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Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/miikorz/DailyNews/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

The DailyNews backend is a Node.js/TypeScript REST API built with Express and MongoDB. It exposes a set of /feed endpoints for reading, creating, updating, and deleting news articles, and automatically scrapes the top headlines from El País and El Mundo on every GET /feed request. The two key entry points are src/server.ts (bootstrap) and src/app.ts (Express application factory). This page explains how to configure the environment, wire up the database connection, and understand the middleware stack.

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Environment Variables

The backend reads its runtime configuration from a .env file in the backend/ directory (loaded via dotenv). Create this file before starting the server.
​
PORT
number
required
The TCP port that the Express server listens on. Example: 3000.
​
MONGO_URI
string
required
The MongoDB connection string passed to Mongoose’s connect() call. Supports both local and Atlas URIs. Example: mongodb://localhost:27017/dailynews.
# .env — place this file in the backend/ directory
PORT=3000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/dailynews
The .env file must never be committed to source control. Make sure it is listed in .gitignore. For production deployments, inject these values as real environment variables rather than relying on a .env file.

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Server Bootstrap

src/server.ts is the process entry point. It loads environment variables with dotenv.config(), establishes the MongoDB connection via connectDB(), and only starts the HTTP listener once the database is ready. If the database connection fails, connectDB() calls process.exit(1) so the server never opens a port without a working database. 
import app from './app';
import { connectDB } from './infrastructure/database/connect';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';

dotenv.config();

const PORT = process.env.PORT;

connectDB().then(() => {
  app.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Server is running on port ${PORT}`));
});

​
Express App Setup

src/app.ts builds and exports the Express application instance. The middleware stack, in registration order, is:
  1. express.urlencoded({ extended: true }) — parses URL-encoded form bodies.
  2. express.json() — parses JSON request bodies.
  3. cors({ origin: '*' }) — enables cross-origin requests from any origin.
  4. Global error handler — a four-argument middleware that catches any errors forwarded via next(err) and returns a structured JSON error response with the appropriate HTTP status code.
  5. Router — the router imported from api/routes.ts is mounted at /, registering all /feed routes.
/* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars */
/* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any */
import express from 'express';
import { SERVER_STATUS } from './api/apiConstants';
import router from './api/routes';
import cors from 'cors';

const app = express();

app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(express.json());
app.use(cors({ origin: '*' }));
app.use(
  (
    err: any,
    req: express.Request,
    res: express.Response,
    next: express.NextFunction
  ) => {
    // Error handling
    res.status(err.status || 500).json({
      error: {
        message: err.message,
        code: SERVER_STATUS.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
      },
      data: null,
    });
  }
);

// Routes
app.use('/', router);

export default app;
CORS is currently configured with origin: '*', which allows requests from any domain. This is acceptable during local development but must be restricted to known origins (e.g., your frontend’s domain) before deploying to production. Update the cors() call in app.ts accordingly.

​
MongoDB Connection

src/infrastructure/database/connect.ts exports a single async function, connectDB(), that uses Mongoose to open a connection to the URI specified in MONGO_URI. On success it logs "MongoDB connected". On failure it logs the error and exits the process with code 1, preventing the server from starting in a broken state. 
import mongoose from 'mongoose';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';

dotenv.config();

const mongoURI: string = process.env.MONGO_URI as string;

export const connectDB = async () => {
  try {
    await mongoose.connect(mongoURI);
    console.log('MongoDB connected');
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('MongoDB connection error:', error);
    process.exit(1);
  }
};

​
Available npm Scripts

All scripts are defined in package.json and run via npm run <script>.
ScriptCommandDescription
devnodemon src/server.tsStart the development server with hot-reload via Nodemon
buildtscCompile TypeScript to dist/
startnode dist/server.jsRun the compiled production build
testjestRun the full test suite
linteslint src/*.tsLint all TypeScript source files
lint:fixeslint src/*.ts --fixLint and auto-fix fixable issues
formatprettier --write "src/**/*.{ts,js,json,md}"Format all source files with Prettier
docker:builddocker-compose buildBuild Docker images
docker:updocker-compose up --watchStart containers in watch mode
docker:downdocker-compose downStop and remove containers
docker:restartdocker-compose down && docker-compose up --buildRebuild and restart all containers

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