NC News API

Welcome to the NC News API! This is the backend API for the NC News project, built with Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL. It provides endpoints for accessing articles, comments, topics, and users, and is designed to be fast, reliable, and easy to use.

Hosted Version

The API is hosted on Render. You can explore it here:

👉 https://backend-news-project-mdgt.onrender.com/api

Project Summary

The NC News API powers a news aggregation platform, similar to Reddit. It allows users to:

• Read articles and comments.
• Post new comments.
• Vote on articles.
• Filter and sort articles by topic, date, or popularity.

The API is built with a focus on RESTful principles and includes features like:

• Filtering: Articles can be filtered by topic.
• Sorting: Articles can be sorted by any valid column (e.g. created_at, votes).
• Pagination: Coming soon!

Getting Started

Follow these steps to set up the project locally.

Prerequisites

• Node.js: Minimum version 18.x
• PostgreSQL: Minimum version 14.x

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/SchubertAlex/nc-news-project.git

Navigate to the project directory:

cd nc-news-project

Install dependencies:

npm install

Set up the database

Create two .env files for your environment variables:

• .env.development with PGDATABASE=<your_development_database_name>
• .env.test with PGDATABASE=<your_test_database_name>

Replace <your_development_database_name> and <your_test_database_name> with the names of your local development and test databases.

Run the following commands to set up and seed the databases:

npm run setup-dbs
npm run seed

Running the Server

To start the server in development mode, run:

npm run dev

The server will be available at http://localhost:9090.

Running the Tests

To run the test suite, use the following command:

npm test

API Endpoints

Get All Articles

GET /api/articles

Get a Single Article

GET /api/articles/1

Get Comments for an Article

GET /api/articles/1/comments

Post a Comment

POST /api/articles/1/comments

Request Body:

{
  "username": "butter_bridge",
  "body": "This is a new comment."
}

Update Article Votes

PATCH /api/articles/1

Request Body:

{
  "inc_votes": 10
}

Delete a Comment

DELETE /api/comments/1

.env Files

The project requires two .env files for environment variables:

.env.development:

PGDATABASE=<your_development_database_name>

.env.test:

PGDATABASE=<your_test_database_name>

These files are used to connect to the development and test databases, respectively.

Technologies Used

• Node.js: Runtime environment.
• Express: Web framework for building the API.
• PostgreSQL: Database for storing articles, comments, and users.
• Render: Hosting platform for the live API.

Author

Alex Schubert: GitHub | LinkedIn

Acknowledgments

This project was completed as part of the Northcoders Bootcamp in Software Development. Special thanks to my instructors and peers for their support and feedback!