Scalable Task Platform

A production-grade DevOps project documenting the full lifecycle of a task management application -- from a simple backend API to a fully authenticated, containerized, cloud-deployed SaaS platform with a professional frontend.

Built in public, one week at a time.

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What This Project Demonstrates

• Backend API development with Node.js and Express
• PostgreSQL database integration with AWS RDS
• JWT-based user authentication and authorization
• Containerization with Docker and Docker Compose
• Multi-stage Docker builds with Nginx reverse proxy
• CI/CD automation with GitHub Actions, Amazon ECR, and Docker Hub
• Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
• Secrets management with AWS SSM Parameter Store
• Cloud deployment on AWS EC2 with SSM-only access
• Professional React frontend with Tailwind CSS
• Container orchestration with Kubernetes (upcoming)
• Monitoring and observability with Prometheus and Grafana (upcoming)

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Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React, Vite, Tailwind CSS, React Router
Backend	Node.js, Express
Database	PostgreSQL on AWS RDS
Authentication	JWT, bcryptjs
Containerization	Docker, Docker Compose
Reverse Proxy	Nginx
CI/CD	GitHub Actions
Image Registry	Amazon ECR, Docker Hub
Infrastructure	Terraform
Secrets	AWS SSM Parameter Store
Cloud	AWS EC2, RDS, VPC, IAM
Orchestration	Kubernetes (upcoming)
Monitoring	Prometheus, Grafana (upcoming)

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Roadmap

Week	Topic	Status
1	Project foundation and backend API	Done
2	Dockerize the backend	Done
3	React frontend and Docker Compose	Done
4	CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions, ECR and Docker Hub	Done
5	Terraform infrastructure and CI/CD pipeline extension	Done
6	Cloud deployment on AWS EC2	Done
7	PostgreSQL on AWS RDS with Terraform	Done
8	JWT authentication, SSM Parameter Store, UI overhaul	Done
9	Kubernetes deployment	Upcoming
10	Hardening and project polish	Upcoming

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API Endpoints

Health

Method	Route	Description
GET	/api	API status
GET	/api/health	Returns status and uptime

Authentication

Method	Route	Description	Auth
POST	/api/auth/register	Create a new user account	Public
POST	/api/auth/login	Sign in and receive JWT token	Public
GET	/api/auth/me	Returns current authenticated user	Required

Tasks

Method	Route	Description	Auth
GET	/api/tasks	Returns all tasks for the authenticated user	Required
POST	/api/tasks	Creates a new task	Required
PATCH	/api/tasks/:id	Toggles task complete or incomplete	Required
DELETE	/api/tasks/:id	Deletes a task	Required

Projects

Method	Route	Description	Auth
GET	/api/projects	Returns all projects for the authenticated user	Required
POST	/api/projects	Creates a new project	Required
DELETE	/api/projects/:id	Deletes a project	Required

Team

Method	Route	Description	Auth
GET	/api/team	Returns all team members for the workspace	Required
POST	/api/team/invite	Invites a team member by email	Required
DELETE	/api/team/:id	Removes a team member	Required

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Authentication

All protected routes require a Bearer token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer <your-jwt-token>

Tokens are issued on login and registration. They expire after 7 days.

Passwords are hashed with bcrypt at cost factor 12. Plain text passwords are never stored.

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Frontend

The frontend is a React + Vite + Tailwind CSS application with 26 pages including:

• Landing page with feature sections
• Authentication pages (login and register)
• Full dashboard with sidebar navigation
• Dashboard pages: Tasks, Projects, Teams, Calendar, Activity, Notifications, Analytics, Settings
• Feature detail pages for all 7 platform features
• Marketing pages: Pricing, About, Contact, Status

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or higher
• npm
• Docker and Docker Compose

Run Backend Locally

git clone https://github.com/elizabeth-ikechukwu/scalable-task-platform.git
cd scalable-task-platform/app/backend
cp .env.example .env
npm install
npm start

Server runs on http://localhost:3000

Run Frontend Locally

cd scalable-task-platform/app/frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend runs on http://localhost:5173

Run Full Stack With Docker Compose

git clone https://github.com/elizabeth-ikechukwu/scalable-task-platform.git
cd scalable-task-platform
docker compose up -d

Full stack runs on http://localhost:80

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CI/CD Pipeline

Every pull request and push to main triggers a five-stage pipeline:

lint -> unit-test -> build-and-integration-test -> publish -> terraform-apply

• terraform-plan runs on every pull request -- shows exactly what infrastructure will change before merging
• terraform-apply runs on merge to main -- provisions SSM parameters, infrastructure, and deploys to EC2
• The publish stage pushes images to both Amazon ECR and Docker Hub tagged with latest and the short Git SHA

AWS authentication uses OIDC -- no static credentials stored in GitHub secrets.

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Infrastructure

All infrastructure is provisioned with Terraform and lives in infra/terraform/.

Resource	Details
VPC	Custom VPC with public and private subnets
Networking	Internet gateway, route tables
Security	Security groups with least-privilege rules
Compute	EC2 t3.micro running Amazon Linux 2023
Database	RDS PostgreSQL 16 on db.t3.micro in private subnet
Secrets	SSM Parameter Store with SecureString encryption
IAM	Instance profile scoped to SSM parameters and ECR
State	S3 remote backend with native state locking

EC2 instances configure themselves on first boot via a user data script -- Docker is installed, secrets are fetched from SSM Parameter Store at runtime, images are pulled from ECR, and containers start automatically. No SSH required. All access via AWS SSM Session Manager.

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Security

• JWT authentication on all protected API routes
• Passwords hashed with bcrypt (cost factor 12)
• Database credentials stored in AWS SSM Parameter Store -- never in code or environment files
• EC2 has no SSH access -- management via SSM Session Manager only
• RDS in private subnet -- no public internet access
• IMDSv2 enforced on EC2 metadata endpoint
• EBS volumes encrypted at rest

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Weekly Updates

Detailed documentation for each week is in the docs folder.

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Author

Ikechukwu Elizabeth Nkwo

DevOps and Cloud Engineer

LinkedIn | GitHub