This repo is part of Open Code Chicago’s Hacktoberfest 2025 initiative.
Whether it’s your first pull request or your 50th, you are welcome here!
Contribute to real-world open source code, learn backend development, and collaborate with a global community.
If you like this project, please consider giving it a ⭐ on GitHub! More stars help us reach a wider audience, attract new contributors, and make your contributions even more visible and valuable for your portfolio or employer. Thank you for helping our open source community grow!
- Description
- Who is this for?
- Tech Stack
- Quick Start
- Features
- Project Structure
- Contributing
- Hacktoberfest Contribution Guide
- Documentation
- Contributors
- License
- Feedback
- Support
- Connect with us
This is the backend project for Hacktoberfest 2025.
It’s built with Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB, and set up for easy contributions, testing, and collaboration.
New contributors can help with APIs, database models, and documentation.
- Beginners making their first open source contribution
- Intermediate devs learning Node.js, Express.js, REST APIs
- Experienced contributors who want to mentor others
- Node.js – runtime
- Express.js – server framework
- ESLint + Prettier – linting & formatting
- Jest / Supertest – (optional) testing
- GitHub Actions – CI/CD pipelines
See the Usage Guide for full setup.
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/OpenCodeChicago/hacktoberfest-2025-backend.git
cd hacktoberfest-2025-backend# Install dependencies
npm install# Start dev server
npm run devTo work on this project locally, follow these steps:
- Set up your own MongoDB database
- You can use MongoDB Atlas (free tier) or run MongoDB locally.
- Copy environment variables
- Copy
.env.exampleto.env:cp .env.example .env
- Fill in your own values for
MONGODB_URIand other variables in.env.
- Seed the database
- Run the seed script to populate your local database with sample data:
npm run seed
- Start the development server
- Run:
npm run dev
- Lint your code before committing
- Run:
npm run lint
- Ready to contribute!
- Pick an issue, create a branch, and start coding.
- Simple Express.js backend ready to extend
- Developer-friendly setup
- Preconfigured linting & formatting
- GitHub Actions for CI/CD
- Open for community collaboration
hacktoberfest-2025-backend/
├── .github/ # Workflows, templates, CODEOWNERS
│ ├── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
│ ├── workflows/
│ └── ...
├── docs/ # Usage guide, FAQ
├── src/ # Backend source code
│ ├── server.js # Server entry
│ └── routes/ # Example routes
├── .eslintrc # ESLint config
├── .prettierrc # Prettier config
├── CONTRIBUTING.md # How to contribute
├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md # Code of conduct
├── SECURITY.md # Security policy
├── LICENSE # MIT License
└── README.md # This fileWe welcome contributions from everyone! Please see our Contributing Guidelines for details on how to get started.
- Fork this repository
- Check our Project Board
- Look for an issue you’d like to work on
- Comment on the issue to let others know you’re taking it
- Maintainers may assign you to it (to avoid duplicates)
- Create a new branch:
git checkout -b my-new-feature- Set up your local environment (see above)
- Make sure your
.envis configured and your database is seeded
- Make your changes (small, clear commits)
- Run
npm run lintbefore pushing - Open a Pull Request
- All PRs are automatically checked for linting in CI
- Tip: Start with Good First Issues
Thanks goes to these wonderful people:
 Alex Smagin 💻 📖 🚧 📆 |
This project follows the all-contributors specification.
Contributions of any kind welcome!
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
We welcome feedback and suggestions to improve the template’s functionality and usability.
Feel free to open an issue or start a discussion.
📧 Contact: info@opencodechicago.org
