Notes App Backend with Analytics and Search API

This project is a backend API for a Notes App built using Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, and Mongoose.

It includes user authentication, notes CRUD, owner-based access control, soft delete, archive functionality, MongoDB aggregation analytics, and full-text search API.

Project Modules

This backend contains 3 main projects:

Project 1: Notes App Backend

User and notes collections
Each note is connected to a user using reference
CRUD operations for notes
Only the note owner can access their notes
Mongoose populate to fetch user details with notes
List all notes of logged-in user
Get a single note
Soft delete and archive option for notes

Project 2: Data Analytics API

Uses MongoDB aggregation pipeline
Calculates note summaries
Counts total notes, archived notes, and active notes
Counts notes by category
Shows notes created per month
Supports filtering by user, category, and date range
Uses $match, $group, $project, and $sort

Project 3: Text Search API

Uses MongoDB full-text search
Searches notes by title, content, category, and tags
Creates text index on searchable fields
Provides /api/search endpoint
Returns matching documents sorted by relevance
Supports filters like category, tag, and date range

Tech Stack

Node.js
Express.js
MongoDB
Mongoose
JWT
bcryptjs
dotenv
Nodemon

Folder Structure

notes-app-backend/
│
├── config/
│   └── db.js
│
├── controllers/
│   ├── authController.js
│   ├── noteController.js
│   ├── analyticsController.js
│   └── searchController.js
│
├── middleware/
│   └── authMiddleware.js
│
├── models/
│   ├── User.js
│   └── Note.js
│
├── routes/
│   ├── authRoutes.js
│   ├── noteRoutes.js
│   ├── analyticsRoutes.js
│   └── searchRoutes.js
│
├── .env
├── server.js
├── package.json
└── README.md

Installation and Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/notes-app-backend.git

2. Go to Project Folder

cd notes-app-backend

3. Install Dependencies

npm install

4. Create `.env` File

Create a .env file in the root folder and add the following:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/notes_app
JWT_SECRET=your_secret_key

5. Start the Server

For development:

npm run dev

For production:

npm start

Server will run on:

http://localhost:5000

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
PORT	Server running port
MONGO_URI	MongoDB connection URL
JWT_SECRET	Secret key for JWT token

Authentication

This project uses JWT authentication.

After login, copy the token from the response and send it in protected routes using the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer your_jwt_token

Project 1: Notes App Backend

Authentication Routes

Register User

POST /api/auth/register

Request Body:

{
  "name": "John",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "password": "123456"
}

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "User registered successfully",
  "token": "jwt_token_here",
  "user": {
    "id": "user_id",
    "name": "John",
    "email": "john@example.com"
  }
}

Login User

POST /api/auth/login

Request Body:

{
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "password": "123456"
}

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Login successful",
  "token": "jwt_token_here",
  "user": {
    "id": "user_id",
    "name": "John",
    "email": "john@example.com"
  }
}

Notes Routes

All notes routes are protected.

Create Note

POST /api/notes

Request Body:

{
  "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
  "content": "Learning full-text search in MongoDB",
  "category": "Database",
  "tags": ["mongodb", "search", "backend"]
}

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Note created successfully",
  "note": {
    "_id": "note_id",
    "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
    "content": "Learning full-text search in MongoDB",
    "category": "Database",
    "tags": ["mongodb", "search", "backend"],
    "user": "user_id",
    "isArchived": false,
    "isDeleted": false
  }
}

Get All Notes of Logged-in User

GET /api/notes

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 1,
  "notes": [
    {
      "_id": "note_id",
      "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
      "content": "Learning full-text search in MongoDB",
      "category": "Database",
      "tags": ["mongodb", "search"],
      "user": {
        "_id": "user_id",
        "name": "John",
        "email": "john@example.com"
      },
      "isArchived": false,
      "isDeleted": false
    }
  ]
}

Get Single Note

GET /api/notes/:id

Example:

GET /api/notes/65f123abc456def789000111

Update Note

PUT /api/notes/:id

Request Body:

{
  "title": "Updated Note",
  "content": "This note has been updated",
  "category": "Backend",
  "tags": ["node", "express"]
}

Archive or Unarchive Note

PATCH /api/notes/:id/archive

This endpoint changes the note archive status.

If the note is not archived, it will archive it.
If the note is already archived, it will unarchive it.

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Note archived successfully",
  "note": {
    "_id": "note_id",
    "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
    "isArchived": true,
    "isDeleted": false
  }
}

Get Archived Notes

GET /api/notes/archived

Get User with Notes

GET /api/notes/user-with-notes

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "user": {
    "_id": "user_id",
    "name": "John",
    "email": "john@example.com"
  },
  "notes": [
    {
      "_id": "note_id",
      "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
      "content": "Learning full-text search in MongoDB",
      "user": "user_id",
      "isArchived": false,
      "isDeleted": false
    }
  ]
}

Soft Delete Note

DELETE /api/notes/:id

Success Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Note deleted successfully"
}

This endpoint does not permanently delete the note from MongoDB.
It only updates the note like this:

{
  "isDeleted": true
}

Notes API Endpoints Summary

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	`/api/notes`	Create a new note
GET	`/api/notes`	Get all notes of logged-in user
GET	`/api/notes/:id`	Get a single note
PUT	`/api/notes/:id`	Update a note
DELETE	`/api/notes/:id`	Soft delete a note
PATCH	`/api/notes/:id/archive`	Archive or unarchive note
GET	`/api/notes/archived`	Get archived notes
GET	`/api/notes/user-with-notes`	Get user with notes

Project 2: Data Analytics API

The analytics API uses MongoDB aggregation pipeline to calculate summaries and grouped results.

All analytics routes are protected.

Get Notes Analytics Summary

GET /api/analytics/summary

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "filters": {
    "category": "All",
    "startDate": null,
    "endDate": null
  },
  "analytics": {
    "totalNotes": 5,
    "archivedNotes": 2,
    "activeNotes": 3
  }
}

Get Analytics Summary with Category Filter

GET /api/analytics/summary?category=Database

Get Analytics Summary with Date Range

GET /api/analytics/summary?startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31

Get Notes Count by Category

GET /api/analytics/notes-by-category

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 3,
  "data": [
    {
      "totalNotes": 4,
      "category": "Database"
    },
    {
      "totalNotes": 2,
      "category": "Backend"
    },
    {
      "totalNotes": 1,
      "category": "General"
    }
  ]
}

Get Notes Count by Category with Date Range

GET /api/analytics/notes-by-category?startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31

Get Notes Created Per Month

GET /api/analytics/notes-by-month

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 2,
  "data": [
    {
      "totalNotes": 3,
      "year": 2026,
      "month": 4
    },
    {
      "totalNotes": 5,
      "year": 2026,
      "month": 5
    }
  ]
}

Analytics API Endpoints Summary

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	`/api/analytics/summary`	Get total, active, and archived notes
GET	`/api/analytics/summary?category=Database`	Get summary by category
GET	`/api/analytics/summary?startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31`	Get summary by date range
GET	`/api/analytics/notes-by-category`	Get notes count per category
GET	`/api/analytics/notes-by-category?startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31`	Get category count by date range
GET	`/api/analytics/notes-by-month`	Get notes created per month

MongoDB Aggregation Concepts Used

`$match`

Used to filter documents before grouping.

{
  $match: {
    user: userId,
    isDeleted: false
  }
}

`$group`

Used to group documents and calculate totals.

{
  $group: {
    _id: "$category",
    totalNotes: { $sum: 1 }
  }
}

`$project`

Used to format the final output.

{
  $project: {
    _id: 0,
    category: "$_id",
    totalNotes: 1
  }
}

`$sort`

Used to sort the result.

{
  $sort: {
    totalNotes: -1
  }
}

Project 3: Text Search API

The search API allows users to search notes by text.

It uses MongoDB full-text search with $text.

All search routes are protected.

Searchable Fields

The following fields are searchable:

title
content
category
tags

A text index is created on these fields:

noteSchema.index({
  title: "text",
  content: "text",
  category: "text",
  tags: "text"
});

Search Notes

GET /api/search?q=mongodb

Full URL:

http://localhost:5000/api/search?q=mongodb

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "mongodb",
  "count": 2,
  "notes": [
    {
      "_id": "note_id",
      "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
      "content": "Using text index and text search in MongoDB",
      "category": "Database",
      "tags": ["mongodb", "search"],
      "user": {
        "_id": "user_id",
        "name": "John",
        "email": "john@example.com"
      },
      "isArchived": false,
      "isDeleted": false,
      "score": 1.5
    }
  ]
}

Search Notes with Category Filter

GET /api/search?q=mongodb&category=Database

Search Notes with Tag Filter

GET /api/search?q=mongodb&tag=search

Search Notes with Date Range

GET /api/search?q=mongodb&startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31

Search Notes with Multiple Filters

GET /api/search?q=mongodb&category=Database&tag=search&startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31

Search API Endpoints Summary

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	`/api/search?q=mongodb`	Search notes by keyword
GET	`/api/search?q=mongodb&category=Database`	Search with category filter
GET	`/api/search?q=mongodb&tag=search`	Search with tag filter
GET	`/api/search?q=mongodb&startDate=2026-05-01&endDate=2026-05-31`	Search with date range
GET	`/api/search?q=mongodb&category=Database&tag=search`	Search with multiple filters

MongoDB Text Search Concepts Used

Text Index

A text index allows MongoDB to search string content efficiently.

noteSchema.index({
  title: "text",
  content: "text",
  category: "text",
  tags: "text"
});

`$text`

The $text operator searches inside the indexed fields.

{
  $text: {
    $search: q
  }
}

Text Score

MongoDB returns a relevance score for matching documents.

{
  score: {
    $meta: "textScore"
  }
}

Sort by Relevance

Results are sorted by the best matching notes first.

.sort({
  score: {
    $meta: "textScore"
  }
})

Main Models

User Model

const mongoose = require("mongoose");

const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema(
  {
    name: {
      type: String,
      required: [true, "Name is required"],
      trim: true
    },
    email: {
      type: String,
      required: [true, "Email is required"],
      unique: true,
      trim: true,
      lowercase: true
    },
    password: {
      type: String,
      required: [true, "Password is required"]
    }
  },
  {
    timestamps: true
  }
);

module.exports = mongoose.model("User", userSchema);

Note Model

const mongoose = require("mongoose");

const noteSchema = new mongoose.Schema(
  {
    title: {
      type: String,
      required: [true, "Title is required"],
      trim: true
    },
    content: {
      type: String,
      required: [true, "Content is required"]
    },
    category: {
      type: String,
      default: "General",
      trim: true
    },
    tags: [
      {
        type: String,
        trim: true
      }
    ],
    user: {
      type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
      ref: "User",
      required: true
    },
    isArchived: {
      type: Boolean,
      default: false
    },
    isDeleted: {
      type: Boolean,
      default: false
    }
  },
  {
    timestamps: true
  }
);

noteSchema.index({
  title: "text",
  content: "text",
  category: "text",
  tags: "text"
});

module.exports = mongoose.model("Note", noteSchema);

Important Project Logic

User and Note Relationship

Each note belongs to one user using MongoDB reference.

user: {
  type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
  ref: "User",
  required: true
}

Owner-Based Access Control

When fetching, updating, deleting, archiving, searching, or analysing notes, the API checks the logged-in user ID.

Example:

{
  _id: req.params.id,
  user: req.user._id,
  isDeleted: false
}

This ensures one user cannot access another user’s notes.

Mongoose Populate

This project uses populate() to fetch user details with notes.

Example:

const notes = await Note.find({
  user: req.user._id,
  isDeleted: false
}).populate("user", "name email");

Soft Delete

Instead of permanently deleting notes, the project uses soft delete.

The note model contains:

isDeleted: {
  type: Boolean,
  default: false
}

When a note is deleted:

isDeleted: true

Normal note listing only shows:

isDeleted: false

Archive Feature

The note model contains:

isArchived: {
  type: Boolean,
  default: false
}

A note can be archived or unarchived using:

PATCH /api/notes/:id/archive

Postman Testing Guide

Step 1: Register User

POST http://localhost:5000/api/auth/register

Body:

{
  "name": "John",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "password": "123456"
}

Step 2: Login User

POST http://localhost:5000/api/auth/login

Body:

{
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "password": "123456"
}

Copy the token from the response.

Step 3: Save Token in Postman Environment

In Postman, go to Login request:

Scripts > Post-response

Paste this script:

const response = pm.response.json();

if (response.token) {
    pm.environment.set("auth_token", response.token);
    console.log("Token saved successfully:", response.token);
} else {
    console.log("Token not found in response");
}

Step 4: Use Token in Protected Routes

In protected requests, go to Authorization tab:

Type: Bearer Token
Token: {{auth_token}}

Or add it manually in Headers:

Authorization: Bearer {{auth_token}}

Step 5: Create Sample Notes

POST http://localhost:5000/api/notes

Body:

{
  "title": "MongoDB Aggregation",
  "content": "Learning aggregation pipeline with group and project stages",
  "category": "Database",
  "tags": ["mongodb", "analytics"]
}

Another sample:

{
  "title": "Express Authentication",
  "content": "Learning JWT authentication and protected routes",
  "category": "Backend",
  "tags": ["express", "jwt", "auth"]
}

Another sample:

{
  "title": "MongoDB Text Search",
  "content": "Using text index and text search in MongoDB",
  "category": "Database",
  "tags": ["mongodb", "search"]
}

Status Codes Used

Status Code	Meaning
200	Request successful
201	Created successfully
400	Bad request or missing fields
401	Unauthorized or invalid token
404	Data not found
409	User already exists
500	Server error

Example Error Response

{
  "success": false,
  "message": "Note not found or access denied"
}

Future Improvements

Add pagination for notes
Add restore deleted note feature
Add permanent delete option
Add note priority
Add reminder date for notes
Add refresh token support
Add regex-based search fallback
Add analytics charts on frontend
Add export analytics report
Add multiple tag filtering
Add role-based access control

Author

Vikas Kushwaha

License

This project is open-source and created for learning and practice purposes.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
config		config
controllers		controllers
middleware		middleware
models		models
routes		routes
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
server.js		server.js

Latest commit

History

Folders and files

Repository files navigation

Notes App Backend with Analytics and Search API

Project Modules

Project 1: Notes App Backend

Project 2: Data Analytics API

Project 3: Text Search API

Tech Stack

Folder Structure

Installation and Setup

1. Clone the Repository

2. Go to Project Folder

3. Install Dependencies

4. Create .env File

5. Start the Server

Environment Variables

Authentication

Project 1: Notes App Backend

Authentication Routes

Register User

Login User

Notes Routes

Create Note

Get All Notes of Logged-in User

Get Single Note

Update Note

Archive or Unarchive Note

Get Archived Notes

Get User with Notes

Soft Delete Note

Notes API Endpoints Summary

Project 2: Data Analytics API

Get Notes Analytics Summary

Get Analytics Summary with Category Filter

Get Analytics Summary with Date Range

Get Notes Count by Category

Get Notes Count by Category with Date Range

Get Notes Created Per Month

Analytics API Endpoints Summary

MongoDB Aggregation Concepts Used

$match

$group

$project

$sort

Project 3: Text Search API

Searchable Fields

Search Notes

Search Notes with Category Filter

Search Notes with Tag Filter

Search Notes with Date Range

Search Notes with Multiple Filters

Search API Endpoints Summary

MongoDB Text Search Concepts Used

Text Index

$text

Text Score

Sort by Relevance

Main Models

User Model

Note Model

Important Project Logic

User and Note Relationship

Owner-Based Access Control

Mongoose Populate

Soft Delete

Archive Feature

Postman Testing Guide

Step 1: Register User

Step 2: Login User

Step 3: Save Token in Postman Environment

Step 4: Use Token in Protected Routes

Step 5: Create Sample Notes

Status Codes Used

Example Error Response

Future Improvements

Author

License

About

4. Create `.env` File

`$match`

`$group`

`$project`

`$sort`

`$text`