🐄 Mi Vaquita API

REST API for splitting expenses among friends — no more awkward money conversations.

🔗 Live API: mi-vaquita-api.onrender.com
🔗 Frontend: mi-vaquita-app
🔗 Demo: mi-vaquita-app.vercel.app

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✨ Features

• 🔐 User authentication with JWT (register & login)
• 👥 Group management with multiple participants
• 💸 Expense tracking — record who paid and how much
• 🧮 Automatic calculation of each person's share
• 📋 Expense history per group
• 🔒 Protected routes via Passport.js

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Node.js	Runtime environment
Express	Server framework
PostgreSQL	Relational database
Neon	Cloud database hosting
JWT	Authentication tokens
Passport.js	Auth middleware
Nodemon	Dev auto-restart

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• PostgreSQL database (local or cloud)

Installation

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Bethsyf/mi-vaquita-api.git
cd mi-vaquita-api

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in your database credentials and JWT secret

# 4. Run in development mode
npm run dev

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🌍 Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root with the following variables:

PGHOST=your_database_host
PGUSER=your_database_user
PGPASSWORD=your_database_password
PGDATABASE=your_database_name
PGPORT=5432
PGSSLMODE=require
PGCHANNELBINDING=require
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
DB_SSL=true

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📡 API Endpoints

Base URL: https://mi-vaquita-api.onrender.com/api/v1

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	/auth/register	Register a new user	✅
POST	/auth/login	Login and get token	✅
GET	/groups	Get all user groups	✅
POST	/groups	Create a new group	✅
GET	/groups/:id	Get group details	✅
POST	/expenses	Add an expense	✅
GET	/expenses/:groupId	Get group expenses	✅

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🎯 About This Project

This API was built to learn and practice backend development from scratch — designing a REST API, implementing JWT authentication, and connecting to a real PostgreSQL database.

Key learnings:

• REST API design and implementation
• JWT-based authentication flow
• PostgreSQL with SSL connection
• Environment-based configuration
• Deployment on Render with Neon database

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👩‍💻 Author

Bethsy Falcon — Frontend Developer
LinkedIn · GitHub · Portfolio

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📄 License

MIT © Bethsy Falcon