Insta Clone

Instagram-style full-stack social application with a Node.js/Express backend, MongoDB data layer, ImageKit image uploads, and a React/Vite frontend.

Live-Link:https://insta-3w5h.onrender.com/

Overview

This repository contains two separate applications:

• backend/ - Express API, MongoDB models, JWT cookie authentication, and static asset hosting from public/
• frontend/ - React 19 application built with Vite, React Router, Axios, and Sass

The application supports user registration and login, authenticated feeds, post creation with image upload, likes, and follow/unfollow actions.

Features

• User registration and login with password hashing
• JWT-based authentication stored in an HTTP cookie
• Auth-protected profile lookup via get-me
• Create posts with image uploads through ImageKit
• View all posts and the current user's posts
• Like and unlike posts
• Follow and unfollow users
• Follow request accept/reject endpoints in the API

Tech Stack

Backend

• Node.js
• Express 5
• MongoDB with Mongoose
• JWT authentication
• bcryptjs for password hashing
• cookie-parser and CORS
• Multer for multipart form uploads
• ImageKit Node SDK for image storage

Frontend

• React 19
• Vite
• React Router 7
• Axios
• Sass / SCSS
• Remix Icon

Project Structure

backend/
  server.js
  src/
    app.js
    config/database.js
    controllers/
    middlewares/
    models/
    routes/
  public/

frontend/
  src/
    App.jsx
    AppRoutes.jsx
    features/
      auth/
      home/
      post/
      common/

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or newer
• npm
• MongoDB connection string
• ImageKit account / private key

Environment Variables

Create a .env file inside backend/ with the following values:

MONGO_URL=your_mongodb_connection_string
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
IMAGEKIT_PRIVATE_KEY=your_imagekit_private_key

The current frontend code is configured to call the deployed API at https://insta-3w5h.onrender.com/api. If you run the backend locally, update the Axios baseURL values in:

• frontend/src/features/auth/services/auth.api.js
• frontend/src/features/post/services/post.api.js

Installation

Install dependencies separately for each app:

cd backend
npm install

cd ../frontend
npm install

Running Locally

Backend

The backend listens on port 3000.

cd backend
node server.js

Backend behavior:

• Connects to MongoDB through src/config/database.js
• Enables JSON parsing, cookie parsing, and CORS with credentials
• Serves static files from backend/public
• Mounts API routes under /api/auth, /api/post, and /api/user

Frontend

The frontend runs on Vite's default dev server at http://localhost:5173.

cd frontend
npm run dev

Frontend Routes

• / - Home feed
• /login - Login page
• /register - Registration page
• /create-post - Post creation form

API Reference

Auth

Method	Path	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Register a new user
POST	/api/auth/login	Log in an existing user
GET	/api/auth/get-me	Return the authenticated user's profile

Register and login expect JSON bodies containing userName, email, and password as applicable. Successful authentication sets a token cookie.

Posts

Method	Path	Description
POST	/api/post	Create a post with multipart form data (caption, instaFile)
GET	/api/post	Get the authenticated user's posts
GET	/api/post/details/:postId	Get a single post owned by the authenticated user
GET	/api/post/all-posts	Get the full feed
POST	/api/post/like/:postId	Like a post
DELETE	/api/post/unlike/:postId	Unlike a post

Users and Follows

Method	Path	Description
POST	/api/user/follow/:userId	Follow a user
DELETE	/api/user/follow/:userId	Unfollow a user
POST	/api/user/follow/request/accept/:userId	Accept a follow request
DELETE	/api/user/follow/request/reject/:userId	Reject a follow request

Data Model Summary

• users - userName, email, password, bio, profileImage
• posts - caption, imgUrl, user
• likes - postId, userId
• follows - follower, followee, status

Implementation Notes

• Authentication uses JWT stored in a cookie and verified by middleware on protected routes.
• Images are uploaded to ImageKit before a post record is saved.
• The frontend keeps separate context providers for auth and post state.
• The current codebase does not define a backend npm start script; node server.js is the current entry point.
• Automated tests are not currently defined in either package.

Deployment Notes

• The frontend service layer is currently pointing to a deployed API URL on Render.
• If you deploy the backend elsewhere, update the frontend Axios base URLs accordingly.
• The backend is already configured with CORS credentials support for http://localhost:5173.

License

No license file is currently included in the repository.