After this lesson, you will be able to: Build a real Mongo-backed web app with Mongoose, schema validation, aggregation pipelines, and Atlas hosting.
A portfolio project showing you can make schema decisions, use aggregations, and ship a deployed app. Differentiates from 'I did the tutorial.'
Something document-shaped.
Option A: Personal CMS, articles + tags + comments + drafts vs published.
Option B: Recipe app, recipes + ingredients + ratings + meal plans.
Option C: Habit tracker with rich event log, habits + check-ins + streaks + insights.
Option D: IoT-style sensor data, devices + readings (time-series collection).
Same for any domain.
1. Node.js + TypeScript + Express or Next.js API routes.
2. Mongoose with at least 3 schemas + validation.
3. At least 2 aggregation pipelines for reports / stats.
4. Indexes on every common query field; explain() in the README showing IXSCAN.
5. Atlas M0 free tier hosting.
6. Frontend (any) that reads + writes.
7. README with: schema decisions (embed vs reference + why), example aggregations, screenshots.
8. Deployed (Vercel or Railway/Render) with env vars for Atlas connection.
Order matters.
Milestone 1: Atlas cluster + connection. Save credentials.
Milestone 2: 3 Mongoose schemas with validation. Seed sample data.
Milestone 3: Express/Next API routes, CRUD for primary entity.
Milestone 4: One aggregation pipeline (e.g., monthly summary, top-tag report).
Milestone 5: Indexes + explain() screenshots in README.
Milestone 6: Frontend that exercises the API.
Milestone 7: Deploy + smoke-test.
Milestone 8: Write the README with architecture decisions.
Frontend + API: Vercel (free) or Railway. DB: Atlas M0 (free). Total cost: $0. Link goes on resume + LinkedIn.
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