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This guide walks you through cloning the Ocha API, configuring your environment, starting the server, and making your first authenticated request. You will need Node.js 18 or higher, a running MongoDB instance, and a Cloudinary account before you begin.
1

Clone the repository and install dependencies

Clone the repository and install the required npm packages.
git clone https://github.com/floriansalvi/HEIG-VD_Ocha-api.git
cd HEIG-VD_Ocha-api
npm install
2

Create the .env file

Create a .env file at the project root with the following variables. All four are required for the server to start correctly.
PORT=5001
MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<host>/<database>?<options>
JWT_SECRET=<your-secret-key>
CLOUDINARY_URL=cloudinary://<api_key>:<api_secret>@<cloud_name>
JWT_SECRET can be any long random string. Use a secret manager or openssl rand -hex 32 to generate one. Do not commit this file to version control.
3

Start the server

Start the API server. Use development mode while building locally — it restarts automatically on file changes.
npm run dev
The server starts on http://localhost:5001. You can verify it is running by visiting http://localhost:5001/api/v1/health.
4

Seed sample data

Populate the database with sample products and stores so you have data to work with immediately.
npm run seed:all
The seeders include Cloudinary image URLs for each product. Make sure your Cloudinary account has the corresponding images published, or product images will return broken URLs.
5

Register a user

Create a new account by sending a POST request to /api/v1/auth. The response includes a JWT token you will use for all subsequent authenticated requests.
curl -X POST http://localhost:5001/api/v1/auth \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "password": "Password_123!",
    "display_name": "your_username"
  }'
A successful response returns HTTP 201 with your token:
{
  "message": "User successfully registered",
  "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "user": {
    "id": "6641f2c3a4e2b10012d3e456",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "display_name": "your_username"
  }
}
Copy the token value — you will need it in the next step.
6

Make your first authenticated request

Pass the JWT token in the Authorization header to access protected endpoints. The example below retrieves the list of products.
curl http://localhost:5001/api/v1/products \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."
The response returns a paginated list of products. By default, page 1 with up to 10 items is returned.
Tokens expire after 7 days. When a request returns 401 Unauthorized, log in again via POST /api/v1/auth/login to get a new token.

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