InstaApp Backend API

A modern Instagram-like backend application built with Laravel 12, providing RESTful APIs for social media functionality including posts, comments, and likes.

Table of Contents

• Tech Stack
• Features
• Database Structure
• API Endpoints
• Installation
• Configuration
• Running the Application

Tech Stack

• Framework: Laravel 12.x
• PHP: ^8.2
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Authentication: Laravel Sanctum
• File Storage: Cloudflare R2 (S3-compatible via Flysystem)
• ID Generation: ULID (26-character sortable IDs)

Features

• 🔐 Authentication (Register, Login, Logout)
• 👤 User Profile Management
• 📸 Post Creation & Management (with image upload)
• 💬 Comments on Posts
• ❤️ Like/Unlike Posts
• 🔒 Secure API with Sanctum Token Authentication
• 📦 Optimized Database Queries with Relationships
• 🎨 RESTful API Design

Database Structure

The application uses a relational database with the following tables:

Users Table

Column	Type	Constraints
id	char(26)	PRIMARY KEY, ULID
name	varchar(255)	NOT NULL
email	varchar(100)	UNIQUE, NOT NULL
password	varchar(255)	NOT NULL
created_at	timestamp	NOT NULL
updated_at	timestamp	NOT NULL

Posts Table

Column	Type	Constraints
id	char(26)	PRIMARY KEY, ULID
caption	text	NULLABLE
image_path	text	NOT NULL
user_id	char(26)	FOREIGN KEY → users.id
created_at	timestamp	NOT NULL
updated_at	timestamp	NOT NULL

Comments Table

Column	Type	Constraints
id	char(26)	PRIMARY KEY, ULID
text	varchar(500)	NOT NULL
post_id	char(26)	FOREIGN KEY → posts.id
user_id	char(26)	FOREIGN KEY → users.id
created_at	timestamp	NOT NULL
updated_at	timestamp	NOT NULL

Likes Table

Column	Type	Constraints
id	char(26)	PRIMARY KEY, ULID
user_id	char(26)	FOREIGN KEY → users.id
post_id	char(26)	FOREIGN KEY → posts.id
created_at	timestamp	NOT NULL
updated_at	timestamp	NOT NULL

Database Relationships

users (1) ──────< (many) posts
users (1) ──────< (many) comments
users (1) ──────< (many) likes
posts (1) ──────< (many) comments
posts (1) ──────< (many) likes

All foreign key relationships have ON DELETE CASCADE to maintain referential integrity.

API Endpoints

All API endpoints are prefixed with /api/v1.

Authentication Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	/auth/register	Register new user	❌
POST	/auth/login	Login user	❌
GET	/auth/me	Get authenticated user profile	✅
POST	/auth/logout	Logout user	✅

Post Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	/posts	Get all posts (paginated)	✅
GET	/posts/me	Get authenticated user's posts	✅
GET	/posts/{id}	Get single post	✅
POST	/posts	Create new post	✅
PUT	/posts/{id}	Update post	✅
DELETE	/posts/{id}	Delete post	✅

Comment Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	/posts/{id}/comments	Get all comments for a post	✅
POST	/posts/{id}/comments	Create comment on a post	✅
PUT	/comments/{id}	Update comment	✅
DELETE	/comments/{id}	Delete comment	✅

Like Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	/posts/{id}/like	Toggle like on a post	✅

Installation

Prerequisites

• PHP 8.2 or higher
• Composer
• PostgreSQL
• Node.js & NPM (for frontend assets)

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd InstaApp-be

2. Install dependencies

   composer install
   npm install

3. Environment configuration

   cp .env.example .env

4. Generate application key

   php artisan key:generate

5. Configure database

   Update your .env file with database credentials:

   DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
   DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
   DB_PORT=5432
   DB_DATABASE=instaapp_be
   DB_USERNAME=your_username
   DB_PASSWORD=your_password

6. Configure Cloudflare R2 (for image uploads)

   Update your .env file with Cloudflare R2 credentials:

   CLOUDFLARE_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_r2_access_key_id
   CLOUDFLARE_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_r2_secret_access_key
   CLOUDFLARE_REGION=auto
   CLOUDFLARE_BUCKET=your_r2_bucket_name
   CLOUDFLARE_ENDPOINT=https://<account_id>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com
   CLOUDFLARE_URL=your_public_r2_url

   Note: Cloudflare R2 is S3-compatible and uses Flysystem for storage operations.

7. Run migrations

   php artisan migrate

8. Build frontend assets

   npm run build

Configuration

Quick Setup (Automated)

Run the setup script to install all dependencies and configure the application:

composer setup

This command will:

• Install PHP dependencies
• Create .env file from example
• Generate application key
• Run database migrations
• Install NPM packages
• Build frontend assets

Running the Application

Development Mode

Run the development server with hot-reload and queue worker:

composer dev

This command runs three processes concurrently:

• Laravel development server (port 8000)
• Queue worker
• Vite development server

Manual Start

Alternatively, start services individually:

# Start Laravel server
php artisan serve

# Start queue worker (in another terminal)
php artisan queue:listen

# Start Vite dev server (in another terminal)
npm run dev

The API will be available at http://localhost:8000.

License

This project is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.