🔐 Authly – Secure Auth System (MERN)

A full-stack authentication system with Email OTP verification, password reset, JWT protection, and clean UI using Bootstrap.

🚀 Features

• 🔐 User Signup + Login with JWT
• 📧 OTP Verification via Email during Signup
• 🛡️ Protected Dashboard (Private Route)
• 🔁 Forgot Password with Email Reset Link
• 🎨 Bootstrap 5 UI + Toast Notifications
• 🔒 Secure Password Hashing using bcrypt
• ✉️ Nodemailer-based Email Service
• 🧠 Temporary in-memory store for OTP
• 🗂️ Fully structured: frontend/ + backend/

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🧪 How to Run the Project Locally

1. 📦 Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Krishit-Shah/authly.git
cd authly

2.⚙️ Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install

📁 Create a .env file inside backend/ with the following environment variables:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/authly
JWT_SECRET=supersecretkey
EMAIL_USER=your_email@gmail.com
EMAIL_PASS=your_app_password
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:3000

🔐 Note: Use a Gmail App Password if you have 2FA enabled.

Start the backend server:

npm start

🌐 Server runs at: http://localhost:5000

3.💻 Frontend Setup

cd ../frontend
npm install
npm start

🌐 Frontend runs at: http://localhost:3000

4.📦 Installed Dependencies

🔧 Backend

• express
• mongoose
• dotenv
• bcryptjs
• jsonwebtoken
• nodemailer
• cors

npm install express mongoose dotenv bcryptjs jsonwebtoken nodemailer cors

💻 Frontend

• react
• react-dom
• react-router-dom
• axios
• react-toastify
• bootstrap

npm install react react-dom react-router-dom axios react-toastify bootstrap

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🛠️ Tech Stack

🔧 Frontend	⚙️ Backend	🔐 Security	🧰 Tools
React	Node.js	JWT	Toastify
Bootstrap 5	Express	Bcrypt.js	Nodemailer
React Router	MongoDB	OTP Emails	Dotenv

👨‍💻 Author

Krishit Shah

• A complete MERN stack authentication solution built with a focus on security, scalability, and clean architecture.

📄 License

• This project is free to use for learning and educational purposes.

📝 Contributing

• Contributions are welcome. Please submit a pull request with your changes.

🚨 Issues

• Please report any issues or bugs in the issues section.

📈 Future Development

• 🔐 Google OAuth Login using react-oauth/google
• 🌗 Light/Dark Mode toggle with persistent theme storage
• 🧩 Admin-only dashboard with role-based access control
• 📱 Fully mobile-optimized layout using Bootstrap grid
• 💬 Custom error handling with user-friendly messages
• 🔁 Resend OTP with cooldown + expiration UI
• 🧾 In-app activity logs (user actions & login history)
• 🌍 Deployment to Render (backend) + Vercel (frontend) with custom domain
• 🧠 Migration from in-memory store to Redis for OTP in production