Product Catalog RESTful API
Backend API with Node.js and MongoDB for product catalog management with pagination, filtering, and document based persistence.
The problem
Need for a flexible catalog service to manage product inventory with dynamic attributes and high read performance.
Structure Mongoose schemas with required field validations and uniform HTTP error response handling.
Decisions
MongoDB for Catalog Flexibility
Allowed diverse product categories to have specific attributes without rigid SQL schema migrations.
Tradeoff: No database enforced foreign key relational constraints.
Global Error Handling Middleware
Centralized Express error handling returning semantic HTTP status codes and structured error messages.
Tradeoff: Requires careful next(err) error forwarding across async functions.
Outcome
Efficient RESTful API providing full CRUD endpoints, attribute based filtering, input validation, and document persistence.