Notes App — Full-stack note taking with Next.js + Express + MongoDB

What it does

• Provides a web UI to register/login and manage personal notes.
• Persists users and notes in MongoDB with JWT-secured APIs.
• Serves Prometheus-friendly metrics for observability.
• Ships with Docker Compose configs and a Jenkins pipeline for CI/CD.

Key features

• Authentication: Email/password signup & login, JWT cookies, Next.js middleware to guard routes.
• Notes CRUD: List, create, edit, delete notes; App Router pages backed by API route proxies.
• API layer: Express routes under /server/api/* for auth and notes, CORS configured via CLIENT_URL.
• Observability: /server/metrics via express-prometheus-middleware; prod Compose includes Prometheus, Grafana, Node Exporter, Alertmanager (requires host configs).
• Testing & linting: Jest + jsdom for the client; ts-jest + MongoMemoryServer for the server; ESLint configs in both apps.
• Containerization & CI: Dockerfiles per app, root Compose files, Jenkins pipeline that lints/tests, builds/pushes images, runs Snyk/SonarCloud, and deploys via SSH/Compose.

Tech stack

• Frontend: Next.js 15 (App Router), React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Radix UI primitives, Lucide icons, TypeScript.
• Backend: Node.js/Express 5, MongoDB/Mongoose, JWT, bcrypt, express-prometheus-middleware, TypeScript.
• Tooling: Jest, ESLint, Docker, Jenkins.

Architecture overview

The Next.js app renders pages and calls its own API routes (/api/auth/*, /api/notes*), which proxy to the Express server mounted at /server/api/*. The Express server handles auth + notes CRUD and exposes Prometheus metrics; MongoDB stores data.

[Browser]
   |
   v
[Next.js client] --(API routes)--> [Express server @ /server/api/*] --> [MongoDB]
                                  \-> /server/metrics (Prometheus)

Getting started (local)

• Prerequisites: Node.js (Dockerfiles use node:22-slim; Node 20+ recommended), npm, and a MongoDB URI.
• Environment variables
  • Client: NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL (base URL including the /server prefix, e.g. http://localhost:5000/server).
  • Server: MONGODB_URI (required), JWT_SECRET (required), CLIENT_URL (optional CORS origin, defaults to http://localhost:3000), PORT (optional, defaults to 5000).
• Install

  cd server && npm install
  # create server/.env with MONGODB_URI, JWT_SECRET, CLIENT_URL, PORT (optional)
  
  cd ../client && npm install
  # create client/.env or .env.local with NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/server

• Run (development)
  • Server: cd server && npm run dev
  • Client: cd client && npm run dev (open http://localhost:3000)
• Run via Docker Compose (server + client)

  # ensure server/.env and client/.env exist with the variables above
  docker-compose up --build

Usage

• Visit http://localhost:3000, register a new account, then sign in.
• Create a note from “Create Note”, edit via the pencil icon, delete via the trash icon.
• Backend APIs (when running locally with the suggested base URL):
  • POST /server/api/auth/register
  • POST /server/api/auth/login
  • GET /server/api/notes, POST /server/api/notes
  • GET|PUT|DELETE /server/api/notes/:id
  • Health: GET /server/ping; Metrics: GET /server/metrics

Testing / Quality

• Server: cd server && npm test; lint with npm run lint.
• Client: cd client && npm test; lint with npm run lint.
• Type-check builds: npm run build in each app.

Deployment

• Docker images: Build locally with docker build -t notes-app-server ./server and docker build -t notes-app-client ./client.
• Production Compose: docker-compose.prod.yml expects pre-pushed images (clupai8o0/notes-app-{server,client}:v1.0.${BUILD_NUMBER}) and env files server/.env.production and client/.env.production; includes Prometheus/Grafana/Alertmanager/Node Exporter (requires host configs at /etc/prometheus/*).
• CI/CD: Jenkinsfile checks out main, lints/tests both apps, builds/pushes versioned Docker images, runs SonarCloud + Snyk scans, tags releases, deploys to an EC2 host via SSH + docker-compose, then smoke-tests /server/ping and /server/metrics.

Credits / Contributors

• Author listed in server/package.json: Clupai8o0.