Capstone Project

Goal

Build a complete API from scratch, applying everything from the course. Focus on getting something working and deployed rather than building every possible feature.

Prerequisites

Before starting the capstone, confirm you have completed all of the following. If any item is missing, complete it first.

Requirement	Where to find it
Minimal API endpoints (CRUD)	Week 1–2
PostgreSQL with EF Core and migrations	Week 3–4
One-to-many relationships	Week 3–4
Data Annotations on entity classes	Week 5 (mandatory core)
Structured validation error responses	Week 5 extension or Extension page
Pagination on list endpoints	Week 5 extension or Extension page
JWT authentication (register/login)	Week 6
At least 5 passing integration tests	Week 7
`docker-compose up` runs the full stack	Week 8

Choose one project

Option 1: Blog API (recommended — simplest)

Users write posts. Other users leave comments.

Option 2: Task Tracker

Users create projects and track tasks inside them.

Option 3: Recipe App

Users create recipes and list their ingredients.

Essential — must have

Entities (3 tables with relationships)

Project	Entity 1	Entity 2	Entity 3
Blog	Users	Posts	Comments
Task Tracker	Users	Projects	Tasks
Recipe App	Users	Recipes	Ingredients

Relationships: Users → main entity → child entity (two one-to-many relationships).

Features

User registration and login
CRUD on the main entity (Posts / Projects / Recipes)
Read child entities (Comments / Tasks / Ingredients)
Protected endpoints for create, update, and delete
Public endpoints for reading
Input validation with field-level error messages on all write endpoints
Pagination on all list endpoints

Technical requirements

Runs with docker-compose up
At least 5 passing integration tests
Data persists in PostgreSQL

Brief — good to have

Swagger endpoint descriptions
Simple search or filter on the main entity
README with setup instructions

Skip if rushed

Advanced features (likes, tags, assignments, priorities)
Complex business rules
High test coverage
Performance optimization

Suggested steps

Plan your 3 entities and sketch the relationships on paper
Set up a new project, Dockerfile, and docker-compose.yml first
Create entities and run migrations
Build public read endpoints and test them in Swagger
Add authentication (register/login)
Build protected write endpoints
Add validation to all inputs
Write 5–10 integration tests
Add Swagger endpoint descriptions
Write README.md with instructions for running the project

Example: Blog API

Entities

Users:    Id, Username, Email, PasswordHash
Posts:    Id, Title, Content, UserId, CreatedAt
Comments: Id, Content, PostId, UserId, CreatedAt

Endpoints

POST   /auth/register          public
POST   /auth/login             public

GET    /posts                  public, paginated
GET    /posts/{id}             public, includes comments
POST   /posts                  protected
PUT    /posts/{id}             protected
DELETE /posts/{id}             protected

POST   /posts/{id}/comments    protected

LLM prompt for planning

“Help me plan a [Blog / Task Tracker / Recipe] API. Give me a simple database schema with 3 entities, the essential endpoints with HTTP methods, and which endpoints need authentication. Keep it achievable for a student.”

Time split

50% getting the API working
30% Docker and deployment
20% tests and documentation

Success criteria

Requirement	Done?
Can register and login
Can create and read the main entity
Protected endpoints reject unauthenticated requests
Write endpoints return field-level validation errors
List endpoints support pagination
Data persists in PostgreSQL
`docker-compose up` starts everything
5+ passing integration tests
README explains how to run it

Week 8: Docker | Back to Overview | Advanced Topics