LinkedIn Clone MERN

A simplified LinkedIn-like social network built with the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node). This repository contains a full-stack example demonstrating common features found in professional social networks: user authentication, profiles, posts with media, likes/comments, connections, and notifications.

⚠️ This project is intended for learning and demo purposes only. It is not production hardened — do not use it to store real user data without adding security, validation, and compliance checks.

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📸 Screenshots

Login Page

Home Page

Profile Page

My Network Page

Notification Page

Suggestions Page

Suggestion Profile Page

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Features

• User signup / login with JWT-based authentication
• Profile creation and editing (headline, bio, experience, education)
• Create, edit, delete posts (text + image upload support)
• Like and comment on posts
• Follow / connect system (follow, accept requests, recommendations)
• Simple notifications feed
• Search users and posts
• Responsive React UI

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Tech stack

• Frontend: React (Create React App or Vite) + React Router + Redux + Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Node.js + Express
• Database: MongoDB (Mongoose ODM)
• Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
• File storage: local uploads for dev or S3-compatible for production
• Dev tooling: ESLint, Prettier, concurrently (optional)

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Repository structure

/ (root)
├─ backend/
│  ├─ controllers/
│  ├─ models/
│  ├─ routes/
│  └─ utils/
├─ .env.example
├─ README.md
└─ package.json
├─ frontend/
│  ├─ public/
│  └─ src/
│     ├─ components/
│     ├─ pages/
│     ├─ hooks/
│     └─ services/
├─ README.md
└─ package.json

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API endpoints (overview)

This section lists the most important endpoints. Adjust according to actual implementation.

POST   /api/auth/register    # Register new user
POST   /api/auth/login       # Login, returns JWT
GET    /api/auth/me          # Get current user (protected)

GET    /api/users/:id        # Get user profile
PUT    /api/users/:id        # Update profile (protected)

POST   /api/posts            # Create post (protected)
GET    /api/posts            # Get posts (feed)
GET    /api/posts/:id        # Get single post
PUT    /api/posts/:id        # Edit post (protected)
DELETE /api/posts/:id        # Delete post (protected)
POST   /api/posts/:id/like   # Like / unlike post (protected)
POST   /api/posts/:id/comment# Add comment (protected)

POST   /api/connections/:id  # Send connection/follow request
POST   /api/connections/:id/accept
GET    /api/notifications

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Database models (overview)

Example Mongoose models you might have:

• User: name, email, passwordHash, headline, location, about, experience[], education[], skills[], avatarUrl, connections[]
• Post: author (User ref), text, mediaUrl, likes [User refs], comments [{ author, text, createdAt }], createdAt ConnectionRequests: sender (User ref), receiver (User ref), status [pending|accepted|rejected], createdAt, updatedAt
• Notification: user (recipient), type, payload, read, createdAt

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Authentication & Security notes

• Passwords should be hashed using bcrypt (never store plain text).
• Use HTTPS in production and set secure cookies if you switch to cookie-based auth.
• Validate and sanitize user input to prevent XSS/NoSQL injection.
• Limit file upload size and validate file types if accepting images.

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Testing

Add unit and integration tests with Jest and Supertest for the backend and React Testing Library for the frontend. Example commands:

# server
cd server
npm test

# client
cd client
npm test

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open issues for bugs or feature requests and submit PRs with clear descriptions. Follow the repository's code style and add tests for new features.