MERN Stack Authentication Template

A simple MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js) starter project with authentication. This template provides the essential building blocks for a login/signup system so you can quickly build and expand into a full application!

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🚀 Features

• 🔐 User authentication (signup & login)
• 🛡️ Password hashing with bcrypt
• 📦 Backend API built with Express & MongoDB
• ⚛️ Frontend with React & Vite
• 📡 API requests handled via Axios
• 🔄 Ready-to-extend template for dashboards, CRUD apps, and more (Depending on your project)

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📂 Project Structure

mern-stack/
├── client/ # Frontend (React + Vite)
│ ├── node_modules/
│ ├── public/
│ ├── src/
│ │ ├── App.jsx
│ │ ├── Home.jsx
│ │ ├── Login.jsx
│ │ ├── Signup.jsx
│ │ └── main.jsx
│ ├── .gitignore
│ ├── eslint.config.js
│ ├── index.html
│ ├── package-lock.json
│ ├── package.json
│ └── vite.config.js
│
├── server/ # Backend (Node.js + Express + MongoDB)
│ ├── models/
│ │ └── Account.js
│ ├── node_modules/
│ ├── .env
│ ├── .gitignore
│ ├── index.js
│ ├── package-lock.json
│ └── package.json
│
├── README.md

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/denverdelamasa/mern-stack.git
cd mern-stack

2. Install dependencies

Backend

cd server
npm install

Frontend

cd ../client
npm install

3. Setup Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the backend directory with the following keys:

PORT=3001
MONGO_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/account
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=supersecret-access-key
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=supersecret-refresh-key

4. Run the development servers

Start backend

cd server
npm start

Start frontend

cd client
npm run dev

Frontend runs on http://localhost:5173 and backend on http://localhost:3001 (by default).

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🖼️ Usage

• Go to http://localhost:5173
• Sign up for a new account
• Log in with your credentials
• After login, you’ll be redirected to the Home page (example protected route)

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🛠 Troubleshooting

MongoDB Permission Issues on Windows
Some users may encounter (because I did) an error when trying to start MongoDB due to permission issues if it’s installed inside C:/Program Files.

Fix:

1. Uninstall MongoDB.
2. Reinstall it directly in C:/ (e.g., C:/MongoDB/) instead of C:/Program Files/.
3. Make sure the mongod service points to the new installation path.

This avoids Windows permission conflicts and ensures MongoDB runs correctly!

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🤝 Contributing

This is meant to be a starter template. Feel free to fork and adapt for your own projects. Contributions are welcome via pull requests!

Goodluck on your project!!!

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📄 License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.