ZapTech Store - E Commerce Backend

A robust Node.js/Express backend service for e-commerce operations with product management, order processing, and promotional code features.

🌐 Live Demo

Take a look the live demo 👉here

🌟 Features

Product Management

• Product CRUD operations
• Category management
• Stock tracking
• Admin-protected operations

Order Processing

• Order creation and management
• Multiple order statuses (PENDING, CONFIRMED, SHIPPED, DELIVERED, CANCELLED)
• Payment status tracking (PENDING, PAID)

Promotional System

• Create and validate promo codes
• First-order-only promotions
• Time-based expiration
• Percentage-based discounts

Security

• Authentication using Clerk
• Role-based access control (Admin/User)
• CORS protection
• Error handling middleware

🛠️ Technology Stack

• Runtime: Node.js
• Framework: Express.js
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose
• Authentication: Clerk
• Type Safety: TypeScript
• Other Tools:
  • CORS for cross-origin resource sharing
  • dotenv for environment variable management

📚 API Documentation

Products API

GET    /api/v1/products      // Get all products
POST   /api/v1/products      // Create new product (Admin only)
GET    /api/v1/products/:id  // Get specific product
DELETE /api/v1/products/:id  // Delete product (Admin only)
PATCH  /api/v1/products/:id  // Update product (Admin only)

Categories API

GET    /api/v1/categories      // Get all categories
POST   /api/v1/categories      // Create category (Admin only)
GET    /api/v1/categories/:id  // Get specific category
DELETE /api/v1/categories/:id  // Delete category (Admin only)
PATCH  /api/v1/categories/:id  // Update category (Admin only)

Promo Codes API

POST   /api/v1/promocodes        // Create promo code (Admin only)
POST   /api/v1/promocodes/validate // Validate promo code (Authenticated users)

Orders API

/api/v1/orders     // Order management endpoints

Payments API

/api/v1/payments   // Payment processing endpoints

🏗️ Project Structure

src/

├── api/ # Route definitions and controllers

├── application/ # Business logic

├── domain/ # Domain models and DTOs

└── infrastructure/# Database schemas and connections

🧩 Challenges and How I Overcame Them

1. Authentication and Authorization

Challenge: Needed to implement secure role-based access while keeping the code maintainable and scalable:

• Protecting admin routes
• Managing user sessions
• Handling authentication errors

Solution: ✅ Created middleware-based authentication using Clerk with custom authorization:

// Separation of authentication and authorization concerns
// Authentication middleware
export const isAuthenticated = ClerkExpressRequireAuth();

// Authorization middleware
export const isAdmin = async (req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => {
  // Admin validation logic
};

// Usage in routes
productRouter
  .route("/")
  .get(getProducts)
  .post(isAuthenticated, isAdmin, createProduct);

Benefits:

• Clean separation of concerns
• Reusable middleware
• Easy to extend for new roles
• Consistent security across routes

2. Server Reliability

Challenge: Dealing with free-tier hosting limitations:

• Server sleep on inactivity
• Connection timeouts
• Database connection management

Solution: ✅ Implemented intelligent server management:

// Self-ping mechanism to prevent server sleep
setInterval(() => {
  fetch(`https://fed-storefront-backend-vihan.onrender.com/ping`)
    .then((res) => res.json())
    .then((data) => console.log("Self Ping Success:", data))
    .catch((err) => console.log("Self Ping Error:", err));
}, 600000); // Every 10 minutes

// Robust database connection
connectDB().then(() => {
  app.listen(PORT, () => {
    console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`);
  });
});

Benefits:

• Improved uptime
• Better reliability
• Automatic recovery
• Monitoring capability