case study — academic project

Travlr Getaways

Full-stack travel platform · MEAN stack · SNHU CS-465

A brochure-style static site rebuilt as a database-driven web application — with a REST API, secure admin workflows, and a layered, scalable architecture.

Role: Sole Full-Stack Developer
Stack: MongoDB · Express · Angular · Node.js · Mongoose · JWT · Handlebars
Scope: Academic project · 2025

the problem

Travlr Getaways is a boutique travel brand that outgrew its original site: static HTML, no backend, no database, no admin. Every update meant editing markup by hand — no trip filtering, no interface to add or edit offerings, and no separation between internal and public views.

what i built

RESTful API — Express endpoints for trip CRUD and authentication (/api/trips, /api/login, /api/register), backed by MongoDB
Server-rendered customer site — Express + Handlebars (layouts & partials) for public trip browsing
JWT-secured Angular admin SPA — a separate single-page app for trip management, protected by an auth guard and token interceptor
Schema design — Mongoose models with validation for trip and user data
Responsive UI — device-agnostic layouts with dynamic trip loading

Travlr system architecture: Handlebars customer site, Express REST API, Angular admin SPA, MongoDB — fig 01 — layered architecture: customer site & admin SPA ↔ REST API ↔ MongoDB

Travlr public trip browsing interface — fig 02 — public traveler experience (server-rendered)

Travlr Angular admin dashboard for trip management — fig 03 — JWT-secured Angular admin for non-technical staff

beyond the code

The design work came before the code: class, sequence, and architecture diagrams mapped the request/response lifecycle and the layered split between the customer site, the API, and the database. The harder problems were the migration from static HTML to a database-driven app, admin workflows intuitive enough for non-technical staff, and validation paired with secure, token-based access control.