Happy Thoughts API 💬❤️

This is a RESTful API built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB for a “Happy Thoughts” application. Users can sign up, log in, post happy thoughts, like them, and manage their own posts.

The API is deployed on Render and connected to MongoDB Atlas.

🚀 Features

User authentication (signup & login) Secure password hashing Create, read, update, and delete thoughts Like thoughts Ownership protection (users can only edit/delete their own posts) API documentation endpoint Deployed online

🛠️ Tech Stack Node.js Express.js MongoDB + Mongoose bcryptjs (password hashing) dotenv (environment variables) express-list-endpoints

CORS

🧠 Data Models User Model

email (unique) password (hashed) accessToken

HappyThought Model

message (5–140 chars) hearts (number) createdAt userId (reference to User)

🔒 Security

Passwords are hashed using bcrypt Access tokens are stored securely Protected routes require authentication Users can only edit/delete their own posts

❗ Error Handling

The API returns meaningful status codes: 400 Bad Request 401 Unauthorized 403 Forbidden 404 Not Found 500 Server Error

This project was built to practice:

REST APIs Authentication MongoDB Full-stack integration Deployment