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Stellar API

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This is the Node.js API backend for Stellar, a modern, next-generation community content tracker and forum software.

Tech Stack

  • Runtime: Node.js (LTS)
  • Framework: Express.js
  • Database: PostgreSQL with Prisma ORM
  • Validation: Zod (with OpenAPI generation)
  • Testing: Jest & Supertest

Quick Start

See the stellar-compose repository for the fastest way to spin up a full instance of Stellar (API, UI, and Database) using Docker.

Local Development Setup

If you prefer to run the API directly on your local machine for development:

1. Prerequisites

  • Node.js (LTS version)
  • A running PostgreSQL instance

2. Installation

git clone https://github.com/orphic-inc/stellar-api.git
cd stellar-api
npm install

3. Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env (or create one) and configure the following variables:

Variable Description Default
DATABASE_URL Prisma connection string to your Postgres DB postgresql://...
STELLAR_AUTH_JWT_SECRET Secret for signing JWTs (must be securely set) undefined
STELLAR_LOG_LEVEL Winston log level (e.g., debug, info, error) info
STELLAR_HTTP_PORT API listening port 8080
STELLAR_HTTP_CORS_ORIGIN Allowed CORS origin (usually the UI url) http://localhost:3000

4. Database Setup

Before running the app, ensure your database schema is initialized and the Prisma Client is generated:

npx prisma migrate dev
npx prisma generate

5. Running the API

Start the server in development mode (with hot-reloading):

npm run dev

OpenAPI Synchronization

Stellar relies on an OpenAPI specification to maintain type-safety between the API and the UI. When you make changes to Zod schemas or API routes, you must export the new OpenAPI spec:

npm run openapi:export

This generates an openapi.json file in the project root. The stellar-ui repository will read this file to generate its frontend TypeScript types.

Testing

Run the test suite:

npm run test

Run integration tests (requires a stellar_test database and .env.test file):

npm run test:integration