StrayCare Backend

The StrayCare backend is a TypeScript API built with Express. It provides authentication, profiles, rescue workflows, community features, donations, file uploads, notifications, and real-time chat and calls through Socket.IO.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 LTS (supported range: >=20 <23)
• MongoDB, or the repository's test database setup

Setup

npm install
copy .env.example .env

Fill in .env before starting the server. MESSAGE_ENCRYPTION_KEY must be a 64-character hexadecimal value. MONGO_URI is required for normal development; the server can fall back to an in-memory database when it is absent.

Scripts

Command	Purpose
npm run dev	Start the TypeScript server with watch mode
npm run build	Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm start	Run the compiled server
npm test	Run Jest tests
npm run test:coverage	Generate a Jest coverage report
npm run kill-port	Free the configured development port

The server uses port 5000 by default and automatically tries the next available ports. Check the health endpoint at http://localhost:5000/ping.

Main directories

• src/routes - Express route modules
• src/controllers - Request handlers
• src/services - Application and integration services
• src/models - Mongoose models
• src/sockets - Socket.IO event handlers
• tests - Integration and end-to-end tests

Testing

Run the test suite with:

npm test

Keep credentials, Firebase service-account files, and production secrets out of version control.