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Recipe Sharing Platform

Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate

Build a full-stack recipe sharing platform where users can create, share, search, and save their favorite recipes. This project covers fundamental CRUD operations, file uploads, search functionality, and basic user interactions.

Estimated Time: 3-4 days

Learning Objectives

Project Requirements

Core Features

  • Users can create recipes with title, description, ingredients list, instructions, prep time, cook time, and servings
  • Upload and display recipe images (handle file upload on backend)
  • View all recipes in a card-based grid layout
  • Click on a recipe to view full details on a dedicated page
  • Edit and delete recipes
  • Search recipes by title or ingredients
  • Filter recipes by categories (e.g., breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, vegetarian)
  • Sort recipes by creation date or cooking time

Frontend (React)

  • Create reusable components: RecipeCard, RecipeForm, RecipeDetail, SearchBar, FilterBar
  • Use React Router for navigation between pages (home, recipe detail, create/edit recipe)
  • Implement form validation with helpful error messages
  • Use useState for local component state and useEffect for data fetching
  • Show loading states while fetching data
  • Handle errors gracefully with user-friendly messages
  • Make the UI responsive for mobile, tablet, and desktop

Backend (Express + MongoDB)

  • Set up Express server with proper middleware (cors, express.json, multer)
  • Create Mongoose schema for Recipe with validation
  • Implement RESTful API endpoints: GET /api/recipes, GET /api/recipes/:id, POST /api/recipes, PUT /api/recipes/:id, DELETE /api/recipes/:id
  • Handle file upload endpoint for images
  • Implement search endpoint: GET /api/recipes/search?q=query
  • Add query parameters for filtering and sorting
  • Validate data on the backend before saving to database
  • Return appropriate HTTP status codes and error messages

Database (MongoDB)

  • Design Recipe schema with fields: title, description, ingredients (array), instructions (array or text), prepTime, cookTime, servings, category, imageUrl, createdAt, updatedAt
  • Use Mongoose for schema definition and validation
  • Add indexes for commonly searched fields (title, ingredients)

Bonus Challenges (Optional)

  • Add a "favorites" feature (store favorites in localStorage)
  • Implement recipe rating system (1-5 stars)
  • Add pagination for recipe listing
  • Create a recipe import feature (paste URL to import from popular recipe sites)
  • Add nutritional information fields
  • Implement print-friendly recipe view
Technical Stack
Frontend React, React Router, useState, useEffect, axios/fetch, CSS (your choice of styling approach)
Backend Node.js, Express.js, multer (file uploads), cors
Database MongoDB, Mongoose
Deployment Render (backend), Render/Vercel/Netlify (frontend)

📚 Helpful Resources

React Documentation → Express Routing Guide → Mongoose Guide → Multer (File Upload) → Render Deployment Docs →

💡 Development Tips:

Start with the backend API first - build and test all endpoints using Postman or Thunder Client before building the frontend. Create your Mongoose schema carefully with proper validation. For file uploads, store images in a public folder on the server or use a cloud storage service. Use meaningful component names and keep components small and focused. Test your search and filter functionality thoroughly with different queries.

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