Vertex Banking Aggregator

Vertex is an enterprise-grade, FAANG-architected full-stack financial application that serves as a highly scalable Banking Aggregator. It empowers users to securely link their physical bank accounts via Plaid, instantly track expenses via interactive analytics, and securely fund operations internally utilizing Stripe.

🚀 Key Features

• Plaid Integration: Securely aggregates and syncs real-world transaction data, pulling metrics from hundreds of US banks.
• Stripe Secured Funding: Deposits are strictly transacted via PCI-compliant Stripe PaymentElements with ACID-compliant double-entry logic handling the backend state.
• Enterprise Caching: Implements an ioredis layer using Cache-Aside topology, gracefully falling back vertically through recursive db misses, with event-triggered namespace cache invalidation (user:{id}:transactions).
• Secure Authentication: Zero-trust architecture guarded by bcrypt password hashing and rigorous JWT verification middleware.
• Production-Ready Containerization: Completely decoupled architecture. Both frontend, backend, caching, and databases possess independent Docker abstractions managed smoothly via Docker Compose.

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🛠️ Tech Stack & Architecture

Frontend (Client)

• Framework: React 18 / Vite 6
• Styling & Components: Tailwind CSS, Radix UI primitives, shadcn/ui abstractions.
• External APIs: @stripe/stripe-js, lucide-react forms.

Backend (API Engine)

• Runtime: Node.js 18
• Framework: Express.js
• Datastore Pipeline: PostgreSQL (primary datastore) + Redis (high-read cache).
• Crucial Middleware: Transactional Idempotency validation wrapper, raw exception capturing.

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🐳 Quick Start: Docker Setup (Ideal Path)

This project has been meticulously optimized for immediate local execution requiring zero local environment dependencies other than Docker Desktop.

1. Environment Configurations

Clone the repository and ensure you possess .env files in both layers matching the schema requirements. backend/.env Requirements:

JWT_SECRET=your_secret_key
PLAID_CLIENT_ID=your_id
PLAID_SECRET=your_secret
PLAID_ENV=sandbox
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...

(Backend also natively maps postgres and redis networks automatically via docker-compose)

2. Up Spin

In the absolute root of the workspace, run the orchestration command:

docker-compose up --build -d

Docker will construct optimized Alpine Linux images for the React application, Node server, Postgres state, and Redis engine.

(Note: The Backend Dockerfile is programmed to automatically run Postgres Schema Migrations immediately before server ignition!)

3. Open Application

Navigate to http://localhost:5173. The API is actively listening on port 3000 mapped identically.

📓 API Topography

Method	Endpoint	Trigger / Use-case
POST	/auth/signup	Registers UUID and bcrypt hash inside Postgres
POST	/plaid/create-link-token	Negotiates secure handshake payload with Plaid Servers
POST	/plaid/exchange-public-token	Transforms sandbox item token into enduring Access Token
POST	/transfers/create-payment-intent	Secures an Idempotent Stripe sequence anticipating a deposit
POST	/transfers/confirm	ACID verification wrapper closing Stripe and validating DB State

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Maintained by Aviral Kaushal