🌿 Plant Tracker

An application for those of us who buy too many plants and then get overwhelmed. Track watering, feeding, and "plant love" schedules in one place.

🚀 Recent Updates

• Security First: Updated to use a dedicated database user with restricted permissions.
• Workflow: Integrated nodemon for a seamless developer experience.

🛠 The Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: PostgreSQL (managed via pgAdmin)
• Frontend: EJS, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript

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⚙️ Setup Instructions

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js: Download here
• PostgreSQL: Download here
• Git: Download here

2. Database & Security Setup

To keep your database secure, we use a dedicated user rather than the "superuser."

1. Create Database: In pgAdmin, create a database named plant_tracker.
2. Create User: - Right-click "Login/Group Roles" -> Create -> "app_user".
   • Set a password in the "Definition" tab.
3. Run Schema: Open the Query Tool on your new database and run:

   CREATE TABLE plants (
       id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
       name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
       species VARCHAR(255),
       image_url VARCHAR(255),
       last_watered DATE,
       purchase_date DATE
   );
   
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON TABLE plants TO app_user;
   

3. Installing the Project

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/KTKCodes/Plant-Tracker cd plant_tracker_project/backend

Install dependencies (includes nodemon for development)

npm install

Environment Configuration

Create a file named .env in the backend folder and add your credentials there. Note: It is included in the .gitignore file.

DB_USER=app_user
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_NAME=plant_tracker
DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
DB_PORT=5432

🔮 Roadmap

• Auth: User accounts to allow multiple people to track their own collections.
• Notifications: Email or browser alerts when a plant is overdue for watering.
• Image Upload: Integrate Multer/AWS S3 to allow users to upload their own plant photos.
• Search/Filter: Quick search by plant species or watering status.