SabzCourse API

This is the backend I built to really master Node.js, Express, and MongoDB — not by watching, but by doing.

What this is (and what it isn't)

SabzCourse is my playground for building a real backend — with scalability in mind from day one.
The main goal? Move beyond simple CRUD and build something with a proper MVC structure.

Here's what I worked on the most:

• Getting comfortable with Node.js & Express — not just syntax, but how they work under the hood
• Learning MongoDB data modeling the hard way — one populate at a time
• Figuring out how to connect collections cleanly (courses ↔ chapters ↔ lessons ↔ comments)
• Organizing code the way I've seen in professional projects — even if it's not perfect yet

⚠️ Note: This project isn't finished. I'm still learning, and the code shows it. But that's exactly why I'm sharing it.

✨ What it can do (the short version)

• You can sign up / log in – and depending on your role, you'll see different things.
• Courses aren't just a title. Each course has chapters, and each chapter has lessons. I built the whole hierarchy.
• Articles work like a blog – create, edit, delete.
• Comments can have replies. So people can actually talk.
• Discounts exist (because who doesn't love a discount?).
• Admins have their own endpoints. Normal users can't touch them – that's what middleware is for.
• And everything is connected with MongoDB references and populate. No broken links (hopefully 😅).

🛠 What I built it with (and why)

• Node.js – Because JavaScript on the backend just makes sense to me.
• Express.js – Lightweight, flexible, and gets out of my way when I need to build APIs fast.
• MongoDB – I wanted to work with documents, not tables. Flexible schema helped me model courses, chapters, and lessons easily.
• Mongoose – The ODM that holds everything together. Loved using populate to connect different collections.
• JSON Web Token (JWT) – Simple and stateless authentication.
• bcrypt – Hashing passwords before saving them. Because plain text is a no-go.
• multer – For handling file uploads (course images, article thumbnails, etc.).
• dotenv – For keeping secrets (database URIs, JWT keys, etc.) out of my code.

I also wrote a couple of custom middlewares: one for authentication (checking if the user is logged in) and another for authorization (restricting access to admin-only routes). While not overly complex, they are effective in enforcing security policies.

🧭 What's next? (because I'm not done yet)

This project taught me a lot, but I know it's not perfect. Here's what I want to add when I come back to it:

• Validation – Right now, I trust the client too much. I want to add proper checks with express-validator or joi.
• Testing – Because typing console.log and hoping for the best isn't a strategy.
• Docker – So anyone can run it with one command, without installing MongoDB locally.
• Deployment – Put it on Render or Railway and give it a real URL.
• Better error handling – No more ugly res.status(500).json({message: "something went wrong"}) everywhere.

I'm actively learning these things. This project will get better — just like me.