📚 CM4025 Coursework – MERN Stack Web App

This project is a MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js) fullstack web application created for the CM4025 coursework. It features a modern React frontend built with Vite and a Node.js/Express backend with JWT-based authentication.

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Set up users:

There is an user set up already called adam and a email of [email protected] and the password hello,
and a guest story that can be claimed to edit under the id "67edacfbbbec3164cef5e899"

⚙️ Tech Stack

• Frontend: React + Vite
• Backend: Node.js + Express
• Database: MongoDB (configured separately)
• Authentication: JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• Package Manager: npm
• Dev Script: Runs frontend & backend concurrently

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🚀 Quick Start (Linux)

Use the one-step setup script to install everything and start the app.

Requirements

• Ubuntu/Debian Linux
• Bash shell
• Internet connection

1. Run Setup Script for non-firewall

#!/bin/bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install curl
sudo apt install -y curl gnupg 

# Install Node.js (LTS version) using NodeSource
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs npm


# Install Git
sudo apt install -y git

# Clone project
git clone https://github.com/AdamB64/web.git

# Go into project backend folder
cd web/my-app

secret=$(node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(64).toString('hex'))")


# Create .env file with env variables
cat <<EOF > .env
MONGO="mongodb+srv://adam2004buchan:[email protected]/mydatabase"
NODE_ENV="development"
JWT_SECRET="$secret"
EOF


# Install dependencies
npm ci

# Open the frontend URL in the default web browser

URL="http://localhost:5173/"

xdg-open "$URL"

# Run frontend and backend together
npm run dev:all

run this for firewall but it will have no preloaded info assuming that mongo is already pre installed

#!/bin/bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install curl
sudo apt install -y curl gnupg 

# Install Node.js (LTS version) using NodeSource
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs npm


# Install Git
sudo apt install -y git

# Clone project
git clone https://github.com/AdamB64/web.git

# Go into project backend folder
cd web/my-app

secret=$(node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(64).toString('hex'))")


# Create .env file with env variables
cat <<EOF > .env
MONGO="mongodb://localhost:27017/mydatabase"
NODE_ENV="development"
JWT_SECRET="$secret"
EOF


# Install dependencies
npm ci

# Open the frontend URL in the default web browser

URL="http://localhost:5173/"

xdg-open "$URL"

# Run frontend and backend together
npm run dev:all

ℹ️ This script will:

Install Node.js, npm, Git

Clone the project

Generate a JWT secret

Create a .env file

Install project dependencies

Open the frontend in your browser

Start both frontend and backend

🛠 Manual Setup

Prefer to do things yourself? Follow these steps:

# Install Node.js (LTS), npm, and Git if you haven't already

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/RobertGordonUniversity/cm4025-coursework-AdamB64.git
cd cm4025-coursework-AdamB64/my-app

# Install backend and frontend dependencies
npm ci

# Generate a JWT secret
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(64).toString('hex'))"

# Create a `.env` file with the following:
NODE_ENV="development"
JWT_SECRET="your_generated_secret_here"

# Start the fullstack development server
npm run dev:all

🌐 Frontend

Built using React and Vite for fast development and hot module reload.

Runs on: http://localhost:5173

🔧 Backend

Express.js handles API endpoints and JWT authentication.

Runs on: http://localhost:3000

MongoDB must be running and configured in the backend code (.env file if applicable).

📁 Scripts

Command Description npm run dev Starts only the backend server npm run dev:all Starts both backend and frontend concurrently