i wrote this as my node.js authentication API that provides basic user authentication functionality with some features i need every time:

• User Registration - Create accounts with username, email, password, and role
• User Login - Authenticate users and generate JWT tokens
• Profile Access - Protected endpoint to get user information
• Role-Based System - Supports admin, instructor, and student roles
• Password Security - Uses bcrypt for password hashing
• JWT Authentication - Token-based stateless authentication

Although, I intend to add: Password reset functionality Email verification Refresh tokens User management endpoints Role-based authorization middleware

And then fix: Inconsistent error handling patterns The hardcoded values (port, database URL from earlier, so i can ust reuse this every time) THe lack of logging system Missing validation The lack of environment configuration

• Runtime: Node.js
• Framework: Express.js
• Database: MongoDB (with Mongoose ODM)
• Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
• Password Hashing: bcryptjs
• Environment Variables: dotenv
• Error Handling: express-async-handler

• express: Web framework for Node.js
• mongoose: MongoDB object modeling tool
• bcryptjs: Password hashing library
• jsonwebtoken: JWT implementation
• express-async-handler: Async error handling
• dotenv: Environment variable management

{
  username: String (required),
  email: String (required, unique),
  password: String (required, hashed),
  role: String (enum: ["admin", "instructor", "student"], default: "student"),
  lastLogin: Date,
  timestamps: true
}

• Endpoint: POST /api/users/register
• Body: { username, email, password, role }
• Process:
  • Validates required fields
  • Checks for existing user by email
  • Hashes password using bcrypt
  • Creates new user in database
  • Returns user data (excluding password)

• Endpoint: POST /api/users/login
• Body: { email, password }
• Process:
  • Validates credentials
  • Compares password hash
  • Generates JWT token (30-day expiry)
  • Returns token and user data

• Endpoint: GET /api/users/profile
• Headers: Authorization: Bearer <token>
• Process:
  • Validates JWT token
  • Retrieves user profile (excluding password)
  • Returns user data

• Password Hashing
• JWT Authentication
• Role-Based Access
• Input Validation
• Error Handling

1. Clone this repository

2. Install the dependencies

   npm install

3. Configure the env

   • Create .env file with MongoDB credentials
   • Set PASSWORD and USERNAME variables

4. Start the server

   node app.js

The server will start on port 8000.

curl -X POST https://localhost:8000/api/users/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "username": "john_doe",
    "email": "john@example.com",
    "password": "securepassword123",
    "role": "student"
  }'

curl -X POST https://localhost:8000/api/users/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "john@example.com",
    "password": "securepassword123"
  }'

curl -X GET https://localhost:8000/api/users/profile \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN"