🧠 Capstone Backend — Express & MongoDB

Capstone Project • Backend API

This repository contains the backend API for my full-stack capstone project. It is built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB and provides data persistence and business logic for the frontend application.

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🧠 About the Backend

The backend is responsible for:

• Handling HTTP requests
• Providing RESTful API endpoints
• Performing CRUD operations
• Validating and storing data in MongoDB
• Serving data to the frontend client

This API is designed to support a React frontend and follows backend best practices.

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🛠️ Technologies Used

Technology	Purpose
Node.js	JavaScript runtime
Express.js	API framework
MongoDB	NoSQL database
Mongoose	Schema modeling & validation
JavaScript	Server-side logic

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🔗 Related Repository

👉 Frontend Application:
https://github.com/msgem0523/capstonefrontend

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📁 Project Structure

├── routes/ – API route definitions ├── models/ – MongoDB schemas ├── controllers/ – Request handling logic ├── config/ – Database configuration ├── server.js – Server entry point ├── package.json – Dependencies and scripts └── README.md – Documentation

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▶️ How to Run Locally

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/msgem0523/capstonebackend.git
   cd capstonebackend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Configure environment variables: Add a .env file with your MongoDB connection string
4. Start the server:

   npm start
   or
   ```bash
   node server.js

5. API runs at: http://localhost:3000

🧩 Learning Outcomes

Through this project, I practiced:

✔ Building RESTful APIs with Express ✔ Integrating MongoDB with Mongoose ✔ Implementing CRUD operations ✔ Applying validation and schema design ✔ Separating frontend and backend concerns

✨ Author

TeMecha Griffin (MsGem0523) Aspiring Software Engineer | Backend-Focused Developer