NWU Student Market Backend — Team Getting Started Guide

This is the starter backend project for the NWU Student Market. It provides a foundation for building a student marketplace API using Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL.

Features

• Node.js + Express API
• PostgreSQL database
• Docker support for PostgreSQL (optional)
• ESLint + Prettier for code quality
• Jest + Supertest for testing

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/MrNiffler/nwu-student-market.git cd nwu-student-market-backend

2. Install dependencies:

Open the folder and navigate into the BACKEND part -> \nwu-student-market\BACKEND Here right click in this folder run this in powershell(command prompt) -> npm install

3. Set up environment variables:

   • Copy .env.example to .env (e.g., cp .env.example .env on Linux/Mac)
   • Or manually create .env in project root and copy the values replacing username and password with your POSTGRESQL credentials.

4. Start the backend server:

   npm run dev

   • The server should run on http://localhost:5000 can check by running in browser.
   • Root endpoint: GET / returns a success message
   • Health endpoint: GET /api/health returns DB status

5. Database:

   • Tables already created: users, listings
   • Use pgAdmin or Docker to manage PostgreSQL
   • If using Docker, run: docker-compose up -d

6. Workflow:

   • Always create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-task
   • Make changes, commit, push
   • Open a pull request to merge into main
   • Do not commit .vs/, node_modules/, or .env files

7. Running tests:

   npm test

8. Notes:

   • ESLint + Prettier are already configured — follow the rules
   • Only main branch should be protected; work on feature branches
   • Contact Phill Nel (MRNiffler) for questions