Book Stacker - Book Review System

A RESTful API built using Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB, allowing users to manage books and post reviews. Authenticated users can add books, post reviews, and manage their own content. This project demonstrates secure backend development, clean modular code, and well-designed API architecture.

🚀 Features

• User Signup & Login (JWT-based authentication)
• Add and View Books with pagination, filtering, and search
• Post one review per book per user
• Update or delete your own reviews
• Search books by title or author (partial & case-insensitive)
• Modular project structure for scalability

🧰 Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB (Mongoose)
• Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
• Environment Config: dotenv
• Pagination & Filtering: Built-in query options

Project Structure

  bookstacker/
│
├── controllers/       # Route controllers (logic)
├── services/          # Business logic
├── models/            # Mongoose schemas
├── routes/            # Route definitions
├── middleware/        # JWT auth, error handlers
├── config/            # DB and env config
├── .env               # Secret keys & config
├── server.js          # App entry point
└── README.md

🛠️ Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repo

   git clone https://github.com/sunnysagar/BookStacker.git
   cd BookStacker

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Create a .env file

   PORT=5000
   MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_uri
   JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_key
   

4. Start Server

   node server.js

Your API will be running at

http://localhost:5000

🔑 API Endpoints

POST /api/auth/signup

POST /api/auth/login

POST /api/books (auth)

GET /api/books

GET /api/books/:id

POST /api/books/:id/reviews (auth)

PUT /api/reviews/:id (auth)

DELETE /api/reviews/:id (auth)

GET /api/books/search?q=title

🔐 Authentication Endpoints

1. Signup – Register

   POST /auth/signup
   Content-Type: application/json
   {
   "name": "Sunny",
   "email": "[email protected]",
   "password": "securepassword"
   }
   

2. Login and Get JWT

   POST /auth/login
   {
   "email": "[email protected]",
   "password": "securepassword"
   }

📚 Book Endpoints

1. POST /books – Add Book (Auth Required)

   POST /books
   Authorization: Bearer <JWT>
   {
   "title": "Clean Code",
   "author": "Robert C. Martin",
   "genre": "Programming"
   }

2. GET /books – List Books (pagination, filter)

   GET /books?page=1&limit=10&author=Robert&genre=Programming

3. GET /books/:id – Book Details with Avg Rating + Reviews

   GET /books/abc123

✍️ Review Endpoints

1. POST /books/:id/reviews (One review per user per book)

   POST /books/abc123/reviews
   Authorization: Bearer <JWT>
   {
   "rating": 4,
   "comment": "Great book!"
   }

2. PUT /reviews/:id – Update Own Review

   PUT /reviews/xyz456
   Authorization: Bearer <JWT>
   {
   "rating": 5,
   "comment": "Actually, it was amazing!"
   }

3. DELETE /reviews/:id – Delete Own Review

   DELETE /reviews/xyz456
   Authorization: Bearer <JWT>

🔍 /search – Search Books by Title or Author

GET /search?q=clean

🗂️ MongoDB Schema (Simple Overview)

1. User

{
  name: String,
  email: { type: String, unique: true },
  password: String
}

2. Book

{
  title: String,
  author: String,
  genre: String,
  reviews: [ObjectId], // References to Review
}

3. Review

{
  user: ObjectId,
  book: ObjectId,
  rating: Number,
  comment: String
}

🗂️ Database Schema Design

📌 Key Entities:

• User: Stores user credentials and basic details.
• Book: Contains book information like title, author, and genre.
• Review: Connects a user and a book through a one-to-one relationship per book, with a rating and comment.

🔐 User

Field	Type	Description
_id	ObjectId	Primary key
name	String	User’s full name
email	String	Unique email
password	String	Hashed password

---

📚 Book

Field	Type	Description
_id	ObjectId	Primary key
title	String	Title of the book
author	String	Author's name
genre	String	Book genre

---

📝 Review

Field	Type	Description
_id	ObjectId	Primary key
user	ObjectId	Reference to the User (_id)
book	ObjectId	Reference to the Book (_id)
rating	Number	Rating (e.g., 1 to 5)
comment	String	Review comment

🧩 ER Diagram

The following diagram represents the core entities and their relationships in the Book Review API system.

📎 ER Diagram Link:
📄 View ER Diagram on Google Drive

🧩 Relationships

• A User can write many Reviews, but only one review per Book.
• A Book can have many Reviews.
• Each Review belongs to one User and one Book.

⚙️ Design Decisions & Assumptions

Design Decisions

• Modular Structure: Separated controllers (handle requests) and services (handle logic) for cleaner code.
• JWT Authentication: Protected routes require JWT in the Authorization header.
• One Review per Book per User: Enforced to maintain review uniqueness.
• Pagination: Default limit = 10 in book and review listings.
• Search: Case-insensitive partial match for title and author using regex.
• Protected Routes: Only logged-in users can add books or reviews.

🤔 Assumptions

• All users are treated equally (no roles like admin).
• Users can update or delete only their own reviews.
• Basic validation is handled via Mongoose.
• No advanced features like likes, replies, or media for now.

🧑‍💻 Author

Sunny Sagar