🎥 Video Streaming Platform - YouTube Clone Backend API

A scalable YouTube-inspired backend application built with Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, and Mongoose. The project provides secure authentication, video management, and social interaction features through RESTful APIs, following industry-standard backend development practices.

🏗️ System Architecture

Architecture Diagram:
🔗 https://app.eraser.io/workspace/xloQG2vOVNTa4u4qOfsc?origin=share

The architecture diagram illustrates the complete backend workflow, including authentication, API request flow, Cloudinary integration, MongoDB data models, and relationships between Users, Videos, Comments, Likes, Playlists, and Subscriptions.

---

🚀 Features

• User Registration & Login
• JWT Authentication (Access & Refresh Tokens)
• Secure Password Hashing with bcrypt
• Video Upload & Management
• Cloudinary Integration for Video & Image Storage
• Avatar & Cover Image Upload
• Thumbnail Upload
• Like & Unlike Videos
• Comment on Videos
• Subscribe & Unsubscribe to Channels
• Playlist Management
• Watch History
• Search, Filter & Sort Videos
• Pagination
• User Profile Management
• Protected Routes
• Centralized Error Handling
• Modular MVC Architecture

---

🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js

Database

• MongoDB
• Mongoose

Authentication & Security

• JWT
• bcrypt
• Cookie Parser
• CORS

File Storage

• Cloudinary
• Multer

Development Tools

• dotenv
• Nodemon
• Postman

Database Optimization

• MongoDB Aggregation Pipeline
• MongoDB Atlas Search
• Pagination
• $lookup

---

📂 Project Structure

VideoTube/
│
├── public/
│
├── src/
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── db/
│   ├── middlewares/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── utils/
│   ├── constants.js
│   ├── app.js
│   └── index.js
│
├── .env
├── package.json
└── README.md

---

📦 Database Collections

• Users
• Videos
• Comments
• Likes
• Playlists
• Subscriptions
• Tweets
• Watch History

---

🔑 Authentication

The application uses JWT-based authentication.

• Access Token
• Refresh Token
• HTTP-only Cookies
• Protected Routes
• bcrypt Password Hashing

---

📹 Video Management

Users can

• Upload Videos
• Update Videos
• Delete Videos
• Publish / Unpublish Videos
• Search Videos
• Filter Videos
• Stream Videos

---

👤 User Features

• Register
• Login
• Logout
• Update Profile
• Change Password
• Update Avatar
• Update Cover Image
• View Channel Profile
• Watch History

---

❤️ Social Features

• Like Videos
• Unlike Videos
• Add Comments
• Subscribe to Channels
• Manage Playlists

---

⚡ Performance Optimizations

• MongoDB Aggregation Pipelines
• Pagination
• Sorting
• Filtering
• MongoDB $lookup
• MongoDB Atlas Search
• Optimized Queries

---

📡 API Modules

• Authentication APIs
• User APIs
• Video APIs
• Comment APIs
• Like APIs
• Playlist APIs
• Subscription APIs
• Dashboard APIs

---

⚙️ Installation

Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/nitinkumar9877/VideoTube.git

Navigate to Project

cd VideoTube

Install Dependencies

npm install

Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory.

PORT=8000

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string

ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_secret
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY=1d

REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your_refresh_secret
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY=10d

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173

Start Development Server

npm run dev

---

🧪 API Testing

The REST APIs can be tested using:

• Postman
• Thunder Client
• Insomnia

---

📈 Future Improvements

• Live Video Streaming
• AI-based Video Recommendations
• Notification System
• Watch Later
• Download Videos
• Admin Dashboard
• Trending Videos
• Video Analytics
• Real-time Chat
• Content Moderation

---

🎯 Learning Outcomes

This project demonstrates practical experience in:

• Backend Development with Node.js & Express.js
• REST API Design
• Authentication & Authorization
• MongoDB Database Design
• Mongoose Data Modeling
• Cloudinary Media Management
• File Upload Handling
• MVC Architecture
• Aggregation Pipelines
• Scalable Backend Development
• Production-ready API Development

---

👨‍💻 Author

Nitin Kumar

• GitHub: https://github.com/nitinkumar9877
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-kumar-145s5004/

---

📄 License

This project is developed for educational and portfolio purposes.