MERN stack CRUD app in Node.js, Express, React & MongoDB

Learn how to build a MERN stack CRUD app with Node.js, Express, React & MongoDB. Follow this tutorial to implement authentication and manage data efficiently.

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In this comprehensive tutorial, you'll learn how to create a full-stack CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) application using React for the frontend and Node.js with Express for the backend, all powered by a MongoDB database. We'll utilize technologies such as React Router, Axios, and TailwindCSS to enhance the user experience.

1. Project Overview#

We'll develop a full-stack application where users can manage tutorials. Each tutorial will have the following attributes:

ID: Unique identifier
Title: Name of the tutorial
Description: Detailed information
Published Status: Indicates if the tutorial is published

Users can perform the following actions:

Create a new tutorial
Retrieve all tutorials or a specific one by ID
Update existing tutorials
Delete tutorials
Search tutorials by title

See the following sample screenshots

1.1 Add a New Tutorial#

Add Item

1.2 Display All Tutorials#

Show All Items

1.3 Edit a Tutorial#

Edit Item

1.4 Search Tutorials by Title#

Search Tutorials

2. Why use the MERN stack for CRUD apps?#

The MERN stack comprising MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js - is ideal for building dynamic CRUD applications. Here’s why:

MongoDB: A NoSQL database perfect for storing JSON-like data, offering scalability and flexibility.
Express.js: A lightweight web framework that simplifies backend API creation.
React: A powerful frontend library for building responsive and interactive user interfaces.
Node.js: A high-performance runtime for server-side scripting with extensive community support.

By combining these technologies, developers can quickly build, deploy, and scale full-stack applications with minimal complexity.

3. Architecture#

The application follows a client-server architecture:

Backend: Node.js with Express handles RESTful APIs and interacts with the MongoDB database using mongoose.
Frontend: React communicates with the backend via Axios for HTTP requests and uses React Router for navigation.

react nodejs express mongodb architecture

3. Backend Implementation#

3.1 Setup Node.js Application#

Create Project Directory:

mkdir react-node-express-mongodb-crud
cd react-node-express-mongodb-crud

Initialize Node.js App:
```
npm init -y
```

Install Dependencies:

npm install express mongoose cors --save

Use ESModule Syntax Add the following line to your package.json file:
```
{
   "type": "module"
   // ...
}
```

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3.2 Configure MongoDB Database#

Create Configuration File (app/config/db.config.js):

// app/config/db.config.js
export default {
  HOST: 'localhost',
  PORT: 27017,
  DB: 'node_js_jwt_auth_db',
};

Initialize the MongoDB database (app/models/index.js):

import dbConfig from '../config/db.config.js';
import mongoose from 'mongoose';
import Tutorial from './tutorial.model.js';
 
mongoose.Promise = global.Promise;
 
const db = {};
db.mongoose = mongoose;
db.url = `mongodb://${dbConfig.HOST}:${dbConfig.PORT}/${dbConfig.DB}`;
db.tutorials = Tutorial(mongoose);
 
export default db;

Define Tutorial Model (app/models/tutorial.model.js):

export default (mongoose) => {
  let schema = mongoose.Schema(
      {
        title: String,
        description: String,
        published: Boolean
      },
      {timestamps: true}
  );
 
  schema.method("toJSON", function () {
    const {__v, _id, ...object} = this.toObject();
    object.id = _id;
    return object;
  });
 
  const Tutorial = mongoose.model("tutorial", schema);
  return Tutorial;
};

If you don't hava a MongoDB database for local development, you can use Docker to create a temporary MongoDB container:

docker run --rm -p 27017:27017 mongo

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3.3 Define Routes and Controllers#

Create Controller (app/controllers/tutorial.controller.js):

import db from "../models/index.js";
 
const Tutorial = db.tutorials;
 
// Create and Save a new Tutorial
export const create = (req, res) => {
  // Validate request
  if (!req.body.title) {
    res.status(400).send({
      message: "Content can not be empty!"
    });
    return;
  }
 
  // Create a Tutorial
  const tutorial = new Tutorial({
    title: req.body.title,
    description: req.body.description,
    published: req.body.published ? req.body.published : false
  });
 
  // Save Tutorial in the database
  tutorial
      .save(tutorial)
      .then(data => {
        res.send(data);
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res.status(500).send({
          message:
              err.message || "Some error occurred while creating the Tutorial."
        });
      });
};
 
// Retrieve all Tutorials
export const findAll = (req, res) => {
  // Allow a filter condition via query parameter
  const title = req.query.title;
  const condition = title ? {title: {[Op.like]: `%${title}%`}} : null;
 
  Tutorial.find(condition)
      .then(data => {
        res.send(data);
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res.status(500).send({
          message:
              err.message || "Some error occurred while retrieving tutorials."
        });
      });
};
 
// Find a single Tutorial by ID
export const findOne = (req, res) => {
  const id = req.params.id;
 
  // Find Tutorial by primary key
  Tutorial.findById(id)
      .then(data => {
        if (!data)
          res.status(404).send({message: "Not found Tutorial with id " + id});
        else res.send(data);
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res
            .status(500)
            .send({message: "Error retrieving Tutorial with id=" + id});
      });
};
 
// Update a Tutorial by ID
export const update = (req, res) => {
  const id = req.params.id;
 
  // Update the Tutorial with the specified ID
  Tutorial.findByIdAndUpdate(id, req.body, {useFindAndModify: false})
      .then(data => {
        if (!data) {
          res.status(404).send({
            message: `Cannot update Tutorial with id=${id}. Maybe Tutorial was not found!`
          });
        } else res.send({message: "Tutorial was updated successfully."});
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res.status(500).send({
          message: "Error updating Tutorial with id=" + id
        });
      });
};
 
// Delete a Tutorial by ID
export const deleteOne = (req, res) => {
  const id = req.params.id;
 
  // Delete the Tutorial with the specified ID
  Tutorial.findByIdAndRemove(id)
      .then(data => {
        if (!data) {
          res.status(404).send({
            message: `Cannot delete Tutorial with id=${id}. Maybe Tutorial was not found!`
          });
        } else {
          res.send({
            message: "Tutorial was deleted successfully!"
          });
        }
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res.status(500).send({
          message: "Could not delete Tutorial with id=" + id
        });
      });
};
 
// Delete all Tutorials
export const deleteAll = (req, res) => {
  // Delete all Tutorials
  Tutorial.deleteMany({})
      .then(data => {
        res.send({
          message: `${data.deletedCount} Tutorials were deleted successfully!`
        });
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res.status(500).send({
          message:
              err.message || "Some error occurred while removing all tutorials."
        });
      });
};
 
// Find all published Tutorials
export const findAllPublished = (req, res) => {
  // Find all Tutorials with published = true
  Tutorial.find({published: true})
      .then(data => {
        res.send(data);
      })
      .catch(err => {
        res.status(500).send({
          message:
              err.message || "Some error occurred while retrieving tutorials."
        });
      });
};

Set Up Routes (app/routes/tutorial.routes.js):

import * as tutorials from "../controllers/tutorial.controller.js";
import express from "express";
 
export default (app) => {
  let router = express.Router();
 
  // Create a new Tutorial
  router.post("/", tutorials.create);
 
  // Retrieve all Tutorials
  router.get("/", tutorials.findAll);
 
  // Retrieve a single Tutorial with id
  router.get("/:id", tutorials.findOne);
 
  // Update a Tutorial with id
  router.put("/:id", tutorials.update);
 
  // Delete a Tutorial with id
  router.delete("/:id", tutorials.deleteOne);
 
  // Delete all Tutorials
  router.delete("/", tutorials.deleteAll);
 
  // Find all published Tutorials
  router.get("/published", tutorials.findAllPublished);
 
  app.use('/api/tutorials', router);
};

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3.4 Run the Server#

Create Server File (server.js):

import express from "express";
import cors from "cors";
import db from "./app/models/index.js";
import tutorialRoutes from "./app/routes/tutorial.routes.js";
 
const app = express();
 
const corsOptions = {
  origin: "http://localhost:5173"
};
 
app.use(cors(corsOptions));
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded({extended: true}));
 
// Simple route
app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.json({message: "Welcome to the Tutorial Application."});
});
 
// Routes
tutorialRoutes(app);
 
// Sync database
db.mongoose.connect(db.url)
    .then(() => {
      console.log("Connected to the database!");
    })
    .catch(err => {
      console.log("Cannot connect to the database!", err);
      process.exit();
    });
 
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8080;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running on port ${PORT}.`);
});

Start the Server:

node server.js

Output:

Server is running on port 8080.
Synced db.

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4. Frontend implementation with React, Axios and MongoDB#

See the structure of the frontend:

react architecture

Alternatively, you can also use Redux:

react redux architecture

4.1 File structure#

Your final file structure will look like this:

frontend/
├─ index.html
├─ package.json
├─ postcss.config.js
├─ tailwind.config.js
├─ vite.config.js
├─ src/
│  ├─ App.jsx
│  ├─ main.jsx
│  ├─ index.css
│  ├─ services/
│  │   └─ tutorial.service.js
│  └─ pages/
│      ├─ AddTutorial.jsx
│      ├─ Tutorial.jsx
│      └─ TutorialsList.jsx

4.2 Create the React App#

Run the following commands to set up a new React app using Vite:

npm create vite@latest frontend -- --template react
cd frontend
npm i
npm i react-router-dom axios
npm install -D tailwindcss autoprefixer
npx tailwindcss init -p

Finally, set up the tailwind content option in the configuration file tailwind.config.js:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
export default {
    content: [
        "./index.html",
        "./src/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}",
    ],
    theme: {
        extend: {},
    },
    plugins: [],
}

Then, open src/index.css (Vite has created this file for you) and add the Tailwind directives:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

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4.3 Initialize the App layout#

The App.jsx component configures React Router routes and sets up a basic Tailwind navbar. We’ll navigate between:

/tutorials – list of tutorials
/add – form to create new tutorial
/tutorials/:id – editing a single tutorial

import { Routes, Route, Link } from "react-router-dom";
import TutorialsList from "./pages/TutorialsList";
import AddTutorial from "./pages/AddTutorial";
import Tutorial from "./pages/Tutorial";
 
function App() {
  return (
      <BrowserRouter>
        <div>
          {/* NAVBAR */}
          <nav className="bg-blue-600 p-4 text-white">
            <div className="flex space-x-4">
              <Link to="/tutorials" className="hover:text-gray-300 font-bold">
                Tutorials
              </Link>
              <Link to="/add" className="hover:text-gray-300">
                Add
              </Link>
            </div>
          </nav>
 
          {/* ROUTES */}
          <div className="container mx-auto mt-8 px-4">
            <Routes>
              <Route path="/" element={<TutorialsList/>}/>
              <Route path="/tutorials" element={<TutorialsList/>}/>
              <Route path="/add" element={<AddTutorial/>}/>
              <Route path="/tutorials/:id" element={<Tutorial/>}/>
            </Routes>
          </div>
        </div>
      </BrowserRouter>
  );
}
 
export default App;

4.4 Create Data Service#

This service handles Axios HTTP requests to our Node/Express backend (http://localhost:8080/api). Update the baseURL if your server runs on a different address or port.

import axios from "axios";
 
const http = axios.create({
  baseURL: "http://localhost:8080/api",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
});
 
const getAll = () => {
  return http.get("/tutorials");
};
 
const get = (id) => {
  return http.get(`/tutorials/${id}`);
};
 
const create = (data) => {
  return http.post("/tutorials", data);
};
 
const update = (id, data) => {
  return http.put(`/tutorials/${id}`, data);
};
 
const remove = (id) => {
  return http.delete(`/tutorials/${id}`);
};
 
const removeAll = () => {
  return http.delete("/tutorials");
};
 
const findByTitle = (title) => {
  return http.get(`/tutorials?title=${title}`);
};
 
export default {
  getAll,
  get,
  create,
  update,
  remove,
  removeAll,
  findByTitle,
};

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4.5 Add item Component#

A component for creating new tutorials under src/pages/AddTutorial.jsx. It allows entering title and description, and then calls TutorialService.create().

import React, { useState } from "react";
import TutorialService from "../services/tutorial.service";
 
function AddTutorial() {
  const [title, setTitle] = useState("");
  const [description, setDescription] = useState("");
  const [submitted, setSubmitted] = useState(false);
 
  const saveTutorial = () => {
    const data = { title, description };
    TutorialService.create(data)
      .then((response) => {
        console.log(response.data);
        setSubmitted(true);
      })
      .catch((e) => {
        console.log(e);
      });
  };
 
  const newTutorial = () => {
    setTitle("");
    setDescription("");
    setSubmitted(false);
  };
 
  return (
    <div className="max-w-sm mx-auto p-4 bg-white rounded shadow">
      {submitted ? (
        <div>
          <h4 className="font-bold text-green-600 mb-4">
            Tutorial submitted successfully!
          </h4>
          <button className="bg-blue-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded" onClick={newTutorial}>
            Add Another
          </button>
        </div>
      ) : (
        <div>
          <h4 className="font-bold text-xl mb-2">Add Tutorial</h4>
 
          <div className="mb-2">
            <label className="block mb-1 font-medium">Title</label>
            <input
              type="text"
              className="border border-gray-300 rounded w-full px-2 py-1"
              value={title}
              onChange={(e) => setTitle(e.target.value)}
            />
          </div>
 
          <div className="mb-2">
            <label className="block mb-1 font-medium">Description</label>
            <input
              type="text"
              className="border border-gray-300 rounded w-full px-2 py-1"
              value={description}
              onChange={(e) => setDescription(e.target.value)}
            />
          </div>
 
          <button
            className="bg-green-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded mt-2"
            onClick={saveTutorial}
          >
            Submit
          </button>
        </div>
      )}
    </div>
  );
}
 
export default AddTutorial;

4.6 Tutorial List Component#

A component under src/pages/TutorialsList.jsx that:

Displays a search bar to filter by tutorial title
Lists tutorials on the left
Shows the selected tutorial on the right
Provides a button to remove all tutorials

import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import TutorialService from "../services/tutorial.service";
import { Link } from "react-router-dom";
 
function TutorialsList() {
  const [tutorials, setTutorials] = useState([]);
  const [currentTutorial, setCurrentTutorial] = useState(null);
  const [currentIndex, setCurrentIndex] = useState(-1);
  const [searchTitle, setSearchTitle] = useState("");
 
  useEffect(() => {
    retrieveTutorials();
  }, []);
 
  const onChangeSearchTitle = (e) => {
    setSearchTitle(e.target.value);
  };
 
  const retrieveTutorials = () => {
    TutorialService.getAll()
        .then((response) => {
          setTutorials(response.data);
          console.log(response.data);
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  const refreshList = () => {
    retrieveTutorials();
    setCurrentTutorial(null);
    setCurrentIndex(-1);
  };
 
  const setActiveTutorial = (tutorial, index) => {
    setCurrentTutorial(tutorial);
    setCurrentIndex(index);
  };
 
  const removeAllTutorials = () => {
    TutorialService.removeAll()
        .then((response) => {
          console.log(response.data);
          refreshList();
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  const findByTitle = () => {
    TutorialService.findByTitle(searchTitle)
        .then((response) => {
          setTutorials(response.data);
          setCurrentTutorial(null);
          setCurrentIndex(-1);
          console.log(response.data);
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  return (
      <div className="flex flex-col lg:flex-row gap-8">
        {/* LEFT COLUMN: SEARCH + LIST */}
        <div className="flex-1">
          <div className="flex mb-4">
            <input
                type="text"
                className="border border-gray-300 rounded-l px-2 py-1 w-full"
                placeholder="Search by title"
                value={searchTitle}
                onChange={onChangeSearchTitle}
            />
            <button
                className="bg-blue-500 text-white px-4 py-1 rounded-r"
                onClick={findByTitle}
            >
              Search
            </button>
          </div>
 
          <h4 className="font-bold text-lg mb-2">Tutorials List</h4>
          <ul className="divide-y divide-gray-200 border border-gray-200 rounded">
            {tutorials &&
                tutorials.map((tutorial, index) => (
                    <li
                        className={
                            "px-4 py-2 cursor-pointer " +
                            (index === currentIndex ? "bg-blue-100" : "")
                        }
                        onClick={() => setActiveTutorial(tutorial, index)}
                        key={index}
                    >
                      {tutorial.title}
                    </li>
                ))}
          </ul>
 
          <button
              className="bg-red-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded mt-4"
              onClick={removeAllTutorials}
          >
            Remove All
          </button>
        </div>
 
        {/* RIGHT COLUMN: DETAILS */}
        <div className="flex-1">
          {currentTutorial ? (
              <div className="p-4 bg-white rounded shadow">
                <h4 className="font-bold text-xl mb-2">Tutorial</h4>
                <div className="mb-2">
                  <strong>Title: </strong>
                  {currentTutorial.title}
                </div>
                <div className="mb-2">
                  <strong>Description: </strong>
                  {currentTutorial.description}
                </div>
                <div className="mb-2">
                  <strong>Status: </strong>
                  {currentTutorial.published ? "Published" : "Pending"}
                </div>
 
                <Link
                    to={`/tutorials/${currentTutorial.id}`}
                    className="inline-block bg-yellow-400 text-black px-3 py-1 rounded"
                >
                  Edit
                </Link>
              </div>
          ) : (
              <div>
                <p>Please click on a Tutorial...</p>
              </div>
          )}
        </div>
      </div>
  );
}
 
export default TutorialsList;

4.7 Tutorial Component#

A function component under src/pages/Tutorial.jsx for viewing and editing a single tutorial. It uses:

useParams() to get :id from the URL
useNavigate() to redirect
TutorialService for get, update, and delete operations

import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import { useParams, useNavigate } from "react-router-dom";
import TutorialService from "../services/tutorial.service";
 
function Tutorial() {
  const { id } = useParams();
  const navigate = useNavigate();
 
  const [currentTutorial, setCurrentTutorial] = useState({
    id: null,
    title: "",
    description: "",
    published: false,
  });
  const [message, setMessage] = useState("");
 
  const getTutorial = (id) => {
    TutorialService.get(id)
        .then((response) => {
          setCurrentTutorial(response.data);
          console.log(response.data);
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  useEffect(() => {
    if (id) getTutorial(id);
  }, [id]);
 
  const handleInputChange = (event) => {
    const { name, value } = event.target;
    setCurrentTutorial({ ...currentTutorial, [name]: value });
  };
 
  const updatePublished = (status) => {
    const data = {
      ...currentTutorial,
      published: status,
    };
 
    TutorialService.update(currentTutorial.id, data)
        .then((response) => {
          setCurrentTutorial({ ...currentTutorial, published: status });
          console.log(response.data);
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  const updateTutorial = () => {
    TutorialService.update(currentTutorial.id, currentTutorial)
        .then((response) => {
          console.log(response.data);
          setMessage("The tutorial was updated successfully!");
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  const deleteTutorial = () => {
    TutorialService.remove(currentTutorial.id)
        .then((response) => {
          console.log(response.data);
          navigate("/tutorials");
        })
        .catch((e) => {
          console.log(e);
        });
  };
 
  return (
      <div>
        {currentTutorial ? (
            <div className="max-w-sm mx-auto p-4 bg-white rounded shadow">
              <h4 className="font-bold text-xl mb-2">Edit Tutorial</h4>
              <div className="mb-2">
                <label className="block font-medium" htmlFor="title">
                  Title
                </label>
                <input
                    type="text"
                    className="border border-gray-300 rounded w-full px-2 py-1"
                    id="title"
                    name="title"
                    value={currentTutorial.title}
                    onChange={handleInputChange}
                />
              </div>
 
              <div className="mb-2">
                <label className="block font-medium" htmlFor="description">
                  Description
                </label>
                <input
                    type="text"
                    className="border border-gray-300 rounded w-full px-2 py-1"
                    id="description"
                    name="description"
                    value={currentTutorial.description}
                    onChange={handleInputChange}
                />
              </div>
 
              <div className="mb-2">
                <strong>Status:</strong> {currentTutorial.published ? "Published" : "Pending"}
              </div>
 
              <div className="space-x-2 mt-2">
                {currentTutorial.published ? (
                    <button
                        className="bg-blue-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded"
                        onClick={() => updatePublished(false)}
                    >
                      Unpublish
                    </button>
                ) : (
                    <button
                        className="bg-blue-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded"
                        onClick={() => updatePublished(true)}
                    >
                      Publish
                    </button>
                )}
 
                <button
                    className="bg-red-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded"
                    onClick={deleteTutorial}
                >
                  Delete
                </button>
 
                <button
                    className="bg-green-500 text-white px-3 py-1 rounded"
                    onClick={updateTutorial}
                >
                  Update
                </button>
              </div>
 
              {message && <p className="text-green-600 mt-2">{message}</p>}
            </div>
        ) : (
            <div>
              <p>Loading tutorial...</p>
            </div>
        )}
      </div>
  );
}
 
export default Tutorial;

4.8 Run the application#

npm run dev

Now you can access the application at http://localhost:5173. Open that URL in your browser. You can now navigate to:

/tutorials – see all tutorials
/add – add a tutorial
/tutorials/:id – edit a specific tutorial

(Make sure your Node/Express back end is running on http://localhost:8080 or update the baseURL in tutorial.service.js accordingly.)

5. Conclusion: Build your MERN stack CRUD app today#

You've successfully built a full-stack CRUD application using React, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. This project showcases how to set up a RESTful API with Node.js and Express, manage data with mongoose, and create a responsive frontend with React and Bootstrap.

Happy coding and see you in the next tutorial!