API Playground

This repository provides a minimal Express.js API with JWT-based authentication. It uses SQLite via Sequelize for data persistence and demonstrates typical CRUD operations. The example is suitable for integration with a React.js frontend.

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

cd server
npm install

2. Start the server:

npm start

The server listens on port 3000 by default and stores data in database.sqlite.

Production database configuration

When NODE_ENV=production, Sequelize connects using environment variables instead of SQLite. Set the following variables to configure a PostgreSQL or MySQL database:

• DB_DIALECT – postgres or mysql
• DB_HOST – database host
• DB_PORT – database port
• DB_NAME – database name
• DB_USER – database user
• DB_PASS – database password

Authentication Endpoints

POST /register

Create a new user and receive a JWT token.

Body:

{ "username": "alice", "password": "secret" }

POST /login

Authenticate an existing user and receive a JWT token.

Body:

{ "username": "alice", "password": "secret" }

Tokens expire after one hour. Include the token in the Authorization header as Bearer TOKEN when accessing protected routes.

Item API

All /api/items routes require authentication.

• GET /api/items – list items for the current user
• POST /api/items – create a new item
• PUT /api/items/:id – update an item
• DELETE /api/items/:id – delete an item

Example request with curl:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/api/items

React Integration Example

A React component can interact with the API using fetch or axios:

// using fetch
async function loadItems(token) {
  const res = await fetch('http://localhost:3000/api/items', {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` }
  });
  const data = await res.json();
  console.log(data);
}

Testing with Postman or Curl

1. Register a user using POST /register.
2. Copy the returned token.
3. Set the Authorization header to Bearer TOKEN in subsequent requests.
4. Use GET /api/items or other endpoints to verify authenticated access.

This project is intentionally simple to serve as a starting point for building full-stack applications.