Set up Express server and MongoDB connection

backend/middleware/rateLimiter.js

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+const rateLimit = require("express-rate-limit");
+
+const authLimiter = rateLimit({
+    windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000, 
+    max: 5, 
+
+    message: {
+        success: false,
+        message: "Too many login attempts. Please try again after 15 minutes."
+    },
+
+    standardHeaders: true,
+    legacyHeaders: false,
+});
+
+module.exports = authLimiter;

backend/package.json

@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@
     "cors": "^2.8.5",
     "dotenv": "^17.2.3",
     "express": "^5.2.1",
+    "express-rate-limit": "^8.5.2",
+    "express-slow-down": "^3.1.0",
+    "helmet": "^8.2.0",
     "jsonwebtoken": "^9.0.3",
     "mongoose": "^9.4.1",
     "multer": "^2.1.1",

backend/server.js

@@ -48,12 +48,17 @@ connectDB();
 
 const PORT = process.env.PORT || 5000;
 
-// Start server with error handling
-app
-  .listen(PORT, () => {
-    console.log(`server is started on port ${PORT}`);
-  })
-  .on("error", (err) => {
-    console.log("Server error:", err.message);
+async function startServer() {
+  try {
+    await connectDB();
+
+    app.listen(PORT, () => {
+      console.log(`🚀 Server started on port ${PORT}`);
+    });
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.log("Failed to start server:", err.message);
     process.exit(1);
-  });
+  }
+}
+
+startServer();