📌 Praella Task Management System

A full-stack task management system with project-based task creation, authentication, and comment support — built for Praella Assessment using Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, and Tailwind CSS.

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🌍 Live URLs

• 🖥️ Frontend: https://praella-task-management-system.vercel.app
• (May experience occasional load issues due to limitations of free-tier hosting)
• 🔗 Backend: https://praella-task-management-system-1.onrender.com

🌐 Custom Domain (AWS)

• 🖥️ Frontend (Custom - Vercel): https://praella-task-managment-ui.score-book.com
• (Runs smoothly and loads faster as it's connected to our custom AWS infrastructure)
• 🔗 Backend (Custom - AWS EC2 + NGINX + PM2): https://praella-task-managment.score-book.com
• (Deployed on our own AWS EC2 instance with optimized performance and uptime)

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🛠️ Tech Stack Used

🔧 Backend

• Node.js v20.5.1
• Express v5.1.0
• PostgreSQL via pg@8.16.0
• bcrypt 6.0.0
• jsonwebtoken 9.0.2 (for Authentication)
• multer 2.0.1 & multer-s3 3.0.1 (for file uploads)
• AWS SDK v2 2.1692.0 and AWS SDK v3 @aws-sdk/client-s3@3.832.0, @aws-sdk/s3-request-presigner@3.832.0
• dotenv 16.5.0 (for environment variables)
• cors 2.8.5, express-validator 7.2.1
• nodemon 3.1.10
• jest 30.0.0, supertest 7.1.1
• node-pg-migrate 7.7.1

🎨 Frontend

• React v19.1.0
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS v4.1.10
• Vite v6.3.5
• React Router DOM v7.6.2
• Lucide React
• Axios

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⚙️ Project Setup Instructions (locally)

🔧 Backend Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Danish-Belal/praella_task_management_system.git
cd praella-task-management-system/backend

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Create Environment File

Inside the /backend directory, create a file named .env and add the following content:

  DATABASE_URL="your_postgresql_connection_string"  (from neon db)
  PORT=3000
  JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
  
  AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_aws_access_key
  AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_aws_secret_key
  AWS_REGION=your_aws_region
  S3_BUCKET=your_bucket_name
  
  FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:5173
  NODE_ENV=DEVELOPMENT  (for deploy, set production)

4. Run Migrations

npx node-pg-migrate up

5. Start the Development Server

npm run dev

🎨 Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to Frontend Folder

cd ../frontend

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Create Environment File

Inside the /frontend directory, create a file named .env and add the following content:

VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000/api

5. Start the Development Server

npm run dev

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🧪 Sample Data for Local Testing

To load test data into your local PostgreSQL database, run:

psql -U your_db_user -d your_db_name -f backend/sample.sql

This will insert a test user, a demo project, one task, and one comment.

📬 Postman API Collection

A complete Postman collection is provided to help you quickly test the API endpoints.

🗂️ Location: postman_collection.json (in the root of this repository)

You can import it into Postman using:

1. Open Postman
2. Click on Import
3. Select the file postman_collection.json from the project root
4. Use the test credentials or register a new user to authenticate requests

This collection includes:

• Auth APIs (Signup/Login)
• Project & Task CRUD
• Comments

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🧪 Test Credentials (For Deployed Version Only)

Use the following credentials only on the deployed URLs:

• Email: danishexplore019@gmail.com
• Password: Danish*111

⚠️ These credentials are set up only for demo purposes on the live deployment. They may not work in your local environment without seed data.

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✅ Features Implemented

• 👤 Authentication

  • Signup with name/email/password
  • Login and receive token
  • Authenticated route protection
  • Logout clears session

• 📁 Projects

  • Create, update, delete projects
  • Fetch project list on login

• ✅ Tasks

  • Add tasks to specific project (Only project owner can)
  • Edit, update, delete tasks
  • Priority, deadline, and status support

• 💬 Comments (Only project owner can)

  • Add comments to tasks and can also attach file (Max-5MB)
  • Delete comments

• 🔔 Toasts

  • Visual feedback on every action (success/fail)

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🧠 My Approach & Reflections

I structured the backend using the MVC pattern and focused on keeping controller logic clean and testable. I ensured API security using JWT tokens, and used pg along with node-pg-migrate for handling database schemas and migrations. On the frontend, I followed modular component architecture using React + Vite, styled using Tailwind CSS for rapid development, and ensured responsiveness across devices.

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✅ What Went Well

• Clean and consistent REST API design
• Secure authentication with role-based token handling
• Frontend structure with reusable and modular components
• Neatly managed forms, validations, and UI feedback (toast)
• attaching files on aws s3 bucket and retriving it.
• Hosred on AWS ec2 instancw with custome domain.
• Implemented ci/ci pipeline to auto deploy on aws machine

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❌ What Could Be Improved

• Multiple users can be assigned a single project to work together.
• Didn’t implement CI/CD pipelines or custom domain setup (In Progress) --> (Done now) Added an ci/cd pipeline to auto deploy whenever backend files changes.)
• Self-hosted deployment flow (with own infrastructure) was not completed (Done Now)

✅ Note: File upload to AWS S3 is already implemented and tested successfully.

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🧩 Issues Faced

• CORS configuration issues between frontend (Vercel) and backend (Render)
• Managing AWS credentials securely across environments
• File upload region mismatch and S3 bucket permission handling in dev vs prod
• Sort of time, to many thigs to imporve.

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⏱️ Estimated Completion Time

~14 to 16 hours, including development, testing, and deployment.

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🚀 Self-Hosting on AWS (Backend Deployment Guide)

Want to host the backend on your own cloud infrastructure? Follow this guide to deploy the Express backend on an AWS EC2 instance with a custom domain, SSL, and persistent process management.

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✅ Prerequisites

• A GitHub repo for your backend
• A domain name (e.g., from Namecheap)
• AWS account with EC2 permissions
• PEM key file for SSH login

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🔧 1. Create an EC2 Instance (Ubuntu)

• Launch a new EC2 instance (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
• Set inbound rules to allow ports: 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)
• Download and use the .pem key to connect:

ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-public-ip

📦 2. Install Required Software

  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
  
  # Install Node.js & npm
  curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
  sudo apt install -y nodejs
  
  # Install Git
  sudo apt install git
  
  # Install PM2 globally
  npm install -g pm2

📁 3. Clone Your Backend Repository

 git clone https://github.com/Danish-Belal/praella_task_management_system.git
 cd praella-task-management-system/backend

🔐 4. Add Environment Variables

Create a .env file:

touch .env
nano .env

Add Secrets in .env

DATABASE_URL="your_postgresql_connection_string"  (from neon db)
  PORT=3000
  JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
  
  AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_aws_access_key
  AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_aws_secret_key
  AWS_REGION=your_aws_region
  S3_BUCKET=your_bucket_name
  
 # FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:5173    #uncomment this if you want to run from local.
 # NODE_ENV=DEVELOPMENT  (for deploy, set production)

 FRONTEND_URL= your vercel frontend link, your custom domain frontend link.  #if you want to run your frontend from a hosted link
 NODE_ENV=Production

📦 5. Install Dependencies

npm install

🚀 6. Start Backend with PM2

pm2 start server.js --name backend
pm2 startup
pm2 save

🌐 7. Setup NGINX Reverse Proxy

sudo apt install nginx
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Paste this configuration:

events {}

http {
  server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-subdomain.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
      proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;    
      proxy_http_version 1.1;
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
      proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
      proxy_set_header Host $host;
      proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
  }
}

Test & reload:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

🔒 8. Add HTTPS with Certbot

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-subdomain.yourdomain.com

Follow prompts to complete SSL setup

Certbot auto-renews the certificate every 90 days

🌍 9. Connect Domain to AWS

Go to your domain provider (e.g., Namecheap):

 Add an A Record:
Host: your-subdomain
Value: your-ec2-public-ip
TTL: Automatic

🧪 10. Verify Everything

curl -I https://your-subdomain.yourdomain.com
curl http://localhost:3000

🔁 Restart on Changes

pm2 restart backend

✅ Deployment Summary

You’ve now successfully deployed your backend to AWS with the following setup:

• Custom Domain
• HTTPS (SSL) via Let’s Encrypt
• NGINX as a Reverse Proxy
• PM2 for Node.js Process Management

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✅ Next Steps

• ✅ Hit your backend URL in the browser or via Postman
• 🌐 Example: https://your-subdomain.yourdomain.com/api/auth/login
• 🔐 Test login with valid credentials to confirm everything works

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🧑‍💻 Built & Developed By

Crafted with focus, clean code, and attention to detail by Danish Belal.

For any queries, feel free to reach out on danishexplore019@gmail.com.