Project README

This is a basic Node.js authentication API using Express, MongoDB, and JSON Web Tokens (JWT). It provides endpoints for user registration, login, and a welcome message for authenticated users.

Requirements

Make sure you have the following software installed:

Node.js
MongoDB or MongoDB Compass (for database management)
Postman (for API testing)

Installation

Clone this repository to your local machine.
Navigate to the project directory.
Install the dependencies by running the following command:
```
npm install
```
Create a .env file in the project root and set the following environment variables:
```
API_PORT=4001
MONGO_URI=<your MongoDB connection URI>
TOKEN_KEY=<your secret token key>
```
Replace <your MongoDB connection URI> with your actual MongoDB connection string and <your secret token key> with your own secret key for signing JSON Web Tokens.

Usage

To start the server, run the following command:

npm start

The server will start running at http://localhost:4001.

Endpoints

POST /register - Register a new user. Requires the following parameters in the request body: first_name, last_name, email, and password. Upon successful registration, a JSON response with the user object and a token will be returned.
POST /login - Log in an existing user. Requires the following parameters in the request body: email and password. If the credentials are valid, a JSON response with the user object and a token will be returned.
GET /welcome - A protected route that requires authentication. Sends a welcome message for authenticated users. Requires a valid JSON Web Token (JWT) to be included in the request headers as x-access-token.

Note: To access the protected /welcome endpoint, you need to include the token in the request headers. You can obtain the token by registering or logging in.

Code Structure

database.js - Connects to the MongoDB database using Mongoose.
user.js - Defines the user schema using Mongoose.
auth.js - Middleware function to verify the JWT token.
app.js - Express application file containing the API routes and logic.
index.js - Entry point file that starts the server.

Feel free to explore and modify the code as per your requirements.

Testing

You can use a tool like Postman to test the API endpoints. Here are some example requests:

POST /register - Register a new user:

POST http://localhost:4001/register

Body:
{
  "first_name": "John",
  "last_name": "Doe",
  "email": "johndoe@example.com",
  "password": "password123"
}

POST /login - Log in an existing user:

POST http://localhost:4001/login

Body:
{
  "email": "johndoe@example.com",
  "password": "password123"
}

GET /welcome - Access the protected welcome route:

GET http://localhost:4001/welcome

Headers:
x-access-token: <token>

Replace <token> in the x-access-token header with the JWT token obtained from the registration or login response.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find any issues or want to add new features, feel free to open a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Mr-Unforgettable/JWT_Auth_API