Encrypted Notes App

Privacy-first encrypted notes web app with client-side encryption.

Setup

1. Install Dependencies

From the root directory, run:

npm run install:all

This installs dependencies for root, frontend, and backend.

2. Set Up MongoDB

Option A: Local MongoDB

• Install MongoDB locally
• Make sure MongoDB is running on mongodb://localhost:27017

Option B: MongoDB Atlas (Cloud)

• Create a free account at https://www.mongodb.com/cloud/atlas
• Get your connection string

3. Create Environment File

Create a file named .env in the backend/ directory with:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017
PORT=3001

For MongoDB Atlas, use your connection string:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:[email protected]/
PORT=3001

Location: backend/.env

4. Run the Application

From the root directory:

npm run dev

This starts both frontend and backend servers:

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend: http://localhost:3001

Alternative: Run Separately

# Terminal 1 - Frontend
cd frontend
npm run dev

# Terminal 2 - Backend
cd backend
npm run dev

Security

• All encryption happens in the browser using Web Crypto API
• Server never sees plaintext content
• Password is never sent to server
• MongoDB stores only encrypted data (ciphertext, IV, salt)