DigiVault API

A RESTful back-end for DigiVault — a digital course marketplace where users can browse, purchase, and review courses, sellers can manage their own catalogue, and administrators can oversee users, orders, and platform operations.

Built with ASP.NET Core 9, following a vertical-slice architecture using the CQRS pattern (MediatR).

Try it live: https://digivaultapi.onrender.com/swagger
The API is hosted on Render's free tier — the first request after a period of inactivity may take up to 50 seconds to respond (cold start). Subsequent requests are fast.

Features

User registration and JWT-based authentication
Course catalogue with search, category filter, price range, and multiple sort options
Seller panel — create, update, and control visibility of courses
Shopping cart and wishlist management
Checkout flow with automatic commission calculation and balance crediting
Course library (purchased courses)
Rating and review system tied to course ownership
Course reporting and notification system
Admin panel — user management (activate/deactivate), course oversight, order reporting (in progress)

Tech Stack

Technology	Version
ASP.NET Core	9.0
Entity Framework Core	9.0.1
Npgsql EF Core Provider	9.0.4
PostgreSQL	15+
MediatR	12.4.1
FluentValidation	11.3.0
Mapster	7.4.0
BCrypt.Net-Next	4.0.3
Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.JwtBearer	9.0.1
Swashbuckle (Swagger)	7.2.0

Project Structure

The project follows a vertical-slice / feature-folder layout where all code related to a domain concept lives together.

DigiVaultAPI/
├── Behaviors/
│   └── ValidationBehavior.cs       # MediatR pipeline — runs FluentValidation before handlers
├── Controllers/                    # Thin controllers — delegate to MediatR
│   ├── AuthController.cs
│   ├── CoursesController.cs
│   ├── CategoriesController.cs
│   ├── CartController.cs
│   ├── WishlistController.cs
│   ├── OrdersController.cs
│   ├── ProfileController.cs
│   ├── SellerController.cs
│   ├── ReviewsController.cs
│   ├── ReportsController.cs
│   ├── NotificationsController.cs
│   └── AdminController.cs
├── Data/
│   ├── DigiVaultDbContext.cs        # EF Core context with fluent configuration
│   └── DigiVaultSeeder.cs          # Optional dev seed data
├── Exceptions/                     # Domain exceptions (404, 401, 403, 409)
├── Features/                       # Vertical slices
│   ├── Admin/
│   ├── Auth/
│   ├── Cart/
│   ├── Categories/
│   ├── Courses/
│   ├── Notifications/
│   ├── Orders/
│   ├── Profile/
│   ├── Reports/
│   ├── Review/
│   └── Wishlist/
│       ├── Handlers/               # MediatR request handlers
│       ├── Messages/               # Request/Response DTOs
│       ├── Providers/              # Read-side (queries)
│       ├── Services/               # Write-side (commands + business rules)
│       ├── Mapping/                # Mapster configuration
│       └── Validators/             # FluentValidation validators
├── Middleware/
│   └── ExceptionHandlerMiddleware.cs
├── Migrations/
├── Models/                         # EF Core entities
│   ├── User.cs
│   ├── Course.cs
│   ├── Category.cs
│   ├── Order.cs / OrderItem.cs
│   ├── UserCourse.cs
│   ├── CartItem.cs
│   ├── WishlistItem.cs
│   ├── Review.cs
│   ├── Notification.cs
│   ├── CourseReport.cs
│   └── PlatformSettings.cs
├── appsettings.json
├── appsettings.Development.json.example
├── Dockerfile
└── Program.cs

API Endpoints

Endpoints marked with 🔒 require a valid JWT Bearer token. Endpoints marked with 🛡️ additionally require the Worker role (admin).

Auth — `/api/auth`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`POST`	`/api/auth/login`	—	Authenticate and receive a JWT token
`POST`	`/api/auth/register`	—	Create a new user account

Courses — `/api/courses`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/courses`	—	Paginated course catalogue (search, category, price range, sort)
`GET`	`/api/courses/popular`	—	Top courses by sales count
`GET`	`/api/courses/newest`	—	Most recently added courses
`GET`	`/api/courses/top-rated`	—	Highest-rated courses
`GET`	`/api/courses/{id}`	—	Course detail
`GET`	`/api/courses/purchased`	🔒	Courses owned by the authenticated user

Query parameters for GET /api/courses:
search, categoryId, minPrice, maxPrice, sortBy (popular | newest | top-rated | price-asc | price-desc), page, pageSize

Categories — `/api/categories`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/categories`	—	List all categories

Cart — `/api/cart`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/cart`	🔒	Get current user's cart
`POST`	`/api/cart/{idCourse}`	🔒	Add course to cart
`DELETE`	`/api/cart/{idCourse}`	🔒	Remove course from cart

Wishlist — `/api/wishlist`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/wishlist`	🔒	Get current user's wishlist
`POST`	`/api/wishlist/{idCourse}`	🔒	Add course to wishlist
`DELETE`	`/api/wishlist/{idCourse}`	🔒	Remove course from wishlist

Orders — `/api/orders`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/orders`	🔒	List orders for the authenticated user
`GET`	`/api/orders/{idOrder}`	🔒	Order detail
`POST`	`/api/orders`	🔒	Checkout — creates an order from the cart

Profile — `/api/profile`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/profile`	🔒	Get profile data
`PATCH`	`/api/profile/name`	🔒	Update display name
`PATCH`	`/api/profile/email`	🔒	Update email (requires current password)
`PATCH`	`/api/profile/password`	🔒	Change password (requires current password)

Seller — `/api/seller`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/seller/courses`	🔒	List courses created by the authenticated seller
`POST`	`/api/seller/courses`	🔒	Create a new course
`PUT`	`/api/seller/courses/{id}`	🔒	Update a course
`PATCH`	`/api/seller/courses/{id}/visibility`	🔒	Toggle course visibility

Reviews — `/api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews`	—	List reviews for a course
`POST`	`/api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews`	🔒	Add or update a review (must own the course)
`DELETE`	`/api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews`	🔒	Delete own review

Reports — `/api/reports`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`POST`	`/api/reports`	🔒	Submit a course report

Notifications — `/api/notifications`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/notifications`	🔒	List notifications for the authenticated user
`PATCH`	`/api/notifications/{idNotification}`	🔒	Mark a notification as read

Admin — `/api/admin`

Method	Path	Auth	Description
`GET`	`/api/admin/users`	🛡️	List all users
`POST`	`/api/admin/users/set-as-active`	🛡️	Activate a user account
`POST`	`/api/admin/users/set-as-not-active`	🛡️	Deactivate a user account
`GET`	`/api/admin/courses`	🛡️	Full course catalogue including hidden courses
`GET`	`/api/admin/orders`	🛡️	Paginated order list with optional filters

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Environment Variables

Copy the example configuration file and fill in your values:

cp DigiVaultAPI/appsettings.Development.json.example DigiVaultAPI/appsettings.Development.json

appsettings.Development.json:

{
  "Jwt": {
    "Key": "YOUR_SECRET_KEY_MIN_32_CHARACTERS_LONG",
    "Issuer": "DigiVaultAPI",
    "Audience": "DigiVaultMobile",
    "ExpiryMinutes": 60
  },
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Host=localhost;Port=5432;Database=DigiVaultDb;Username=YOUR_USER;Password=YOUR_PASSWORD"
  }
}

Key	Description
`Jwt:Key`	HMAC-SHA256 secret — minimum 32 characters
`Jwt:Issuer`	Token issuer claim
`Jwt:Audience`	Token audience claim
`Jwt:ExpiryMinutes`	Token lifetime in minutes
`ConnectionStrings:DefaultConnection`	PostgreSQL connection string

Running Locally

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AIChelminska/DigiVaultAPI.git
cd DigiVaultAPI

# 2. Configure environment (see above)
cp DigiVaultAPI/appsettings.Development.json.example DigiVaultAPI/appsettings.Development.json
# Edit DigiVaultAPI/appsettings.Development.json with your values

# 3. Restore dependencies
dotnet restore

# 4. Run the application
dotnet run --project DigiVaultAPI

The API will be available at:

HTTP: http://localhost:5052
HTTPS: https://localhost:7084
Swagger UI: http://localhost:5052/swagger

Running with Docker

The repository ships with a docker-compose.yml that starts both the API and a PostgreSQL database together.

# 1. Create your local env file from the template
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — fill in POSTGRES_PASSWORD and JWT_KEY at minimum

# 2. Start both services (API + PostgreSQL)
docker compose up --build

# 3. Stop and remove containers
docker compose down

The API will be available at http://localhost:8080 (configurable via API_HOST_PORT in .env).
The database is exposed on localhost:5433 by default (configurable via POSTGRES_HOST_PORT).

Migrations and seeding run automatically on API startup — no extra steps needed.

Database

The application uses PostgreSQL with Entity Framework Core Code-First migrations.

Migrations run automatically on startup — no manual dotnet ef command is required. On first run the full schema is created from 20260309222115_InitialCreate.

Tables created by the migration:

Table	Description
`Users`	User accounts with roles, balance, and active flag
`Courses`	Course listings with pricing, rating aggregates, and visibility
`Categories`	Course categories
`Orders` / `OrderItems`	Purchase records with price and commission snapshots
`UserCourses`	Many-to-many: users ↔ owned courses
`CartItems`	Per-user shopping cart
`WishlistItems`	Per-user wishlist
`Reviews`	Course reviews (one per user per course)
`Notifications`	User notifications
`CourseReports`	User-submitted course reports
`PlatformSettings`	Commission rate and platform balance

To run migrations manually (if needed):

dotnet ef database update --project DigiVaultAPI

Authentication

The API uses JWT Bearer tokens.

Obtain a token via POST /api/auth/login or POST /api/auth/register.
Include the token in the Authorization header of subsequent requests:

Authorization: Bearer <your_token>

Token claims:

Claim	Value
`IdUser`	User's database ID
`Login`	Username
`ClaimTypes.Role`	`User` or `Worker`
`FirstName` / `LastName`	Display name

Roles:

Role	Description
`User`	Standard authenticated user — can buy courses, review, manage cart, etc.
`Worker`	Administrator — has access to all `User` endpoints plus `/api/admin/*`

Swagger UI includes an Authorize button for pasting a Bearer token directly — available both locally and at the live deployment.

Seeded Data

On startup the DigiVaultSeeder populates an empty database with sample data so the API is fully explorable via Swagger or any HTTP client without any manual setup.

Test accounts

Login	Password	Role	Notes
`test`	`test`	User	Has balance, orders, and purchased courses
`test2`	`test`	User
`test3`	`test`	User
`test4`	`test`	User
`test5`	`test`	User
`admin`	`admin`	Worker (Admin)	Full access to `/api/admin/*` endpoints

License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 79 Commits
DigiVaultAPI		DigiVaultAPI
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml

Navigation Menu

Repository files navigation

DigiVault API

Table of Contents

Features

Tech Stack

Project Structure

API Endpoints

Auth — `/api/auth`

Courses — `/api/courses`

Categories — `/api/categories`

Cart — `/api/cart`

Wishlist — `/api/wishlist`

Orders — `/api/orders`

Profile — `/api/profile`

Seller — `/api/seller`

Reviews — `/api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews`

Reports — `/api/reports`

Notifications — `/api/notifications`

Admin — `/api/admin`

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Environment Variables

Running Locally

Running with Docker

Database

Authentication

Seeded Data

Test accounts

Other seeded content

License

About

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

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Latest commit

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Repository files navigation

DigiVault API

Table of Contents

Features

Tech Stack

Project Structure

API Endpoints

Auth — /api/auth

Courses — /api/courses

Categories — /api/categories

Cart — /api/cart

Wishlist — /api/wishlist

Orders — /api/orders

Profile — /api/profile

Seller — /api/seller

Reviews — /api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews

Reports — /api/reports

Notifications — /api/notifications

Admin — /api/admin

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Environment Variables

Running Locally

Running with Docker

Database

Authentication

Seeded Data

Test accounts

Other seeded content

License

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Auth — `/api/auth`

Courses — `/api/courses`

Categories — `/api/categories`

Cart — `/api/cart`

Wishlist — `/api/wishlist`

Orders — `/api/orders`

Profile — `/api/profile`

Seller — `/api/seller`

Reviews — `/api/courses/{idCourse}/reviews`

Reports — `/api/reports`

Notifications — `/api/notifications`

Admin — `/api/admin`