StellarSettle API

Backend API for StellarSettle, an invoice-financing platform that settles on Stellar and uses Soroban contracts for escrow and payment distribution.

What this service provides

• Stellar wallet challenge authentication and short-lived JWT access tokens
• Seller invoice creation, document upload, KYC-gated publishing, and lifecycle tracking
• Redis caching layer for read-heavy invoice listing and detail routes with automated mutation invalidation and X-Cache observability headers
• HMAC-SHA256 signature verification middleware for authenticating third-party webhook payloads
• Public marketplace discovery with cursor pagination, filtering, and sorting
• Fractional investments with idempotent payment verification and reconciliation
• Settlement orchestration, notifications, webhooks, health checks, and Prometheus metrics
• Hardened structured logging with correlation IDs, sensitive data redaction, and cycle-safe serialization

Requirements

• Node.js 22 or newer and npm 10 or newer
• PostgreSQL 14 or newer
• Redis 6 or newer (optional; API gracefully falls back to direct database access if disconnected)
• Stellar testnet credentials for payment verification
• Pinata-compatible IPFS credentials for document uploads

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/StellarState/SS-backend.git
cd SS-backend
npm ci
cp .env.example .env
npm run db:migrate
npm run dev

The API listens on http://localhost:3000 by default. Confirm startup with:

curl http://localhost:3000/health
curl http://localhost:3000/health/db

GET /metrics is available when METRICS_ENABLED=true.

Configuration

Start from .env.example. Startup validates required values and exits with an actionable error instead of running with partial configuration.

Required for a normal local boot:

Variable	Purpose
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection URL
JWT_SECRET	JWT signing secret; use a unique non-placeholder value
IPFS_API_URL	Pinning API endpoint
IPFS_JWT	Pinning service credential

Redis Caching Settings

Variable	Default	Purpose
REDIS_URL	redis://localhost:6379	Redis connection URL (falls back to DB if unreachable)
CACHE_ENABLED	true	Enable or disable caching layer
CACHE_TTL_INVOICES_LIST	30	TTL in seconds for invoice listing (GET /invoices)
CACHE_TTL_INVOICE_DETAIL	60	TTL in seconds for invoice details (GET /invoices/:id)

Webhook & Security Settings

Variable	Purpose
KYC_WEBHOOK_SECRET	Shared secret for HMAC-SHA256 signature verification on KYC webhooks
WEBHOOK_SECRET	Default shared secret for generic provider webhook signature checks

Security-sensitive operational settings include TRUST_PROXY, CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, ADMIN_IP_WHITELIST, and the RATE_LIMIT_* values. Only enable TRUST_PROXY when requests arrive through a trusted proxy; Express uses it when resolving the client IP for global rate limiting.

Soroban funding is opt-in. Configure SOROBAN_ESCROW_ENABLED, SOROBAN_ESCROW_CONTRACT_ID, SOROBAN_RPC_URL, and the contract-specific variables documented in the integration guide. Never commit live keys or Stellar secret seeds.

Common commands

Command	Purpose
npm run dev	Run the TypeScript server with reloads
npm run build	Compile to dist/
npm start	Run the compiled server
npm test	Run the Jest suite
npm run test:e2e	Run end-to-end tests
npm run lint	Lint application TypeScript
npm run type-check	Type-check without emitting files
npm run verify:openapi	Detect route/OpenAPI drift
npm run db:migrate	Apply pending TypeORM migrations
npm run db:migrate:revert	Revert the latest migration

Run the complete local gate with npm run ci. Database integration tests require a reachable PostgreSQL instance and an appropriate DATABASE_URL.

API surface

All application routes use the /api/v1 prefix.

• /api/v1/auth — wallet challenge authentication
• /api/v1/kyc — KYC submission, status, and webhook ingestion
• /api/v1/invoices — invoice CRUD, publishing, caching, lifecycle, and document upload
• /api/v1/marketplace — public invoice discovery
• /api/v1/investments — investment creation and history
• /api/v1/settlements — settlement operations
• /api/v1/notifications — user notifications
• /api/v1/keys — creator key config, per-transaction buy limit, and curve migration status
• /api/v1/swaps — atomic swap history and lookup
• /api/v1/royalties — creator royalty earnings, per-transfer breakdown and claim history
• /api/v1/dividends — issuer cycle config plus holder claimable balances, claim history and summary
• /api/v1/subscriptions — public gated-content subscription status (?wallet=&key_id=)
• /api/v1/onboarding — onboarding tour completion state
• /api/v1/admin — allowlisted administrative operations

The checked-in OpenAPI contract is docs/openapi.json. Feature-specific references are available under docs/:

Doc	Covers
docs/MARKETPLACE_API.md	Public invoice discovery API
docs/INVOICE_LIFECYCLE.md	Invoice state machine
docs/INVOICE_DOCUMENT_UPLOAD.md	Document upload flow
docs/INVOICE_INVEST_API.md	Fractional investment flow
docs/SOROBAN_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md	Escrow/funding integration
docs/DB_WORKFLOW.md	Migration workflow
docs/IPFS.md	IPFS pinning details

Architecture

src/
├── config/          environment, database, cache, and Stellar configuration
├── controllers/     HTTP request/response adapters
├── middleware/      security, validation, HMAC webhooks, and observability
├── models/          TypeORM entities
├── routes/          API route composition and caching integration
├── services/        business, cache, and external-integration logic
│   └── stellar/     Horizon and Soroban integrations
├── workers/         bounded background reconciliation
├── observability/   hardened structured logging, cycle-safe redaction, and metrics
└── utils/           shared pure helpers

Controllers should remain thin; business rules belong in services, and database schema changes must be represented by migrations. See DEVELOPMENT.md for the full workflow.

Reliability and security

• Redis Caching Layer: Frequently accessed invoice listing and detail responses are cached in Redis with configurable TTLs (30s and 60s respectively). Cached responses are served within 10ms with X-Cache: HIT, and mutations (create, update, publish, delete) automatically invalidate cache keys. If Redis is unavailable or disconnected, the service falls back to PostgreSQL without error (X-Cache: MISS).
• HMAC-SHA256 Webhook Verification: Inbound webhooks are verified using constant-time HMAC-SHA256 comparisons (crypto.timingSafeEqual) against configured shared secrets before processing, with raw payload preservation on req.rawBody and support for configurable signature header names.
• Hardened Observability: Winston structured logging stamps request correlation IDs via AsyncLocalStorage, redacts sensitive keys, and safely sanitizes BigInt, circular references, and Error objects to guarantee non-throwing execution.
• Rate Limiting & Boundary Guards: Global throttling defaults to 100 requests per minute with per-wallet rate limits on invoice publishing and investment operations.
• Boundary Defense: Input sanitization, Helmet, CORS allowlists, admin CIDR allowlists, and parameterized TypeORM queries secure the HTTP boundary.

See SECURITY.md for private vulnerability reporting.

Environment variable groups

.env.example is the canonical list, grouped by domain:

Group	Variables
Server	PORT, NODE_ENV
HTTP security	TRUST_PROXY, CORS_ORIGIN, CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, CORS_ALLOW_CREDENTIALS, HTTP_BODY_SIZE_LIMIT, HTTP_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_MS
Rate limiting	RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED, RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS, RATE_LIMIT_MAX
Database	DATABASE_URL
Stellar	STELLAR_NETWORK, STELLAR_HORIZON_URL, STELLAR_USDC_ASSET_CODE, STELLAR_USDC_ASSET_ISSUER, STELLAR_ESCROW_PUBLIC_KEY, STELLAR_VERIFY_ALLOWED_AMOUNT_DELTA, STELLAR_VERIFY_RETRY_ATTEMPTS, STELLAR_VERIFY_RETRY_BASE_DELAY_MS, PLATFORM_SECRET_KEY
Smart contracts	ESCROW_CONTRACT_ID, TOKEN_CONTRACT_ID, and the Soroban escrow variables from the integration guide
IPFS	IPFS_API_URL, IPFS_JWT, IPFS_MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB, IPFS_ALLOWED_MIME_TYPES, IPFS_UPLOAD_RATE_LIMIT_*
Auth	JWT_SECRET, JWT_EXPIRES_IN, AUTH_CHALLENGE_TTL_MS
Observability	LOG_LEVEL, METRICS_ENABLED
Background reconciliation	STELLAR_RECONCILIATION_*
Email	SENDGRID_API_KEY, FROM_EMAIL
Admin	ADMIN_API_KEY, ADMIN_IP_WHITELIST

Troubleshooting quick reference

Detailed guidance lives in DEVELOPMENT.md; the common failures:

Symptom	Likely cause / fix
npm ci rejects the lockfile	Use Node 22 + npm 10 and reinstall with the committed lockfile (npm ci), not npm install.
Server exits at startup with a configuration error	Startup validation fails on missing/placeholder values — complete .env (see the table above).
Database connection or migration failure	Check DATABASE_URL, ensure PostgreSQL 14+ is reachable, then npm run db:migrate.
Unexpected 429 responses	Global rate limiting (100 req/min default) — raise RATE_LIMIT_MAX locally or wait out the window.
Jest hangs after tests finish	Known open-handle issue — run npm run test:ci which passes --forceExit.

Full guidance: DEVELOPMENT.md (§ Troubleshooting).

Logging and observability

Logs are structured JSON, written by the src/observability/logger.ts module.

• Verbosity — set LOG_LEVEL (error, warn, info, or debug). It defaults to info, and to silent when NODE_ENV=test so test output stays clean. Suppressed levels cost nothing: their log calls short-circuit before any metadata processing.
• Correlation IDs — every log line emitted while handling an HTTP request is stamped with that request's correlation ID by the request-observability middleware, so service-level logs join to the HTTP access log.
• Redaction — the log pipeline redacts Stellar secret keys, JWTs, Bearer headers, and values under sensitive keys (password, secret, token, authorization, …) before anything reaches a transport.
• Resilience — a failing transport or formatter emits a fallback error line instead of crashing the request handler; oversized metadata is bounded so runaway callers cannot inflate log lines.
• Health endpoints — GET /health (liveness), GET /health/db (database), and GET /metrics (Prometheus, only when METRICS_ENABLED=true).

Contributing

Pull requests must target dev. Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a change and use Conventional Commits. For setup and troubleshooting, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

License

MIT