BlurTalk is a mini full-stack backend project built as my attempt to understand how backend systems actually work.
Just one week before building this, concepts like servers, databases, authentication, and request handling were mostly theoretical to me. This project represents my hands-on effort to understand how Node.js, Express, and MongoDB work together to power real applications.
This is not a production-ready social platform.
It is a learning milestone.
I built BlurTalk to deeply understand:
- How a backend server works
- How Express handles routing and middleware
- How MongoDB stores and retrieves data
- How authentication works using JWT and cookies
- How users and posts relate in a database
- How like/unlike logic works internally
- How server-side rendering works using EJS
Instead of only watching tutorials, I wanted to build something that forced me to debug real problems and connect all the pieces myself.
- Node.js
- Express.js
- MongoDB
- Mongoose
- EJS (Server-side rendering)
- JWT (Authentication)
- Cookie-parser
- Bcrypt
- User Registration
- User Login / Authentication
- Create Posts
- Like / Unlike Posts
- Protected Routes
- Basic User-Post Relationship Handling
BlurTalk is intentionally simple. It does NOT currently include:
- Email verification
- Password reset system
- User search functionality
- Profile image uploads
- Real-time updates (AJAX/WebSockets)
- Notifications
- Advanced security hardening
- Production deployment setup
Apps like Twitter or Meta products include these features, but this project focuses on understanding backend fundamentals first.
As I grow as a developer, I plan to improve BlurTalk by:
- Adding proper email verification
- Implementing password reset functionality
- Improving security practices
- Converting it into a REST API
- Adding real-time features
- Refactoring the structure into a cleaner MVC architecture
- Possibly rebuilding parts of it using TypeScript
This project will evolve as my understanding evolves.
Make sure you have the following installed:
- Node.js (v16+ recommended)
- npm (comes with Node.js)
- MongoDB (local installation or MongoDB Atlas)
- Install dependencies:
npm install