---
note type:
  - note
  - server
date: 2026-06-03
done: true
---
# Introduction

The original backend was written using FastAPI and has now been archived.

In replacement, I have written a Java Spring Boot backend that handles all of the API calls the domain `zainezq.com` uses.

Here is the repository for the backend:

[Link to the backend repository](https://gitea.zainezq.com/zaine/org_backend)

# Structure

The backend is structured as a typical Spring Boot application. It consists of several packages that handle different aspects of the application:

  - ****Controllers****: These classes handle incoming HTTP requests and map them to appropriate service methods.
  - ****Services****: These classes contain the business logic of the application.
  - ****Repositories****: These classes interact with the database to perform CRUD operations.
  - ****Models****: These classes represent the data structures used in the application.

The full list of API endpoints can be viewed using Swagger UI, which is available at the `/swagger-ui.html` endpoint once the application is running.

# Running the Application

The application is built using Maven. To run the application, you can utilise the `Makefile` provided in the repository.

The project is packaged as a Docker container, making it easy to deploy. You can build and run the Docker container using the following commands:

``` bash

docker compose build org_backend

docker compose up -d org_backend

# Alternatively:
docker compose down && docker compose build --no-cache && docker compose up -d

# To check logs

docker logs -f org_backend

```

# Bruno

Bruno is used for testing the backend API endpoints. It is a simple HTTP client that allows you to send requests to the backend and view the responses. I used the OpenAPI specification to generate Bruno tests for each endpoint.

# Authentication

The backend exposes public `/api/auth/register` and `/api/auth/login` endpoints. The website has a login page only; users are created through the API, then the login page stores the returned JWT in the browser.

Protected requests include:

``` text
Authorization: Bearer <jwt-token>
```

# Future?

## Integration with `notes.zainezq.com`

As the API is primarily used by `zainezq.com`, I want to think of ways that `notes.zainezq.com` could also use it. This website is used to store all my notes, and they are exported using `org-publish` in Emacs. Perhaps I could write an Emacs Lisp package that interacts with the backend API to store and retrieve notes.

Flow of how a note would be written:

1.  User writes a note in `notes.zainezq.com` as org mode.
2.  When the note is saved, a POST request is sent to the backend API with the note content.
3.  The backend API stores the note in the database.
4.  This will trigger a function that republishes the notes website to include the new note.

****Need to think more about this.****

# Update

The org-backend is no longer hosted using docker, it is now using systemd. The backend is still built using Maven, but it is now deployed as a standalone application rather than a Docker container.

Here are the commands needed:

``` bash

# To build the application
mvn clean package -DskipTests

# To run the application
java -jar target/org_backend-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

# systemctl commands
sudo systemctl start org_backend
sudo systemctl stop org_backend
sudo systemctl restart org_backend
sudo systemctl status org_backend

# To check logs
journalctl -u org_backend -f

```