Lost Item Finder is a full-stack web application that helps users report lost or found items and claim ownership in a secure way.
The project was built incrementally, focusing on real-world authentication, authorization, and backend logic.
This project demonstrates my understanding of full-stack development using the MERN stack.
In college campuses, items are frequently lost, but there is no structured platform to match people who lose items with those who find them.
This application provides a simple and secure solution for posting items and verifying ownership claims.
- Frontend: React (Vite), CSS
- Backend: Node.js, Express.js
- Database: MongoDB (Mongoose)
- Authentication: JWT-based authentication
- File Uploads: Multer
- Image Hosting: Cloudinary
- Additional Features: Leaflet integration for item location
- Authentication: Signup and login with JWT-based security
- Item Posting: Create lost or found item posts with images and location
- Item Browsing: View items posted by others with filters and map view
- Claim Management: Submit proof of ownership to claim items, which owners can approve or reject
- Track personal activity: posts created, items claimed, recent actions
- Edit and manage user profile
- Monitor contribution statistics for lost and found items
- Protected routes accessible only to authenticated users
- Role-based access for owners to manage claims
- Designing REST APIs with proper authentication
- Implementing role-based access to protected resources
- Handling file uploads securely
- Structuring a growing backend codebase
- Integrating maps and geolocation to enhance user experience
- Managing user dashboards and activity tracking
- Managing feature creep and prioritizing core functionality
The core functionality is complete and stable.
Additional features like payments and notifications were intentionally left out to maintain clarity and stability.
This project was developed as a learning-focused full-stack application and reflects real-world development challenges such as scaling features and maintaining clean architecture.