NovelNest Catalog Service

1. Project Title and Description

NovelNest is an online bookstore platform designed to help book lovers discover, exchange, and manage their book collections. The platform connects readers and facilitates the sharing and trading of physical books within a community.

The Catalog Service is a core microservice in the NovelNest ecosystem. It manages the book catalog, including book details, search, and integration with other services (like inventory and orders) via RabbitMQ events. It exposes REST APIs for querying and searching books.

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2. Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js, TypeScript
• Database: MongoDB
• Messaging: RabbitMQ (for event-driven updates)
• Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose
• Orchestration: Kubernetes
• API Auth: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)

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3. Project Structure

catalog-service/
├── docker-compose.yaml      # Local dev setup for MongoDB, RabbitMQ, and service
├── Dockerfile               # Container image definition
├── package.json             # Dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json            # TypeScript config
├── .env                     # Environment variables (not for production)
├── src/
│   ├── db.ts                # MongoDB connection and event processing
│   ├── index.ts             # Main Express app entry point
│   ├── middleware.ts        # JWT authentication middleware
│   └── types.ts             # TypeScript type definitions

• No frontend code in this service. The UI is in the frontend/ folder at the root of the monorepo.

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4. Features

• REST API to fetch all books or search/filter books
• JWT-protected endpoints for user-specific book queries
• Consumes book events (create, update, delete) from RabbitMQ
• Stores and updates book data in MongoDB
• Pagination and filtering support for book listings
• Health check endpoint

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5. Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or later)
• Yarn or npm
• Docker & Docker Compose
• Kubernetes & kubectl (for cluster deployment)
• RabbitMQ (runs via Docker/K8s)
• MongoDB (runs via Docker/K8s)

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6. Local Development Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/NovelNestHQ/catalog-service
   cd catalog-service

2. Copy and edit environment variables:

   cp .env .env.local
   # Edit .env.local as needed

3. Start MongoDB, RabbitMQ, and the service using Docker Compose:

   docker-compose up -d

   This will start MongoDB, RabbitMQ, and the catalog-service on port 4000.

4. Install dependencies (if running locally):

   yarn install
   # or
   npm install

5. Run the service in development mode:

   yarn dev:hot
   # or
   npm run dev:hot

6. Access the API:

   • Health check: http://localhost:4000/
   • Books API: http://localhost:4000/api/books

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7. Deployment to Kubernetes

1. Ensure you have a running Kubernetes cluster (e.g., with kind or Minikube).

2. Navigate to the manifests directory:

   cd ../k8s-manifests/catalog-service

3. Deploy MongoDB and the Catalog Service:

   ./deploy-catalog-service.sh

   This script applies both mongodb-catalog.yaml and catalog-service.yaml and waits for pods to be ready.

4. Access the service:

   • The service is exposed as a ClusterIP by default. To access it locally:

     kubectl port-forward svc/catalog-service 4000:4000
     # Now access http://localhost:4000/

   • In production, access is typically routed via the Kong API Gateway or an Ingress.

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8. Environment Variables

The following environment variables are required (see .env):

Variable	Description	Example Value
RABBITMQ_URL	RabbitMQ connection string	amqp://rabbitmq
QUEUE_NAME	RabbitMQ queue name for book events	messages
MONGO_DB	MongoDB database name	books_db
MONGODB_URI	MongoDB connection string	mongodb://user:password@mongodb:27017/books_db?authSource=admin
JWT_SECRET	Secret for JWT token verification	qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm123456
PORT	Port for the API server	4000

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9. Sample Data / Testing

• You can use tools like Postman or curl to test the API endpoints.
• No sample data script is provided in this service, but you can POST book events to RabbitMQ to populate the catalog.
• The inventory-service/hack/add_books.sh script (in the monorepo) can be adapted for testing if needed.

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10. Cleanup

• Docker Compose:

  docker-compose down -v

• Kubernetes:

  # From k8s-manifests/catalog-service
  kubectl delete -f mongodb-catalog.yaml
  kubectl delete -f catalog-service.yaml
  # Or use the deploy script with a delete flag if available

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11. Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please fork the repo, create a feature branch, and open a pull request.

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12. License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.