Journal App API

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Stack
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Configuration
• API Documentation
  • Authentication
  • Journal Entries
  • Search
• Security
• Error Handling
• Deployment
• Contributing

Overview

The Journal App API is a FastAPI-based backend service that provides a robust platform for users to create, manage, and search personal journal entries. This API supports user authentication, CRUD operations for journal entries, and includes features like audio transcription and full-text search capabilities.

Features

• User registration and authentication
• Create, read, update, and delete journal entries
• Audio transcription for voice journal entries
• Full-text search across journal entries
• Secure password hashing and JWT-based authentication
• CORS support for cross-origin requests
• Health check endpoint for monitoring

Stack

• FastAPI: High-performance web framework for building APIs
• Pydantic: Data validation and settings management using Python type annotations
• SQLAlchemy (assumed): ORM for database interactions
• JWT: JSON Web Tokens for secure authentication
• CORS: Cross-Origin Resource Sharing middleware
• Uvicorn: ASGI server for running the application

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7+
• pip (Python package manager)
• Virtual environment (recommended)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Balogunolalere/journal-app-api.git
   cd journal-app-api
   

2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `venv\Scripts\activate`
   

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Configuration

1. Create a .env file in the root directory and add the following variables:

   PROJECT_NAME=Journal App
   PROJECT_VERSION=1.0.0
   SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key_here
   ALGORITHM=HS256
   ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_MINUTES=30
   DATABASE_URL=your_database_url_here
   

2. Replace your_secret_key_here with a secure random string.

API Documentation

The API documentation is available at /api/docs (Swagger UI) and /api/redoc (ReDoc) when the server is running.

Authentication

• POST /token: Obtain a JWT token
• POST /register: Register a new user
• GET /users/me: Get current user information
• PUT /users/me/password: Update user password
• DELETE /users/me: Delete user account
• POST /logout: Logout (client-side token removal)
• POST /refresh-token: Refresh access token

Journal Entries

• POST /journal/entries: Create a new journal entry
• GET /journal/entries/{entry_id}: Retrieve a specific journal entry
• PUT /journal/entries/{entry_id}: Update a journal entry
• DELETE /journal/entries/{entry_id}: Delete a journal entry
• GET /journal/entries: List all journal entries (paginated)
• POST /journal/entries/transcribe: Create a journal entry from audio file

Search

• GET /journal/search: Search journal entries

Summarize

• POST /summarization/summarize: Summarize the entry

Security

• Passwords are securely hashed before storage
• JWT tokens are used for authentication
• CORS middleware is configured to control access from different origins
• Dependency injection is used to ensure only authenticated users can access protected routes

Error Handling

The API uses FastAPI's built-in exception handling and HTTP status codes to provide clear error messages. Custom exceptions are raised and caught to handle specific error cases.

Deployment

1. Ensure all environment variables are properly set
2. Run the application using Uvicorn:

   uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
   

3. For production, consider using a process manager like Gunicorn or deploying with Docker

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request