VideoTube Backend

A RESTful backend API for a video-sharing platform inspired by YouTube. The project provides APIs for user authentication, video management, comments, likes, playlists, subscriptions, tweets, and media uploads.

Tech Stack

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Mongoose
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• bcrypt
• Multer
• Cloudinary
• mongoose-aggregate-paginate-v2

Features

User Authentication

• User registration and login
• JWT-based authentication using access and refresh tokens
• Password hashing with bcrypt
• Cookie-based authentication
• Protected routes
• Authorization and ownership checks
• User logout

Video Management

• Publish videos with thumbnails
• Retrieve all videos
• Retrieve individual videos
• Update video details
• Delete videos
• Toggle video publish status
• Pagination and sorting
• Keyword-based video search

Comments

• Add comments to videos
• Retrieve comments for a video
• Update comments
• Delete comments
• Paginated comment retrieval

Likes

• Like or unlike videos
• Like or unlike tweets
• Like or unlike comments
• Retrieve videos liked by a user

Playlists

• Create playlists
• Update playlists
• Delete playlists
• Retrieve playlists by ID
• Add videos to playlists
• Remove videos from playlists
• Retrieve a user's playlists

Subscriptions

• Subscribe and unsubscribe from channels
• Retrieve channels a user is subscribed to
• Retrieve subscribers of a channel

Tweets

• Create tweets
• Retrieve a user's tweets
• Update tweets
• Delete tweets

Health Check

• Health-check endpoint for verifying API availability

Database and Aggregation

The application uses MongoDB with Mongoose for data modeling and relationships between users, videos, comments, likes, playlists, subscriptions, and tweets.

MongoDB aggregation pipelines are used for queries that require data from multiple collections.

The application uses aggregation stages such as:

• $match
• $lookup
• $addFields
• $project
• $sort

Aggregation-based pagination is also used for endpoints that return collections of related data.

Media Uploads

Multer is used to handle multipart form-data before media files are uploaded to Cloudinary.

The upload flow supports:

• Video uploads
• User avatars
• Cover images
• Video thumbnails
• Multiple file fields
• Temporary local file cleanup

Project Structure

The backend follows a modular structure separating routes, controllers, models, middleware, database configuration, and utility functions.

src/
├── controllers/
├── db/
├── middlewares/
├── models/
├── routes/
├── utils/
├── app.js
└── index.js

API Endpoints

A complete Postman collection containing the API requests is included in the docs directory.

Users

POST /user/register

Register a new user.

POST /user/login

Authenticate a user.

POST /user/logout

Log out the current user.

Videos

POST /videos

Publish a video.

GET /videos

Retrieve videos.

GET /videos/:videoId

Retrieve a video by ID.

PATCH /videos/:videoId

Update video details.

DELETE /videos/:videoId

Delete a video.

PATCH /videos/toggle/publish/:videoId

Toggle video publish status.

Comments

GET /comments/:videoId

Retrieve comments for a video.

POST /comments/:videoId

Add a comment.

PATCH /comments/c/:commentId

Update a comment.

DELETE /comments/c/:commentId

Delete a comment.

Likes

POST /likes/toggle/v/:videoId

Like or unlike a video.

POST /likes/toggle/t/:tweetId

Like or unlike a tweet.

POST /likes/toggle/c/:commentId

Like or unlike a comment.

GET /likes/liked-videos

Retrieve liked videos.

Playlists

POST /playlists

Create a playlist.

PATCH /playlists/:playlistId

Update a playlist.

GET /playlists/:playlistId

Retrieve a playlist.

DELETE /playlists/:playlistId

Delete a playlist.

PATCH /playlists/:playlistId/:videoId

Add a video to a playlist.

DELETE /playlists/:playlistId/:videoId

Remove a video from a playlist.

GET /playlists/user/:userId

Retrieve a user's playlists.

Subscriptions

GET /subscriptions/u/:subscriberId

Retrieve channels subscribed to by a user.

GET /subscriptions/c/:userId

Retrieve subscribers of a channel.

PATCH /subscriptions/c/:userId

Toggle a channel subscription.

Tweets

POST /tweets

Create a tweet.

GET /tweets/:userId

Retrieve a user's tweets.

PATCH /tweets/:tweetId

Update a tweet.

DELETE /tweets/:tweetId

Delete a tweet.

Health Check

GET /healthcheck

Check API availability.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Make sure you have:

• Node.js
• npm
• MongoDB
• A Cloudinary account

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/videotube-backend.git
cd videotube-backend

Install dependencies:

npm install

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root.

PORT=8000

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string

CORS_ORIGIN=your_frontend_origin

ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY=1d

REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your_refresh_token_secret
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY=10d

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret

Run Locally

Start the development server:

npm run dev

For production:

npm start

Postman Collection

A Postman collection containing the API requests is included in the repository.

docs/
└── videotube.postman_collection.json

The collection is organized into the following sections:

• Users
• Videos
• Comments
• Likes
• Playlists
• Subscriptions
• Tweets
• Health Check

Import the collection into Postman and configure the required environment variables before testing the API.

Engineering Highlights

Authentication and Authorization

Implemented JWT-based authentication with access and refresh tokens, password hashing using bcrypt, protected routes, and authorization checks for user-owned resources.

MongoDB Aggregation

Used MongoDB aggregation pipelines for queries involving multiple collections and related data.

Aggregation stages such as $match, $lookup, $addFields, $project, and $sort are used to retrieve and shape API responses.

Pagination and Querying

Implemented pagination, sorting, and keyword-based querying for API endpoints that return collections of data.

Media Processing

Built a media upload pipeline using Multer and Cloudinary for handling user images, video thumbnails, and video files.

Modular API Design

Separated application logic into controllers, routes, models, middleware, database configuration, and utility modules to keep the backend organized and maintainable.

Future Improvements

• Automated API testing
• Rate limiting
• Redis caching
• Improved search
• Performance monitoring
• Docker containerization
• CI/CD pipeline
• Frontend client
• OpenAPI/Swagger API documentation

License

This project is intended for learning and portfolio purposes.

VideoTube Backend

A RESTful backend API for a video-sharing platform inspired by YouTube. The project provides APIs for user authentication, video management, comments, likes, playlists, subscriptions, tweets, and media uploads.

Tech Stack

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Mongoose
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• bcrypt
• Multer
• Cloudinary
• mongoose-aggregate-paginate-v2

Features

User Authentication

• User registration and login
• JWT-based authentication using access and refresh tokens
• Password hashing with bcrypt
• Cookie-based authentication
• Protected routes
• Authorization and ownership checks
• User logout

Video Management

• Publish videos with thumbnails
• Retrieve all videos
• Retrieve individual videos
• Update video details
• Delete videos
• Toggle video publish status
• Pagination and sorting
• Keyword-based video search

Comments

• Add comments to videos
• Retrieve comments for a video
• Update comments
• Delete comments
• Paginated comment retrieval

Likes

• Like or unlike videos
• Like or unlike tweets
• Like or unlike comments
• Retrieve videos liked by a user

Playlists

• Create playlists
• Update playlists
• Delete playlists
• Retrieve playlists by ID
• Add videos to playlists
• Remove videos from playlists
• Retrieve a user's playlists

Subscriptions

• Subscribe and unsubscribe from channels
• Retrieve channels a user is subscribed to
• Retrieve subscribers of a channel

Tweets

• Create tweets
• Retrieve a user's tweets
• Update tweets
• Delete tweets

Health Check

• Health-check endpoint for verifying API availability

Database and Aggregation

The application uses MongoDB with Mongoose for data modeling and relationships between users, videos, comments, likes, playlists, subscriptions, and tweets.

MongoDB aggregation pipelines are used for queries that require data from multiple collections.

The application uses aggregation stages such as:

• $match
• $lookup
• $addFields
• $project
• $sort

Aggregation-based pagination is also used for endpoints that return collections of related data.

Media Uploads

Multer is used to handle multipart form-data before media files are uploaded to Cloudinary.

The upload flow supports:

• Video uploads
• User avatars
• Cover images
• Video thumbnails
• Multiple file fields
• Temporary local file cleanup

Project Structure

The backend follows a modular structure separating routes, controllers, models, middleware, database configuration, and utility functions.

src/
├── controllers/
├── db/
├── middlewares/
├── models/
├── routes/
├── utils/
├── app.js
└── index.js

API Endpoints

A complete Postman collection containing the API requests is included in the docs directory.

Users

POST /user/register

Register a new user.

POST /user/login

Authenticate a user.

POST /user/logout

Log out the current user.

Videos

POST /videos

Publish a video.

GET /videos

Retrieve videos.

GET /videos/:videoId

Retrieve a video by ID.

PATCH /videos/:videoId

Update video details.

DELETE /videos/:videoId

Delete a video.

PATCH /videos/toggle/publish/:videoId

Toggle video publish status.

Comments

GET /comments/:videoId

Retrieve comments for a video.

POST /comments/:videoId

Add a comment.

PATCH /comments/c/:commentId

Update a comment.

DELETE /comments/c/:commentId

Delete a comment.

Likes

POST /likes/toggle/v/:videoId

Like or unlike a video.

POST /likes/toggle/t/:tweetId

Like or unlike a tweet.

POST /likes/toggle/c/:commentId

Like or unlike a comment.

GET /likes/liked-videos

Retrieve liked videos.

Playlists

POST /playlists

Create a playlist.

PATCH /playlists/:playlistId

Update a playlist.

GET /playlists/:playlistId

Retrieve a playlist.

DELETE /playlists/:playlistId

Delete a playlist.

PATCH /playlists/:playlistId/:videoId

Add a video to a playlist.

DELETE /playlists/:playlistId/:videoId

Remove a video from a playlist.

GET /playlists/user/:userId

Retrieve a user's playlists.

Subscriptions

GET /subscriptions/u/:subscriberId

Retrieve channels subscribed to by a user.

GET /subscriptions/c/:userId

Retrieve subscribers of a channel.

PATCH /subscriptions/c/:userId

Toggle a channel subscription.

Tweets

POST /tweets

Create a tweet.

GET /tweets/:userId

Retrieve a user's tweets.

PATCH /tweets/:tweetId

Update a tweet.

DELETE /tweets/:tweetId

Delete a tweet.

Health Check

GET /healthcheck

Check API availability.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Make sure you have:

• Node.js
• npm
• MongoDB
• A Cloudinary account

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/videotube-backend.git
cd videotube-backend

Install dependencies:

npm install

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root.

PORT=8000

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string

CORS_ORIGIN=your_frontend_origin

ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY=1d

REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your_refresh_token_secret
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY=10d

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret

For other developers, you can provide a .env.example file containing only placeholder values.

Run Locally

Start the development server:

npm run dev

For production:

npm start

Postman Collection

A Postman collection containing the API requests is included in the repository.

docs/
└── videotube.postman_collection.json

The collection is organized into the following sections:

• Users
• Videos
• Comments
• Likes
• Playlists
• Subscriptions
• Tweets
• Health Check

Import the collection into Postman and configure the required environment variables before testing the API.

Engineering Highlights

Authentication and Authorization

Implemented JWT-based authentication with access and refresh tokens, password hashing using bcrypt, protected routes, and authorization checks for user-owned resources.

MongoDB Aggregation

Used MongoDB aggregation pipelines for queries involving multiple collections and related data.

Aggregation stages such as $match, $lookup, $addFields, $project, and $sort are used to retrieve and shape API responses.

Pagination and Querying

Implemented pagination, sorting, and keyword-based querying for API endpoints that return collections of data.

Media Processing

Built a media upload pipeline using Multer and Cloudinary for handling user images, video thumbnails, and video files.

Modular API Design

Separated application logic into controllers, routes, models, middleware, database configuration, and utility modules to keep the backend organized and maintainable.

Future Improvements

• Automated API testing
• Rate limiting
• Redis caching
• Improved search
• Performance monitoring
• Docker containerization
• CI/CD pipeline
• Frontend client
• OpenAPI/Swagger API documentation

License

This project is intended for learning and portfolio purposes.

c304de9 (Add frontend service layer)