Request Bin Clone

Installation

Install PostgreSQL

• macOS:

  brew install postgresql@16
  brew services start postgresql@16

• Ubuntu:

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib
  sudo service postgresql start

Create database and "appuser"

• macOS:

  createdb requestbin 2>/dev/null || true
  psql -d postgres -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -c "DO $$
  BEGIN
    IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname='appuser') THEN
      CREATE ROLE appuser LOGIN PASSWORD 'dev_password';
    END IF;
  END $$;"
  psql -d postgres -c "ALTER DATABASE requestbin OWNER TO appuser;"

• Ubuntu:

  sudo -u postgres psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -c "DO $$
  BEGIN
  IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname='appuser') THEN
    CREATE ROLE appuser LOGIN PASSWORD 'dev_password';
  END IF;
  END $$;"
  sudo -u postgres psql -c "SELECT 1"  # sanity
  sudo -u postgres createdb -O appuser requestbin 2>/dev/null || true

• Note from Nathan: the first part of the above didn't work for me (syntax error) so I just entered the psql terminal and pasted the SQL directly in there:

  sudo -u postgres psql # runs `psql` as the postgres user

  CREATE ROLE appuser LOGIN PASSWORD 'dev_password';

  sudo -u postgres createdb -O appuser requestbin

Install MongoDB

(It may ask for a password, you can just cancel out of that and it should still install)

• macOS:

  brew tap mongodb/brew
  brew install mongodb-community
  brew services start mongodb-community

• Ubuntu:

  sudo apt-get install -y gnupg curl
  curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-8.0.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-archive-keyring.gpg
  echo "deb [ signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-archive-keyring.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs)/mongodb-org/8.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org
  sudo systemctl enable --now mongod

Configure Environment

copy this into your .env file:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://appuser:dev_password@localhost:5432/requestbin

MONGO_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017
MONGO_DB_NAME=requestbin
MONGO_COLLECTION=request_bodies

Install Dependencies

npm install

Seed the Databases

Make sure both PostgreSQL and MongoDB are running.

npm run migrate
npm run seed

This will populate both databases with initial data.

Test the Postgres database has data

psql "$DATABASE_URL" -c "SELECT count(*) AS baskets FROM baskets;
SELECT count(*) AS requests FROM requests;"

mongosh --eval "db.getSiblingDB('requestbin').request_bodies.countDocuments()"

These should return a baskets table, a requests table, and a count of the documents within MongoDB

Troubleshooting

• Ensure database connection details in .env are correct.
• Check that both database services are running before seeding.

Building Frontend Static Files

• Frontend Only:

  If you just want to build the frontend static files without copying them to the backend:

  cd frontend
  npm run build

  This will build the files into frontend/dist.

• To Serve From Backend:

  If you want to serve the static files from the express backend, you can skip the instructions above and just do the following:

  cd backend
  npm run build

  This will run the frontend build script and then copy the files into backend/public.