Small Capstone

1. RESTful Notes & Tagging API

Build a production-grade RESTful Notes API featuring user authentication, markdown note CRUD operations, tag filtering, and PostgreSQL storage with Prisma ORM.

Node.js

Express

TypeScript

PostgreSQL

Prisma

Zod

JWT

Bcrypt

Core Features & Requirements

JWT Authentication (Register, Login, Me)

Full CRUD operations for Notes with Markdown content

Tag assignment & tag filtering query parameters

Request body validation using Zod schemas

Centralized Error Handler and standard response wrapper

Recommended Production Directory Structure

notes-api/
├── prisma/
│   └── schema.prisma
├── src/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── env.ts
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── auth.controller.ts
│   │   └── notes.controller.ts
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── auth.middleware.ts
│   │   └── error.middleware.ts
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── auth.routes.ts
│   │   └── notes.routes.ts
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── notes.service.ts
│   ├── utils/
│   │   └── jwt.ts
│   └── app.ts
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Step-by-Step Implementation Guide

1Initialize Project & Dependencies

Set up package.json, install express, prisma, @prisma/client, jsonwebtoken, bcryptjs, zod, and typescript.

npm init -y
npm install express prisma @prisma/client jsonwebtoken bcryptjs zod dotenv
npm install -D typescript @types/node @types/express @types/jsonwebtoken @types/bcryptjs tsx

2Define Prisma Relational Schema

Create User and Note models with 1:N relations in prisma/schema.prisma.

model User {
  id        String   @id @default(uuid())
  email     String   @unique
  password  String
  notes     Note[]
  createdAt DateTime @default(now())
}

model Note {
  id        String   @id @default(uuid())
  title     String
  content   String
  tags      String[]
  userId    String
  user      User     @relation(fields: [userId], references: [id])
  createdAt DateTime @default(now())
}

3Build Authentication & Notes Controllers

Implement secure registration, bcrypt password hashing, JWT signing, and CRUD route controllers.