Recruitment App

Recruitment application for KTH course IV1201. Built with Express.js (backend) and React (frontend).

Live: Render Website

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• PostgreSQL

Getting started

Backend

cd backend
cp .env.example .env
npm install
npm run dev

Edit .env with your database credentials and a JWT secret. The app runs on port 3000 by default.

Variable	Description
DB_HOST	PostgreSQL host
DB_NAME	Database name
DB_USER	Database user
DB_PASSWORD	Database password
JWT_SECRET	Secret key for signing tokens
FRONTEND_URL	Frontend origin for CORS (default: http://localhost:5173)

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

The app runs on port 5173. Set VITE_API_URL in a .env file if the backend runs on a different URL.

Data migration

To import data from the existing database, place the SQL dump at backend/migrations/data/old_database.sql, then run:

cd backend
npm run migrate

This imports all persons, competences, competence profiles and availability periods. It handles missing data (users without passwords get a temporary password, missing usernames are generated from name and ID).

Project structure

backend/src/
  config/       - Database connection (Sequelize)
  controller/   - Request handling and business logic
  integration/  - Database access (DAOs)
  middleware/   - Auth and guard middleware
  migrations/   - Data migration script
  model/        - Sequelize models
  routes/       - Express route definitions
  util/         - JWT, password, validation, logging, errors

frontend/src/
  api/          - Axios client and API calls
  components/   - Reusable UI components
  context/      - Auth context
  pages/        - Page components
  utils/        - Client-side validation and error helpers

Higher grade tasks

Task	Description	Where to find it
7	Password hashing	backend/src/util/password.js, bcrypt with configurable rounds via BCRYPT_ROUNDS
8	CORS	backend/src/app.js, configured with credentials: true and origin from FRONTEND_URL
9	Logging	backend/src/util/logger.js, Winston logger writing to logs/error.log and logs/combined.log. Controllers log successful operations, error handler logs all errors
25	Server-side validation	backend/src/controller/ - all input is validated before any database call using util/validation.js
26	Client-side validation	frontend/src/utils/validation.js, used in Register.jsx and Login.jsx
27	Reusable view components	frontend/src/components/Layout.jsx, Header.jsx, Footer.jsx - used by all pages via App.jsx
28	Data migration with lacking data	backend/migrations/importExistingData.js - generates usernames and hashes passwords for users that lack them in the old database
29	Integration layer validation	All DAOs in backend/src/integration/ validate input with guard assertions before any database call
32	Canvas resources	Three resources added to the course Canvas Links page