Task Board with Docker Compose

Overview

This project shows a simple task board made from three Node.js services and a PostgreSQL database. The API serves task data, the frontend shows a React interface, and the logger service stores request logs. Docker Compose keeps all containers connected on the same network.

Project structure

• frontend/ – React app that talks to the API.
• api/ – Express server that manages tasks and contacts the logger.
• logger/ – Small logging service that writes events to disk.
• db/ – SQL script that creates the tasks table and seed data.
• docker-compose.yml – Starts every service together.
• .env.example – Copy this file to .env for your own settings.

Prerequisites

Make sure these tools are installed:

• Docker 24 or newer
• Docker Compose plugin 2.24 or newer

Quick start

1. Copy the sample environment file:

   cp .env.example .env

2. Update .env if you need other ports, passwords, or log levels.
3. Build and start every container:

   docker compose up --build

4. Open the app in your browser at http://localhost:3000.

Docker Compose also exposes:

• API at http://localhost:5000
• Logger service listening for POST requests at http://localhost:4000/log
• PostgreSQL at localhost:5432 for local tools

Useful commands

• Stop the stack but keep containers: docker compose stop
• Remove containers and network: docker compose down
• Watch logs from all services: docker compose logs -f

Troubleshooting

• If ports are busy, change them in .env and restart with docker compose up --build.
• If the database keeps old data, run docker compose down -v to remove the volume.

Development tips

• Code changes inside api, frontend, or logger directories update live because they are mounted as volumes.
• Run docker compose logs -f api to focus on the API output when debugging.

License

This lab project is shared for educational use within the Programming Technologies course.