🐾 RareKind – Backend API

RareKind is a backend Express.js API that powers a platform where users can showcase their exotic animals and browse collections created by others.

This repository pairs with the RareKind Frontend.

API documentation is available here.

The backend is deployed on Railway, uses MySQL, and integrates Cloudinary for image hosting.

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📝 Overview

RareKind provides a complete API for:

• User authentication
• Creating and managing collections
• Adding animals into collections
• Retrieving collections including full animal objects
• Image upload support via Cloudinary

The database schema was collaboratively designed using dbdiagram.io

And visualised using MySQL Workbench.

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🛠️ Installation Guide

📌 Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed on your system:

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• npm (v6 or higher)
• MySQL (v8 or higher)
• MySQL Workbench (optional, for visual DB inspection)

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📦 Install Dependencies

npm install

Environmental Variables

Create a .env file in the root of your project. Below is the exact format required for this application:

JWT_SECRET=
REFRESH_SECRET=

MYSQL_HOST=
MYSQL_PORT=53093
MYSQL_USER=root
MYSQL_PASSWORD=
MYSQL_DATABASE=railway

CORS_ORIGIN=

🗄️ Database Setup

SQL for creating the database

• Script

🚀 Running the Server

To start the backend:

npm start

🔍 Testing the Endpoints

Once the server is running, you can test routes using Postman

🖥️ Features

👤 Authentication

• User registration
• Login with JWT
• Hashed passwords (bcrypt)

📁 Collections

• Full CRUD operations
• Each collection automatically includes its animals

🐍 Animals

• Add animals to a collection
• Retrieve all animals in a specific collection
• Includes classification, description, and Cloudinary image URLs
• Frontend receives full objects

🌐 Project Workflow

• MySQL database hosted on Railway
• Backend deployed via Railway
• Schema drafted in dbdiagram.io
• Database visualised in MySQL Workbench

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🎨 Architecture

RareKind follows a clean and scalable Express.js structure:

• Models — handle SQL queries
• Controllers — business logic
• Routes — API endpoints
• Middleware — JWT validation, error handling
• Cloudinary integration — secure image uploads

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⚙️ Technologies Used

Backend Core

• Node.js
• Express.js
• mysql2
• dotenv
• cors
• cookie-parser

Authentication & Security

• jsonwebtoken
• bcryptjs

Media Handling

• Cloudinary

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🗄️ Database Design

Tools Used

• dbdiagram.io
• MySQL Workbench

Tables

• users
• collections
• animals
• classifications
• classification_animal

SQL for creating the database

• Script

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Testing

When testing endpoints we used an extension on VS code called Postman.

The Screenshot below shows testing the endpoint /auth/register

🚀 Deployment

RareKind is deployed on Railway, featuring:

• Backend service
• MySQL production database
• Automatic builds and deploys
• Secure environment variables

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Documentation Update Checklist

Whenever we change database tables, models, controllers, or endpoints, update:

• Database schema /docs/rarekind_db
• models /src/models/
• controllers /src/controllers/
• routes /src/routes/
• API Documentation /docs/RareFind.yaml
• README endpoint Examples

🤝 Authors

Backend

• Yash Magane
• Yorick Brown

Frontend

• Louise Aldridge
• Matt Nightingale