Installation

Prerequisites

Before installing CEMAC, ensure you have the following:

Node.js version 18 or higher
npm (included with Node.js)
Git for version control
Firebase account for authentication and database services

CEMAC uses Firebase for authentication and Firestore for the database. You’ll need to create a Firebase project and obtain configuration credentials.

Installation steps

Clone the repository

Clone the CEMAC repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/Brayan-chan/cemac.git
cd cemac

Install dependencies

Install all required npm packages:

npm install

This will install the following core dependencies:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "dotenv": "^17.2.2",
    "express": "^5.1.0",
    "firebase": "^12.3.0",
    "firebase-admin": "^13.5.0",
    "nodemon": "^3.1.10"
  }
}

Configure Firebase

Create a Firebase project at console.firebase.google.com and enable:

Authentication - Enable Email/Password authentication
Cloud Firestore - Create a Firestore database

Then, obtain your Firebase configuration credentials from the project settings.

Set up environment variables

Create a .env file in the root directory with your Firebase configuration:

.env

PORT=3000
FIREBASE_API_KEY=your_api_key
FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=your_auth_domain
FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=your_project_id
FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=your_storage_bucket
FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=your_messaging_sender_id
FIREBASE_APP_ID=your_app_id

Never commit your .env file to version control. Add it to your .gitignore file to keep your credentials secure.

Start the development server

Run the development server with automatic restart on file changes:

npm run dev

Or start the production server:

npm start

The server will start on http://localhost:3000 (or your configured PORT).

server/server.js

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`🚀 Servidor CEMAC corriendo en: http://localhost:${PORT}`);
  console.log(`📡 API backend externa: https://cemac-api.vercel.app/`);
});

Verify installation

Open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:3000 - Main login page
http://localhost:3000/api/status - Server status endpoint

You should see the CEMAC login page and be able to check the server status:

Response from /api/status

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Servidor CEMAC funcionando correctamente",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-03T21:00:00.000Z",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "routes": {
    "auth": "/auth/*",
    "frontend": "/",
    "dashboard": "/views/dashboard/*",
    "status": "/api/status"
  }
}

Project structure

Understand the CEMAC codebase organization:

cemac/
├── config/             # Firebase and database configuration
├── controllers/        # API request handlers
├── middlewares/        # Authentication and request middleware
├── public/             # Frontend assets
│   ├── css/           # Stylesheets
│   ├── js/            # Client-side JavaScript
│   │   ├── components/    # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── controllers/   # Frontend controllers
│   │   ├── middlewares/   # Client-side middleware
│   │   ├── modules/       # Feature modules (login, inventory, sales)
│   │   ├── services/      # API service clients
│   │   └── utils/         # Utility functions
│   └── views/         # HTML templates
│       ├── admin/         # Admin-only pages
│       └── dashboard/     # Main dashboard views
├── routes/             # Express route definitions
├── server/            # Server configuration
└── utils/             # Backend utilities

Available routes

Once installed, CEMAC provides these routes:

Frontend routes

GET / - Login page (admin)
GET /views/employee-login.html - Employee login page
GET /views/dashboard/inicio.html - Main dashboard
GET /views/dashboard/inventario.html - Inventory management
GET /views/dashboard/ventas.html - Sales tracking
GET /views/dashboard/alertas.html - Alerts and notifications
GET /views/dashboard/analisis.html - Analytics dashboard

API routes

routes/authRoutes.js

// Authentication endpoints
POST /auth/login          // User authentication
POST /auth/logout         // End user session
GET  /auth/verify         // Verify auth token
POST /auth/recover        // Password recovery
GET  /auth/status         // Auth system status

CEMAC uses a hybrid architecture: the frontend runs on your local server, while the backend API is deployed on Vercel at https://cemac-api.vercel.app/.

Development workflow

Running in development mode

npm run dev

This uses nodemon to automatically restart the server when you make changes to any file.

Running in production mode

npm start

This uses Node.js watch mode for automatic restarts without the overhead of nodemon.

Environment configuration

CEMAC automatically detects the environment based on the hostname:

public/js/services/authService.js

configureAPIEndpoint() {
  const hostname = window.location.hostname;
  const isLocalhost = hostname === 'localhost' || hostname === '127.0.0.1';
  
  if (isLocalhost) {
    // Development: use local proxy server
    this.baseURL = window.location.origin;
    this.environment = 'development';
  } else {
    // Production: use deployed API
    this.baseURL = 'https://cemac-api.vercel.app';
    this.environment = 'production';
  }
}

Local development

When running on localhost, CEMAC uses the local server as a proxy to the external API.

Production deployment

In production, CEMAC communicates directly with the Vercel-deployed API.

Database setup

CEMAC uses Cloud Firestore with the following collections:

users - User accounts and profiles
products - Inventory items
sales - Transaction records
customers - Customer information
categories - Product categories
brands - Product brands
suppliers - Supplier information
alerts - System notifications and alerts

Configure Firestore security rules to restrict access based on authentication tokens. Ensure that only authenticated users can read/write data.

Troubleshooting

Port already in use

If port 3000 is already in use, either:

Stop the process using port 3000
Change the PORT in your .env file

# Find process using port 3000
lsof -i :3000

# Kill the process
kill -9 <PID>

Firebase authentication errors

Verify that:

Your Firebase credentials in .env are correct
Email/Password authentication is enabled in Firebase Console
Firebase project is active and not suspended

Check the browser console for detailed error messages.

API connection timeout

If you see timeout errors when logging in:

Check that https://cemac-api.vercel.app/ is accessible
Verify your internet connection
Check if the API is experiencing downtime

The authentication controller has a 10-second timeout:

const controller = new AbortController();
const timeoutId = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 10000);

Missing dependencies

If you encounter module errors, try:

# Remove node_modules and reinstall
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

Next steps

Quickstart guide

Learn how to use CEMAC for the first time.

API reference

Explore the complete API documentation.

User management

Set up user accounts and permissions.

Deployment guide

Deploy CEMAC to production.

Get Started

Core Features

User Guides

Configuration

Installation

Prerequisites

Installation steps

Project structure

Available routes

Frontend routes

API routes

Development workflow

Running in development mode

Running in production mode

Environment configuration

Local development

Production deployment

Database setup

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Quickstart guide

API reference

User management

Deployment guide

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Features

User Guides

Configuration

​Prerequisites

​Installation steps

​Project structure

​Available routes

​Frontend routes

​API routes

​Development workflow

​Running in development mode

​Running in production mode

​Environment configuration

​Local development

​Production deployment

​Database setup

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Quickstart guide

API reference

User management

Deployment guide

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Prerequisites

Installation steps

Project structure

Available routes

Frontend routes

API routes

Development workflow

Running in development mode

Running in production mode

Environment configuration

Local development

Production deployment

Database setup

Troubleshooting

Next steps