in Redis to reduce database load.
  • Publishes post.created and post.deleted events to RabbitMQ.

4. Media Service#

• Responsibility: Handles media file uploads and storage.
• Features:
  • Uploads files (images, videos) to Cloudinary.
  • Uses multer for handling multipart/form-data.
  • Subscribes to post.deleted events to delete associated media from Cloudinary, preventing orphaned files.

5. Search Service#

• Responsibility: Provides search functionality across all posts.
• Features:
  • Subscribes to post.created and post.deleted events to maintain a consistent search index.
  • Uses MongoDB’s native text search capabilities to index and query post content.

Environment Variables#

Before running, create a .env file in the root directory of each service (api-gateway, identity-service, etc.). Populate them with the necessary configuration.

Running with Docker#

For each service, navigate to its directory and run the following commands:

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# Example for api-gateway
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cd api-gateway
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# Build the Docker image
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docker build -t api-gateway .
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# Run the Docker container
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# Replace 3000 with the port you want to expose
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docker run -p 3000:3000 --env-file .env api-gateway

Repeat this process for all other services (identity-service, post-service, media-service, search-service), ensuring you map the correct ports as defined in your environment files.

Running Locally (without Docker)#

For each service, navigate to its directory and run:

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# Example for api-gateway
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cd api-gateway
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# Install dependencies
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npm install
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# Run in development mode (with nodemon)
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npm run dev
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# Or run in production mode
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npm start

Identity Service (/v1/auth)#

• POST /register: Register a new user.
• POST /login: Log in a user and receive access/refresh tokens.
• POST /refresh-token: Obtain a new access token using a refresh token.
• POST /logout: Log out a user.

Post Service (/v1/posts)#

All routes require authentication.

• POST /create-post: Create a new post.
• GET /all-posts: Get a paginated list of all posts.
• GET /:id: Get a single post by its ID.
• DELETE /:id: Delete a post.

Media Service (/v1/media)#

All routes require authentication.

• POST /upload: Upload a media file. Expects multipart/form-data with a field named file.

Search Service (/v1/search)#

All routes require authentication.

• GET /posts?query=<search_term>: Search for posts matching the query term.