Portfolio API Server

Backend API for kunalgaur.in—a NestJS application that serves status, weather, quotes, blog posts (Hashnode), projects, experience, education, photos, contact, and more.

Tech stack

• Runtime: Node.js
• Framework: NestJS
• Database: PostgreSQL (TypeORM)
• Cache: Redis
• Validation: class-validator, Zod
• Storage / media: Cloudinary

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• (Optional) Docker & Docker Compose

Project setup

npm install

Copy .env.example to .env and set the required variables (see Environment variables).

Running the app

# Development (watch mode)
npm run start:dev

# One-off run
npm run start

# Production (after build)
npm run build
npm run start:prod

By default the server listens on the port set in PORT (e.g. 3001).

Environment variables

All of the following are validated at startup via src/utils/config.ts. Missing or invalid values will prevent the app from starting.

Variable	Description
PORT	HTTP server port (e.g. 3001)
NODE_ENV	development, testing, or production
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated CORS origins
SECURITY_KEY	App security key
WEATHER_API_SECRET_KEY	Weather API key
WEATHER_API_BASE_URL	Weather API base URL
ZEN_QUOTES_BASE_URL	Zen Quotes API base URL
POSTGRES_DB_HOST	PostgreSQL host
POSTGRES_DB_PORT	PostgreSQL port
POSTGRES_DB_NAME	Database name
POSTGRES_DB_USERNAME	Database user
POSTGRES_DB_PASSWORD	Database password
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY	Cloudinary API key
CLOUDINARY_SECRET_KEY	Cloudinary secret
CLOUDINARY_ENVIRONMENT_NAME	Cloudinary cloud name
REDIS_HOST	Redis host
REDIS_PORT	Redis port
REDIS_USERNAME	Redis username
REDIS_PASSWORD	Redis password
HASHNODE_BASE_URL	Hashnode GraphQL API (e.g. https://gql.hashnode.com)
HASHNODE_ACCESS_TOKEN	Hashnode personal access token
GITHUB_USERNAME	GitHub username (for projects)
GITHUB_BASE_URL	GitHub API base URL
GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN	GitHub personal access token

Create a .env file in the project root with these variables before running the server.

API overview

Base URL is http://localhost:<PORT> (or your deployed host). Responses are wrapped by a global success interceptor; errors are normalized by the exception filter.

Module	Method	Path	Description
App	GET	/	Root / info
App	GET	/health-check	Health check
Status	GET	/status	Online/offline by working hours (IST)
Weather	GET	/weather	Weather data
Quote	GET	/quote	Quote of the day (cached via Redis)
Posts	GET	/posts	List blog posts (Hashnode; optional page, pageSize)
Posts	GET	/posts/:slug	Single post with full content (Hashnode)
Projects	GET	/projects	List projects
Experience	GET	/experience	List experience entries
Experience	POST	/experience	Create experience
Experience	GET	/experience/:id	Get experience by id
Experience	PUT	/experience/:id	Update experience
Experience	DELETE	/experience/:id	Delete experience
Education	GET	/education	List education
Education	POST	/education	Create education
Education	GET	/education/:id	Get by id
Education	PATCH	/education/:id	Update
Education	DELETE	/education/:id	Delete
Photos	GET	/photos	List photos
Photos	POST	/photos	Upload / add photo
Contact	GET	/contact	List contact messages
Contact	POST	/contact	Submit contact form
Contact	GET	/contact/:id	Get message by id
Date	GET	/date	Current date/time (IST)

Global middleware: request validation, request context (e.g. request id, IP, user-agent), and rate limiting.

Docker

Build and run with Docker Compose (maps host port 8000 to container port 3000):

docker compose up --build

The API is then available at http://localhost:8000. Ensure a .env file is present (or pass env another way); the Compose file loads env_file: .env.

Scripts

Script	Description
npm run build	Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm run start	Run compiled app
npm run start:dev	Run in watch mode
npm run start:prod	Run production build (node dist/main)
npm run lint	Run ESLint
npm run format	Format with Prettier
npm run test	Unit tests
npm run test:e2e	E2E tests
npm run test:cov	Test coverage

Project structure (high level)

src/
├── adapters/       # External APIs (Hashnode, weather, zen-quotes, Cloudinary)
├── core/           # Redis, Postgres, base entities, context
├── helpers/        # Pipes, filters, interceptors, middleware
├── module/         # Feature modules (posts, projects, experience, etc.)
├── utils/          # Config, constants, errors
└── main.ts         # Bootstrap

License

UNLICENSED (private). See repository or author for terms.