Welcome to the ecommerce-mern project.
This documentation serves as a technical guide for engineers, providing an in-depth understanding of the codebase, architecture, and integration points.

This project leverages the MERN stack:

• MongoDB for the database
• Express.js for the backend framework
• React for the frontend
• Node.js as the runtime environment

ecommerce-mern/
│── client/   # React frontend (UI, routing, pages, components)
│── server/   # Node.js backend (API, models, controllers, middleware)
│── .env      # Environment variables
│── package.json

• User registration & login with hashed passwords
• JWT-based authentication
• Role-based access (User & Admin)

• Category CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
• Product CRUD with image upload
• Manage orders & update order status

• Browse products by category & price filters
• Search & pagination
• View product details & similar products
• Add to cart & checkout
• Manage profile & orders

• Encrypted passwords with bcrypt
• JWT-protected routes
• Admin-only access controls

• Online payment gateway support

git clone https://github.com/your-username/ecommerce-mern.git
cd ecommerce-mern

cd server
npm install

• Create a .env file in server/:

PORT=8080
MONGO_URL=your_mongo_connection_url
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret

• Start the backend server:

npm start

cd client
npm install
npm start

• Frontend will run on → http://localhost:3000
• Backend will run on → http://localhost:8080

1. Register → User submits details → Password hashed → Saved in MongoDB
2. Login → JWT generated & returned → Stored in local storage
3. Protected Routes → Token verified by middleware (requireSignIn, isAdmin)

Architecture: