Quiz App Backend

Backend API for a quiz/testing platform built with Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and Mongoose.

Features

• User authentication with JWT (sign-up, sign-in, sign-out)
• Role-aware access (admin, teacher, student)
• Test creation and publishing
• Question creation and assignment to tests
• Student enrollment for private tests
• Fetch available tests by role

Tech Stack

• Node.js (ES Modules)
• Express
• MongoDB + Mongoose
• JWT (jsonwebtoken)
• Password hashing (bcryptjs)

Prerequisites

• Node.js >=20.19.0 (required by mongoose@9.x)
• npm
• MongoDB connection string

Getting Started

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Create a .env file in the project root:

PORT=5500
SERVER_URL=http://localhost:5500
MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=1d

3. Start in development mode:

npm run dev

4. Or run in normal mode:

npm start

The app currently listens on http://localhost:5500.

Scripts

• npm run dev - run with nodemon
• npm start - run with node app.js

API Base URL

/api/v1

Authentication

Protected routes require:

Authorization: Bearer <token>

Token is returned from POST /api/v1/auth/sign-in.

Endpoints

Auth

• POST /api/v1/auth/sign-up - Create a user
• POST /api/v1/auth/sign-in - Sign in and get JWT token
• POST /api/v1/auth/sign-out - Sign out (stateless response)

Users

• GET /api/v1/users - Get all users
• GET /api/v1/users/:id - Get single user (auth required)
• PATCH /api/v1/users/update/:id - Update user (auth required)

Tests

• POST /api/v1/tests/create - Create test (teacher/admin)
• PATCH /api/v1/tests/:id/publish - Update/publish test (teacher/admin)
• POST /api/v1/tests/:id/questions - Add question to test (teacher/admin)
• POST /api/v1/tests/:id/enroll - Enroll student by email (teacher/admin)
• GET /api/v1/tests/available - Get available tests by role (auth required)

Example Request Bodies

POST /api/v1/auth/sign-up

{
  "firstName": "Jane",
  "lastName": "Doe",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "password": "secret123",
  "role": "student"
}

POST /api/v1/auth/sign-in

{
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "password": "secret123"
}

POST /api/v1/tests/create

{
  "title": "Intro to Biology",
  "description": "Week 1 quiz",
  "duration": 30,
  "visibility": "public",
  "status": "draft",
  "startTime": "2026-03-07T09:00:00.000Z",
  "endTime": "2026-03-07T09:30:00.000Z"
}

POST /api/v1/tests/:id/questions

{
  "testId": "TEST_OBJECT_ID",
  "questionText": "What is 2 + 2?",
  "type": "single",
  "options": [
    { "text": "3", "isCorrect": false },
    { "text": "4", "isCorrect": true }
  ],
  "points": 1
}

Error Response Format

Most errors are returned as:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Error message"
}

Project Structure

backend/
  app.js
  config/
  controllers/
  database/
  middleware/
  models/
  routes/

Current Implementation Notes

• app.js currently uses a hardcoded port (5500) instead of PORT from .env.
• POST /api/v1/tests/:id/questions reads testId from request body.
• POST /api/v1/tests/:id/enroll has query/model mismatches that may affect enrollment flow.

License

MIT - see LICENSE.