WanderList

WanderList is a small Express + MongoDB web application for sharing travel listings and reviews. It includes user authentication, image uploads via Cloudinary, location maps using Mapbox, and a minimal responsive UI rendered with EJS.

This README documents how to set up, run and develop the project locally.

Features

• Create, read, update and delete travel listings
• Add reviews to listings (authenticated users)
• User authentication and sessions (Passport.js)
• Image uploads (Cloudinary)
• Location display using Mapbox
• Server-side validation with Joi
• Pinboard to save favorite destinations

Requirements

• Node.js (recommended LTS) — package.json specifies an engines.node value but any modern Node 18+ should work
• MongoDB (Atlas cloud URI or local MongoDB)
• A Cloudinary account (for image uploads)
• A Mapbox account (for map and geocoding tokens)

Quick start

1. Install dependencies

   npm install

2. Create a .env file in the project root (see Environment variables below)

3. Start the app in development mode

   npm run dev

4. Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser (default port configured in app.js)

Environment variables

Create a .env file at the project root and add the following keys (example names used in the codebase):

• ATLASDB_URL - MongoDB connection string (e.g. from MongoDB Atlas)
• SECRET - Session secret used by express-session
• CLOUD_NAME - Cloudinary cloud name
• CLOUD_API_KEY - Cloudinary API key
• CLOUD_API_SECRET - Cloudinary API secret
• MAP_TOKEN - Mapbox public token
• NODE_ENV - set to production in production deployments (optional)
• USE_MEMORY_STORE - set to true to use in-memory sessions (not recommended for production)

Example .env (do not commit to source control):

ATLASDB_URL=mongodb+srv://<user>:<password>@cluster0.example.mongodb.net/wanderlist?retryWrites=true&w=majority
SECRET=your_session_secret_here
CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUD_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_key
CLOUD_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_secret
MAP_TOKEN=your_mapbox_token
NODE_ENV=development

Project structure

• src/app.js — main Express application
• src/controllers/ — route handler logic
• src/models/ — Mongoose schemas (Listing, Review, User)
• src/routes/ — Express routers
• views/ — EJS templates
• public/ — static assets (CSS, client JS, images)
• src/middleware/ — custom middleware (e.g. auth, validation)
• src/config/ — app configuration (Cloudinary, Joi schemas)
• init/ — optional seed data or init scripts

Scripts

• npm run dev — starts the server using nodemon (development)
• npm start — starts the server using node (production)
• npm test — placeholder test script (no tests configured)

You can also run the app directly with node app.js but nodemon is convenient in development.

Notes on development

• The app uses connect-mongo to store sessions in MongoDB when ATLASDB_URL is provided.
• Image uploading uses multer + Cloudinary; cloudConfig.js reads Cloudinary credentials from environment variables.
• Map and geocoding features rely on Mapbox tokens (MAP_TOKEN).

Deployment

This app is ready for standard Node.js hosting (Render, Railway, Fly.io, etc.). Use these guidelines:

1. Set NODE_ENV=production.
2. Ensure ATLASDB_URL points to your hosted MongoDB instance.
3. Set all required secrets (SECRET, Cloudinary, Mapbox).
4. Use the default npm start command (runs node app.js).
5. Make sure the hosting provider supplies PORT (the app listens on process.env.PORT).

If your hosting platform does not provide HTTPS by default, you must add it before using NODE_ENV=production because session cookies are marked secure.

Troubleshooting

• MongoDB connection errors: verify ATLASDB_URL and network access to Atlas (IP allowlist).
• Cloudinary upload errors: verify CLOUD_NAME, CLOUD_API_KEY, and CLOUD_API_SECRET.
• Map features not showing: ensure MAP_TOKEN is set and is a valid Mapbox token.

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Open a pull request with a clear description of changes

License

This project is published under the ISC license (see package.json).