DevConnector

A social network for developers built with the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js).

Features

• JWT-based authentication (register, login, logout)
• Developer profiles with skills, bio, work experience, education, and social links
• GitHub repository integration (displays latest repos on profile)
• Posts feed with likes and comments
• Gravatar avatar support

Tech Stack

Backend: Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Mongoose, JWT, bcryptjs Frontend: React, Redux, React Router, Axios

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v14+
• MongoDB Atlas account (or local MongoDB)

Installation

1. Clone the repo and install all dependencies (root + client):

npm install

2. Create config/default.json with your credentials (this file is gitignored):

{
    "mongoURI": "your_mongodb_connection_string",
    "jwtSecret": "your_jwt_secret",
    "githubToken": "your_github_personal_access_token"
}

Running the App

npm run dev        # start backend + frontend concurrently
npm run server     # backend only (port 5001)
npm run client     # frontend only (port 3000)

Open http://localhost:3000

API Endpoints

Auth

Method	Endpoint	Description	Access
POST	/api/users	Register new user	Public
POST	/api/auth	Login / get token	Public
GET	/api/auth	Get current user	Private

Profiles

Method	Endpoint	Description	Access
GET	/api/profile	Get all profiles	Public
GET	/api/profile/me	Get own profile	Private
GET	/api/profile/user/:user_id	Get profile by user ID	Public
POST	/api/profile	Create or update profile	Private
DELETE	/api/profile	Delete account & profile	Private
PUT	/api/profile/experience	Add experience	Private
DELETE	/api/profile/experience/:exp_id	Delete experience	Private
PUT	/api/profile/education	Add education	Private
DELETE	/api/profile/education/:edu_id	Delete education	Private
GET	/api/profile/github/:username	Get GitHub repos	Public

Posts

Method	Endpoint	Description	Access
GET	/api/posts	Get all posts	Private
POST	/api/posts	Create a post	Private
GET	/api/posts/:id	Get post by ID	Private
DELETE	/api/posts/:id	Delete a post	Private
PUT	/api/posts/like/:id	Like a post	Private
PUT	/api/posts/unlike/:id	Unlike a post	Private
POST	/api/posts/comment/:id	Add comment	Private
DELETE	/api/posts/comment/:id/:comment_id	Delete comment	Private

Deployment (Vercel)

Set the following environment variables in your Vercel project settings:

Variable	Description
MONGO_URI	MongoDB Atlas connection string
JWT_SECRET	Secret key for JWT signing
GITHUB_TOKEN	GitHub personal access token

Notes

• config/default.json and config/production.json are gitignored — never commit credentials
• The app uses the config package with custom-environment-variables.json to map env vars in production
• Port defaults to 5001 locally (port 5000 is reserved by macOS AirPlay Receiver)