SupportDesk

SupportDesk is a support ticket management platform built to explore role-based access control, RESTful API design, and containerized full-stack infrastructure with Docker.

The server is built using Node.js + Express, communicates with a MongoDB database, and exposes a typed REST API consumed by a React frontend. The application supports two roles, clients (who open tickets) and agents (who manage and resolve them), with strict permission enforcement across all endpoints.

🚀 Technologies

Backend

• Node.js + Express 5
• MongoDB 7 + Mongoose 9
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authentication
• Bcrypt for password hashing
• Zod for request validation
• Jest + Supertest for integration testing
• TypeScript + ESM

Frontend

• React 19 + TypeScript
• Vite 8
• React Router v7
• TanStack React Query v5
• Styled Components v6
• Axios
• Lucide React (icons)

Infrastructure

• Docker + Docker Compose
• Nginx (reverse proxy)

🖼 Project Screenshots

🏗 Architecture

The backend follows a layered architecture:

Routes → Controllers → Services → Models

• Global error handling via AppError + errorMiddleware
• MongoDB connection via Mongoose
• JWT authentication via authenticate middleware
• Role enforcement via requireRole middleware

The frontend is structured around React contexts (AuthContext, ThemeContext, ToastContext) with server state managed by TanStack React Query and routing handled by React Router with protected and public route guards.

🐳 Infrastructure with Docker

All services are orchestrated with Docker Compose:

services:

  mongo:
    image: mongo:7
    ports:
      - "27017:27017"
    volumes:
      - mongo_data:/data/db
    environment:
      MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE: supportdesk

  backend:
    build: ./backend
    expose:
      - "3000"
    env_file: ./backend/.env
    depends_on:
      - mongo

  frontend:
    build: ./frontend
    expose:
      - "5173"
    depends_on:
      - backend
    environment:
      - BACKEND_URL=http://backend:3000

  nginx:
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
    depends_on:
      - backend
      - frontend

volumes:
  mongo_data:

Nginx listens on port 80 and proxies /api/ requests to the backend on port 3000 and all other requests to the frontend dev server on port 5173 (with WebSocket upgrade support for Vite HMR).

🎫 Ticket Lifecycle

Tickets follow a strict state machine with role-based transitions:

Status	Description
open	Ticket created by a client, awaiting an agent
in_progress	An agent has assigned themselves to the ticket
closed	The assigned agent has resolved the ticket
canceled	The client who created the ticket has canceled it

State transitions:

Action	Endpoint	Allowed Role	Condition
Create	POST /tickets	client	—
Assign	PATCH /tickets/:id/assign	agent	Ticket must be open
Unassign	PATCH /tickets/:id/unassign	agent	Must be the assigned agent
Close	PATCH /tickets/:id/close	agent	Must be the assigned agent
Cancel	PATCH /tickets/:id/cancel	client	Must be the ticket creator
Comment	POST /tickets/:id/comments	client or agent	Ticket must not be closed

📡 REST API

The backend exposes a REST API on port 3000 (proxied via Nginx at /api/).

Auth

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/auth/register	Register a new user
POST	/auth/login	Authenticate and receive a JWT

Tickets

All ticket routes require a valid Authorization: Bearer <token> header.

Method	Endpoint	Role	Description
GET	/tickets	any	List tickets (filtered by role)
POST	/tickets	client	Create a new ticket
GET	/tickets/:id	any	Get ticket details
PATCH	/tickets/:id/assign	agent	Assign ticket to self
PATCH	/tickets/:id/unassign	agent	Unassign self from ticket
PATCH	/tickets/:id/close	agent	Close an assigned ticket
PATCH	/tickets/:id/cancel	client	Cancel own ticket
POST	/tickets/:id/comments	any	Add a comment to a ticket

Health Check

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/health	Returns API and DB status

🗄 Data Models

User

Field	Type	Description
name	String	Full name
email	String	Unique, lowercase
password	String	Hashed with bcrypt (min 6 chars)
role	Enum	client or agent
createdAt	Date	Auto-generated

Passwords are stripped from all JSON responses.

Ticket

Field	Type	Description
title	String	Short description
description	String	Full problem description
status	Enum	open, in_progress, closed, canceled
priority	Enum	low, medium, high
createdBy	ObjectId	Reference to User
assignedTo	ObjectId	Reference to User (nullable)
comments	Array	Embedded comment subdocuments
createdAt	Date	Auto-generated

Comment (embedded)

Field	Type	Description
author	ObjectId	Reference to User
body	String	Comment text
createdAt	Date	Auto-generated

🧪 Tests

The backend has integration tests written with Jest and Supertest, covering authentication and the full ticket lifecycle.

cd backend
npm test

Tests run against a separate MongoDB instance defined by MONGO_TEST_URL. The database is wiped before each test case to ensure isolation.

Auth tests cover: registration, duplicate email rejection, login, and wrong password rejection.

Ticket tests cover: creation (client/agent roles), listing, ownership checks, assign/unassign/close/cancel flows, comment permissions, and unauthenticated access.

📦 Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/DavidEricson00/SupportDesk.git
cd SupportDesk

2. Configure the backend environment

cp backend/.env.example backend/.env

Fill in the values (see Environment Variables below).

3. Start all services

docker compose up -d --build

The application will be available at http://localhost.

4. (Optional) Run tests

cd backend
npm test

⚙️ Environment Variables

Create backend/.env based on backend/.env.example:

PORT=

MONGO_URL=
MONGO_TEST_URL=

JWT_SECRET=

NODE_ENV=

Variable	Description
PORT	Port for the Express server (default: 3000)
MONGO_URL	MongoDB connection string for the main database
MONGO_TEST_URL	MongoDB connection string for the test database
JWT_SECRET	Secret key used to sign JWT tokens
NODE_ENV	Environment (development, production, test)