Courstack — Learning Management System API

A production-ready, SaaS-grade Learning Management System backend built with Node.js, TypeScript, Prisma ORM, and PostgreSQL. Designed with scalable architecture, clean module separation, and enterprise-level security.

Overview

Courstack is a full-featured LMS backend that supports multiple user roles (Super Admin, Admin, Instructor, Student), course lifecycle management (Draft → Pending Review → Published → Archived), lesson progress tracking, enrollment with payment integration, and real-time stats — all behind a secure JWT-based authentication system with OTP verification.

Key Capabilities

Role-based access control (SUPER_ADMIN, ADMIN, INSTRUCTOR, STUDENT)
Full course lifecycle: create, pending review, publish, archive, soft-delete
Nested lesson management with video support and progress tracking
Enrollment system with payment status tracking
OTP-based email verification via Nodemailer
Redis-backed session/token caching
Cloudinary integration for media uploads
Cron job support for scheduled tasks
Zod-powered request validation

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Runtime	Node.js
Language	TypeScript
Framework	Express.js v5
ORM	Prisma v7
Database	PostgreSQL
Auth	JWT + OTP (Nodemailer)
Caching	Redis
Storage	Cloudinary
Validation	Zod
Package Manager	pnpm

Architecture

The project follows a modular monolith architecture where each domain is self-contained with its own controller, service, repository, routes, and validation layer.

src/
├── app/
│   ├── global/          # Global error handlers, response utilities
│   ├── helper/          # Shared helper functions
│   ├── middleware/       # Auth, role-guard, upload, error middleware
│   ├── modules/          # Domain modules (auth, user, course, etc.)
│   │   ├── auth/
│   │   │   ├── auth.controller.ts
│   │   │   ├── auth.repository.ts
│   │   │   ├── auth.routes.ts
│   │   │   ├── auth.service.ts
│   │   │   └── auth.validation.ts
│   │   ├── category/
│   │   ├── course/
│   │   ├── cron/
│   │   ├── enrollment/
│   │   ├── lesson/
│   │   ├── payment/
│   │   ├── stats/
│   │   └── user/
│   ├── routes/           # Root router aggregator
│   ├── schema/           # Prisma schema
│   ├── types/            # Shared TypeScript types
│   └── utils/            # Utility functions
├── generated/            # Prisma generated client
├── app.ts
└── server.ts

Database Schema

The ERD reflects a normalized relational schema designed for production workloads.

Entities

Entity	Description
`User`	Supports roles: SUPER_ADMIN, ADMIN, INSTRUCTOR, STUDENT
`Course`	Belongs to an Instructor and a Category; supports DRAFT /PENDING_REVIEW / PUBLISHED / ARCHIVED statuses
`Lesson`	Nested under a Course; supports video content, ordering, and preview flags
`Enrollment`	Links a Student to a Course with payment tracking
`LessonProgress`	Tracks per-student lesson completion
`Payment`	Records payment gateway transactions tied to an Enrollment
`Category`	Categorizes courses via slug-based lookup

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 18
pnpm >= 10
PostgreSQL (running locally)
Redis (running locally)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Sushanto171/courstack-backend
cd courstack-backend

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in the required values in .env

# Run database migrations
pnpm migrate

# Start development server
pnpm dev

The server will start at http://localhost:<PORT> as configured in your .env.

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in the values:

# Server
PORT=

# Database
DATABASE_URL=

# JWT
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=
JWT_ACCESS_EXPIRES_IN=
JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRES_IN=

# Redis
REDIS_URL=

# Email (Nodemailer)
SMTP_HOST=
SMTP_PORT=
SMTP_USER=
SMTP_PASS=

# Cloudinary
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=

# Super Admin Seed
SUPER_ADMIN_EMAIL=
SUPER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=

Live Demo & Test Credentials

Base URL: https://courstakc-backend.vercel.app

⚠️ These credentials are for demo and testing purposes only. Do not use them for any production or sensitive operations.

Role	Email	Password
🔴 Super Admin	`superadmin@courstack.com`	`SuperSecret123!`
🟠 Admin	`admin@courstack.com`	`Admin@11`
🟡 Instructor	`instructor@courstack.com`	`Instructor@1`
🟢 Student	`student@courstack.com`	`Student@1`

Quick Test Flow

# 1. Login with any test account
POST https://courstack-backend.vercel.app/api/v1/auth/login
{
  "email": "student@courstack.com",
  "password": "Student@1"
}

# 2. Verify OTP if required
POST https://courstack-backend.vercel.app/api/v1/auth/verify
{
  "otp": "<otp_from_email> or 123456 (only for test)"
}

API Reference

Base URL: {{local}} (configurable via Postman environment)

A complete Postman collection is included in the repository: courstack.postman_collection.json

Auth — `/auth`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	`/auth/login`	Login with email & password	Public
POST	`/auth/verify`	Verify OTP to activate session	Public
GET	`/auth/me`	Get authenticated user profile	Required
GET	`/auth/get-otp`	Resend OTP	Required
GET	`/auth/refresh`	Refresh access token	Required

User — `/user`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
GET	`/user`	Get all users (supports `?search=`)	Admin
POST	`/user`	Create a new user (INSTRUCTOR / STUDENT)	Admin
POST	`/user/create-admin`	Create an Admin user	Super Admin
PATCH	`/user/update-status`	Suspend or reactivate a user	Admin
PATCH	`/user/:id`	Update user profile	Owner / Admin

Category — `/category`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
GET	`/category`	Get all categories	Public
GET	`/category/:slug`	Get category by slug	Public
POST	`/category`	Create a category	Admin
PATCH	`/category/:id`	Update a category	Admin

Course — `/course`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
GET	`/course`	Get all courses (supports query filters)	Public
GET	`/course/:slug`	Get course by slug	Public
GET	`/course/my-courses`	Get instructor's own courses	Instructor
POST	`/course`	Create a course	Instructor
PATCH	`/course/:id`	Update course details	Instructor
PATCH	`/course/status/:id`	Update course status	Instructor / Admin
DELETE	`/course/soft/:id`	Soft delete a course	Instructor / Admin

Course query parameters:

Param	Values	Description
`status`	`DRAFT`, `PUBLISHED`	Filter by status
`limit`	number	Limit result count
`order`	`asc`, `desc`	Sort order

Lesson — `/course/:courseId/lessons`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
GET	`/course/:courseId/lessons`	Get all lessons overview	Enrolled / Instructor
GET	`/course/:courseId/lessons/:lessonId`	Get single lesson with content	Enrolled / Instructor
POST	`/course/:courseId/lessons`	Add a lesson	Instructor
PATCH	`/course/:courseId/lessons/:lessonId`	Update lesson (incl. videos)	Instructor
PATCH	`/course/:courseId/lessons/:lessonId/status`	Update lesson status	Instructor
POST	`/course/:courseId/lessons/:lessonId/progress`	Mark lesson as complete	Student

Enrollment — `/enrollment`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	`/enrollment`	Enroll in a course	Student
GET	`/enrollment/my-enrollments`	Get own enrollments	Student
GET	`/enrollment/:courseId`	Get all enrollments for a course	Instructor / Admin

Stats — `/stats`

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
GET	`/stats`	Get platform-wide statistics	All Roles

Roles & Permissions

Action	SUPER_ADMIN	ADMIN	INSTRUCTOR	STUDENT
Create Admin	✅	❌	❌	❌
Manage Users	✅	✅	❌	❌
Create Course	✅	✅	✅	❌
Publish Course	✅	✅	✅	❌
Enroll in Course	❌	❌	❌	✅
Track Progress	❌	❌	❌	✅
View Stats	✅	✅	✅	✅

Scripts

pnpm dev           # Start development server with hot reload (tsx watch)
pnpm build         # Generate Prisma client and compile TypeScript
pnpm start         # Run compiled production build
pnpm migrate       # Run Prisma migrations
pnpm generate      # Regenerate Prisma client
pnpm lint          # Run ESLint on /src

Project Structure

courstack-backend/
├── src/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── global/
│   │   ├── helper/
│   │   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── modules/
│   │   │   ├── auth/
│   │   │   ├── category/
│   │   │   ├── course/
│   │   │   ├── cron/
│   │   │   ├── enrollment/
│   │   │   ├── lesson/
│   │   │   ├── payment/
│   │   │   ├── stats/
│   │   │   └── user/
│   │   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── schema/
│   │   ├── types/
│   │   └── utils/
│   ├── generated/
│   ├── app.ts
│   └── server.ts
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
├── courstack.postman_collection.json
├── courstack_drawio.png
├── package.json
├── prisma/
│   └── schema.prisma
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.

Built with ❤️ as a production-grade SaaS backend demonstrating advanced full-stack engineering, clean architecture, and real-world design patterns.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 78 Commits
dist		dist
prisma		prisma
src		src
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
.npmrc		.npmrc
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
README.md		README.md
courstack.drawio.png		courstack.drawio.png
courstack.postman_collection.json		courstack.postman_collection.json
eslint.config.mjs		eslint.config.mjs
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
prisma.config.ts		prisma.config.ts
render-build.sh		render-build.sh
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

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Repository files navigation

Courstack — Learning Management System API

Table of Contents

Overview

Key Capabilities

Tech Stack

Architecture

Database Schema

Entities

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Installation

Environment Variables

Live Demo & Test Credentials

Quick Test Flow

API Reference

Auth — `/auth`

User — `/user`

Category — `/category`

Course — `/course`

Lesson — `/course/:courseId/lessons`

Enrollment — `/enrollment`

Stats — `/stats`

Roles & Permissions

Scripts

Project Structure

License

About

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

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History

Repository files navigation

Courstack — Learning Management System API

Table of Contents

Overview

Key Capabilities

Tech Stack

Architecture

Database Schema

Entities

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Installation

Environment Variables

Live Demo & Test Credentials

Quick Test Flow

API Reference

Auth — /auth

User — /user

Category — /category

Course — /course

Lesson — /course/:courseId/lessons

Enrollment — /enrollment

Stats — /stats

Roles & Permissions

Scripts

Project Structure

License

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Auth — `/auth`

User — `/user`

Category — `/category`

Course — `/course`

Lesson — `/course/:courseId/lessons`

Enrollment — `/enrollment`

Stats — `/stats`