🎬 WatchNest Backend

WatchNest is a web application designed to track and list your favorite entertainment media—movies, series, anime, etc.—and provide a platform for community-driven features.

This backend repository, built with Express and TypeScript, powers the application with secure routes for user management, list tracking, and external API integration (TMDB, Kitsu, OMDB).

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📚 Table of Contents

• Features
• Technologies Used
• Project Structure
• Routes
• Schema Overview
• Installation and Setup
• Usage
• What I Learned
• Project Reflection
• Author

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🚀 Features

🔐 Authentication and Authorization

• JWT-based authentication
• Access tokens stored in Redis
• Refresh tokens stored in MongoDB

👤 User Management

• Public & Private user profiles
• Search users by name or username
• Add/remove tags
• Friend system with shared lists

📝 List and Item Management

• Lists: Thematic, status-based, or custom
• Items: With custom notes, tags, ratings
• Advanced list operations like intersecting items across lists
• Collaborative & sharable lists

🌐 External API Integration

• TMDB, Kitsu, and OMDB support

🧪 Testing and Validation

• API testing with Vitest
• Input validation using Joi

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🛠 Technologies Used

• Node.js + Express
• TypeScript
• MongoDB + Mongoose
• Redis
• JWT
• Joi
• Vitest
• External APIs (TMDB, Kitsu, OMDB)

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📁 Project Structure

/watchnest-backend
├── src
│   ├── @types           # Custom TypeScript types
│   ├── helpers          # Utility functions
│   ├── middlewares      # Auth, error, and validation layers
│   ├── models           # Mongoose schemas (User, List, Item)
│   ├── routers          # Express route handlers
│   └── utils            # Shared utilities
├── tests                # Vitest unit tests
├── app.ts               # Main server entry
├── package.json         # Project metadata
└── README.md            # This file

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📡 Routes

🔐 Authentication

• POST /auth/register
• POST /auth/login
• POST /auth/refresh

📂 Lists

• GET /lists/:listId?type=statusBased|themeBased
• POST /lists
• PUT /lists/updatePrivacy/:listId
• DELETE /lists/:listId?type=statusBased|themeBased

👥 Users

• GET /users/search/:query?type=name|username
• DELETE /users/
• PUT /users/update?queryType=name|username|email|profileType
• PUT /users/updatePassword
• PUT /users/tag?queryType=add|remove
• GET /users/tags

🎞 Items

• GET /lists/:listId/items
• POST /lists/:listId/items
• PUT /lists/:listId/items/:itemId
• DELETE /lists/:listId/items/:itemId

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🧬 Schema Overview

👤 User Schema

Fields: name, username, email, password, profileType, tags, friends, lists, sharedLists, etc.

📂 List Schema

Fields: name, type, privacy, items, sublists, updatedAt, etc.

🎬 Item Schema

Fields: mediaId, title, information, customNotes, tags, userRating, anticipation, etc.

Includes complex media info like rating, posterImage, genres, and allows queries like:

“Find items present in both ‘Top Anime’ and ‘Top Hindi Movies’ lists”

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⚙️ Installation and Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/hemantsinghdev/watchnest-server
cd watchnest-backend

2. Install Dependencies

npm install
# or
yarn install

3. Environment Configuration

Create a .env file and configure:

• MongoDB URI
• Redis connection
• JWT secrets
• Port

4. Start Development Server

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev

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🧪 Usage

Use Postman or Insomnia to test the REST API endpoints for:

• Registering/logging in users
• Creating and sharing lists
• Adding items to lists
• Searching for users
• Updating or deleting accounts

A full API reference will be added soon.

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💡 What I Learned

This backend project helped me grasp many real-world skills:

• Designing large-scale backend apps in a modular way
• Working with complex NoSQL schema design (Mongoose)
• Handling multi-user systems with role separation and privacy
• Using Redis for token/session optimization
• Writing REST APIs that are structured and scalable
• Validating input with Joi and testing routes using Vitest
• Integrating external APIs and mapping them into my own data model

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🧠 Project Reflection

This project was ambitious from the start.

I designed a full backend system — including authentication, list logic, social features, and API integrations — without first carefully finalizing the database structure and use-case flows.

That lack of planning caused significant confusion during the modeling phase. I rewrote many parts of the schema, and by the time I completed the backend, I was mentally exhausted from trying to fix its foundational issues.

As a result, I never finished building the frontend — and the project was left incomplete.

Still, this was one of my most valuable learning experiences, especially around:

• Planning before building
• How critical schema clarity is in backend projects
• The importance of pacing and maintaining motivation

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👨‍💻 Author

Created as part of my full-stack development learning journey by Hemant Singh