How I Built Bookish: From Idea to Deployment
March 20, 2025
7 min read
Node.jsExpressMongoDBStripe
# How I Built Bookish: From Idea to Deployment
When I first sketched out Bookish, my goal was simple: **make buying and selling books effortless**. Over the next few weeks, I:
1. **Designed the data model** in MongoDB and PostgreSQL, balancing flexibility for user‑generated listings with real‑time inventory tracking.
2. **Created RESTful APIs** in Node.js/Express, adding JWT authentication, role‑based routes for buyers, sellers, and admins.
3. **Styled the frontend** with EJS templates and Tailwind CSS, ensuring a responsive layout that looks great on mobile and desktop.
4. **Integrated Stripe** for secure, one‑click payments and automated email receipts with EmailJS.
5. **Deployed on Render**, troubleshooting 502 errors and setting up CI/CD to auto-deploy on every push.
The result? A fully featured marketplace live at `https://books-fd4v.onrender.com`. Check out the code on [GitHub](https://github.com/Ayush-aps/books) and let me know your thoughts!