Members Only

A server-rendered members-only message board built with TypeScript, Express, EJS, PostgreSQL, and Passport. Visitors can browse messages, registered users can authenticate and join the club, and administrators can remove messages.

Features

• Sign up, log in, and log out with Passport local authentication
• Password hashing with Argon2
• PostgreSQL-backed users, messages, and sessions
• Member-only message posting
• Admin-only message deletion
• Server-side form validation with express-validator and zod
• Development watch mode and production TypeScript builds

Requirements

• Node.js 22 or later
• PostgreSQL
• npm

Setup

Install dependencies:

npm install

Create a .env file in the project root. All values below are required:

PORT=3000
DB_URL=postgresql://username:password@localhost:5432/members_only
NODE_ENV=development
FALLBACK_HASH_GEN_STRING=replace-with-a-random-value
SESSION_SECRET=replace-with-a-random-value
ADMIN_PASSWORD=choose-an-admin-signup-password
MEMBER_PASSPHRASE=choose-a-member-passphrase

DB_URL must point to a PostgreSQL database that already exists. Initialize its tables and sample data with:

npx tsx seed/seed.ts "$DB_URL"

The seed script creates the users and messages tables and inserts sample users and messages. Run it only against an empty database; it is not idempotent.

Run Locally

Start the development server:

npm run dev

Then open http://localhost:3000 (or the port configured in PORT).

Production Build

Compile the TypeScript source and copy the views and static assets into dist:

npm run build
npm start

Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Run the server with tsx watch mode
npm run build	Compile TypeScript and copy runtime assets
npm start	Run the compiled server
npm run type-check	Type-check without emitting files
npm run lint	Check the project with ESLint
npm run format:check	Check formatting with Prettier
npm run format	Format the project with Prettier

Routes

• / - View the message board
• /auth/signup - Create an account using the configured admin password
• /auth/login - Log in
• /auth/logout - Log out
• /user/join - Join the club using the configured member passphrase
• /message/new - Post a message as an authenticated member
• /message/:messageId/delete - Delete a message as an administrator

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License. See LICENSE.