EduNode Server

Backend API for edunode.org — an education platform with courses, verifiable certificates, NFT credentials on Stellar/Soroban, blogging, messaging, and email marketing.

Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js 22.x, Express 4
• Database: MongoDB (Mongoose), session store via connect-mongodb-session
• Auth: Passport (Google OAuth 2.0), JWT, email/password, Web3 wallet logins (Freighter, Albedo, MetaMask)
• Blockchain: Stellar SDK / Soroban — NFT certificates, IPFS pinning via nft.storage, web3.storage, Pinata
• Payments: Stripe (subscriptions + webhooks)
• Email: SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Nodemailer — campaigns, templates, analytics, webhooks
• AI: OpenAI, Google Gemini (@google/genai) — tutor features
• Realtime: WebSocket (ws), Socket.IO
• Security: Helmet, express-rate-limit, CORS allowlist

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22.x
• A MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)

Install

npm install

Configure

Copy config/config.env (or create it) and set the required environment variables:

Variable	Description
MONGO_URI	MongoDB connection string
SESSION_SECRET	Express session secret
JWT_SECRET	Secret for signing JWTs
PORT	API port (default 5001; WebSocket server runs on 5002)
BASE_URL / CLIENT_URL / REDIRECT_URL	Service and frontend URLs
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Extra CORS origins
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY / STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET / STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID	Stripe
OPENAI_API_KEY / GEMINI_API_KEY	AI tutor providers
MAILGUN_API_KEY / MAILGUN_DOMAIN / MAILGUN_URL / MAILGUN_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_KEY	Mailgun
EDUNODE_GMAIL_EMAIL / EDUNODE_GMAIL_PASS	Nodemailer Gmail transport
NFT_STORAGE_API_KEY	nft.storage IPFS pinning
PINATA_API_KEY / PINATA_SECRET_API_KEY	Pinata IPFS pinning
DISCORD_TOKEN	Discord bot
ADMIN_SECRET_KEY	Admin operations

Run

# Development (auto-reload via nodemon)
npm run dev

# Production
node server.js

The API listens on PORT (default 5001) and the WebSocket server on 5002.

Project Structure

server.js          App entry point (Express setup, security, DB, routes)
routes/            API route handlers (auth, courses, certificates, stripe, ...)
models/            Mongoose models
controllers/       Route controllers
middleware/        Auth/security middleware
services/          Business logic services
config/            DB connection, env config
scripts/           One-off scripts (email marketing init, template resets)
utils/             Helpers
public/            Static assets
universities.json  University reference data

See also:

• EMAIL_MARKETING_README.md — email marketing subsystem docs
• STRIPE_SETUP.md — Stripe configuration guide
• IMPLEMENTATION_SUMMARY.md — feature implementation notes

Deployment

Deployed on Heroku (Procfile: web: node server.js). Set NODE_ENV=production and configure all environment variables in the Heroku app settings. The Stripe webhook endpoint (/api/stripe/webhook) must be registered in the Stripe dashboard with the production URL.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Copyright 2023-2026 EduNode contributors.