Video Sharing Application — Backend

A REST API for a video platform (uploads, playlists, comments, likes, subscriptions) built with TypeScript, Express, and MongoDB.

Overview

This service provides the backend for a YouTube‑style application. It implements authentication, media uploads, and social interactions while following a layered architecture and strict validation strategy.

Key characteristics:

• JWT authentication (access + refresh tokens)
• Role‑based authorization
• Cloud media storage (Cloudinary)
• Schema validation (Zod)
• Structured API responses and centralized error handling
• Modular controller/service separation

Core Features

Users

• Sign up and login
• Access and refresh tokens
• Watch history tracking
• Roles: user, admin

Videos

• Upload video and thumbnail
• Update metadata
• Delete (owner or admin)
• View counting

Social

• Comments and replies
• Likes on videos and comments
• Channel subscriptions

Playlists

• Create and edit playlists
• Add/remove videos
• Private playlists

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	TypeScript
Runtime	Node.js
Framework	Express 5
Database	MongoDB
ODM	Mongoose
Auth	JSON Web Token
Validation	Zod
Uploads	Multer
Storage	Cloudinary
Security	bcrypt

Project Structure

src/
 ├── app.ts            Express configuration
 ├── index.ts          Entry point
 ├── db/               Database connection
 ├── models/           Mongoose schemas
 ├── routes/           API routes
 ├── controllers/      HTTP handlers
 ├── services/         Business logic
 ├── middlewares/      Auth, validation, uploads
 ├── validators/       Zod schemas
 ├── utils/            Errors, responses, cloud storage
 └── types/            TypeScript definitions

Request flow:

Client → Routes → Middleware → Controller → Service → Database/Cloudinary

Setup

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• MongoDB (local or Atlas)
• Cloudinary account

Installation

git clone https://github.com/zoanig/video-sharing-application-backend.git
cd video-sharing-application-backend
npm install

Environment Variables

Create .env in the project root: (This example is for local instance)

PORT=6969

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017

ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=access_secret
REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=refresh_secret

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=api_secret

Run

npm run dev

Build:

npm run build

Type‑check:

npm run check

Server: http://localhost:6969

Authentication

Tokens are issued on login.

Include the access token in requests:

Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

When the access token expires, request a new one using the refresh token endpoint.

API Summary

Here is your entire API structure rewritten uniformly as lists:

---

User

• POST /api/user/signup
• POST /api/user/login
• PUT /api/user/refresh
• PUT /api/user/profile

Video

• POST /api/video/upload
• PUT /api/video/update/:Id
• GET /api/video/view/:Id
• DELETE /api/video/delete/:Id

Playlist

• POST /api/playlist/create
• PUT /api/playlist/:Id
• DELETE /api/playlist/:Id
• GET /api/playlist/:Id
• GET /api/playlist/getall

Social

Comments

• POST /api/comment/:Id
• POST /api/comment/reply/:Id
• PUT /api/comment/:Id
• DELETE /api/comment/:Id

Likes

• PUT /api/like/video/:Id
• DELETE /api/like/video/:Id
• PUT /api/like/comment/:Id
• DELETE /api/like/comment/:Id

Subscriptions

• PUT /api/subscription/:Id
• DELETE /api/subscription/:Id

Uploads

Files are temporarily stored locally and then uploaded to Cloudinary.

Allowed types:

• image/jpeg
• image/png
• video/mp4
• video/mkv

Response Format

Successful response:

{
  "statusCode": 200,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {}
}

Error response:

{
  "statusCode": 400,
  "message": "Validation Failed",
  "errors": []
}

Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start development server
npm run build	Compile or rather "transpile" TypeScript to JavaScript
npm run check	Type checking

License

MIT License

Author

Muhammad Hassan