HMCTS Task Manager

Task management app for the HMCTS developer challenge. Caseworkers can create, edit and delete tasks. Built with Express on the backend and React on the frontend.

Setup

You need Node.js v18 or above.

Start the backend:

cd backend
npm install
npm run dev

Then in another terminal, start the frontend:

cd frontend
npm install
npm start

Backend runs on port 4000, frontend on port 3000.

Tests

cd backend
npm test

API

The backend exposes a REST API under /api/tasks. You can:

• POST /api/tasks to create a new task
• GET /api/tasks to fetch all tasks
• GET /api/tasks/:id to fetch a specific one
• PUT /api/tasks/:id to update a task
• PATCH /api/tasks/:id/status to just change the status
• DELETE /api/tasks/:id to remove a task

More details on the request/response formats in backend/README.md.

Tech used

Express and SQLite (sql.js) for the backend, React for the frontend, Jest and Supertest for tests.

I went with sql.js instead of Postgres or Mongo because there's nothing extra to install — it's pure JS. I also split app.js and server.js so tests can import the app without starting the server.

Frontend styling is plain CSS, loosely based on GOV.UK design.