minihabits

A minimalist habit tracking app built with NestJS (backend) and React + Vite (frontend) in an Turborepo monorepo, designed to help users build and maintain daily habits with a clean, intuitive interface.

Architecture

This is an Turborepo monorepo containing:

• Backend (apps/backend/) - NestJS API with MongoDB, JWT authentication, and SWC for fast compilation
• Frontend (apps/frontend/) - React + Vite SPA with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS

Features

Backend

• 🔐 JWT authentication with refresh tokens
• 📊 Habit tracking and statistics
• 📧 Email notifications (Resend)
• 🗄️ MongoDB with Mongoose
• 🛡️ Input validation and security
• 📝 OpenAPI documentation
• ⚡ Fast compilation with SWC (10x faster than tsc)
• 🔄 Hot reload development with source maps

Frontend

• 🌓 Dark/Light mode support
• 📱 Responsive, modern UI with Tailwind CSS
• 📊 Interactive habit tracking with heatmaps
• 🔥 Streak counting and statistics
• 📈 Visual charts and progress tracking
• 🎵 Audio feedback for habit completion
• ⚡ Fast development with Vite

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20 or later)
• pnpm
• MongoDB (local or remote)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/fberrez/minihabits.git
cd minihabits

2. Install dependencies:

pnpm install

3. Create a .env file in both apps/backend/ and apps/frontend directories using .env.example

Development

Start both applications:

# Start backend and frontend with hot reload
pnpm run dev

Project Structure

minihabits/
├── apps/
│   ├── backend/           # NestJS API (SWC compilation)
│   │   ├── src/
│   │   │   ├── auth/      # Authentication module
│   │   │   ├── habits/    # Habits management
│   │   │   ├── stats/     # Statistics & analytics
│   │   │   ├── users/     # User management
│   │   │   └── ...
│   │   ├── .swcrc         # SWC compiler configuration
│   │   └── Dockerfile
│   └── frontend/          # React + Vite SPA
│       ├── src/
│       │   ├── components/
│       │   ├── pages/
│       │   ├── api/       # Generated OpenAPI client
│       │   └── ...
│       └── Dockerfile
├── bruno/                 # API testing collection
└── docker-compose.yml    # Development containers

Backend Build System

The backend uses SWC instead of the traditional TypeScript compiler or Nest CLI for significantly faster builds:

Key Features

• ⚡ 10x faster compilation than TypeScript compiler
• 🗺️ Source maps enabled - errors point to TypeScript files
• 🔄 Hot reload with nodemon + concurrently
• 🔧 Path mapping support for absolute imports
• 📦 Turborepo integration with build caching
• 🎯 No Nest CLI dependency - streamlined toolchain

Build Configuration

• Compiler: SWC with custom configuration (.swcrc)
• Path mapping: Supports absolute imports (src/*)
• Source maps: Enabled for proper error reporting
• Hot reload: Automatic rebuild and restart on file changes
• Type checking: Runs separately via TypeScript compiler

Development Workflow

1. File change detected → SWC rebuilds instantly
2. Build complete → nodemon restarts Node.js process
3. Error occurs → Stack trace shows TypeScript file locations
4. Repeat → Fast iteration cycle

Production Deployment

Infrastructure

• Hosting: VPS - OVH
• Containerization: Docker (multi-stage builds)
• Backend Compilation: SWC for fast production builds
• Reverse Proxy: Traefik
• SSL: Let's Encrypt via Traefik
• Monorepo: Turborepo for build optimization and caching

Docker Usage

# Development with Docker Compose
docker-compose up -d

# Build production images
docker build -f apps/backend/Dockerfile -t minihabits-backend .
docker build -f apps/frontend/Dockerfile -t minihabits-frontend .

Technologies

Backend

• Framework: NestJS with TypeScript
• Compiler: SWC (replacing tsc and Nest CLI)
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• Authentication: JWT with refresh tokens
• Validation: class-validator, class-transformer
• Email: Resend API
• Documentation: OpenAPI/Swagger
• Testing: Jest
• Development: Hot reload with nodemon + concurrently

Frontend

• Framework: React 18 with TypeScript
• Build Tool: Vite
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• UI Components: Custom components with Radix UI
• Charts: Recharts
• HTTP Client: Generated from OpenAPI spec
• State Management: React Query (TanStack Query)

DevOps & Tools

• Monorepo: Turborepo
• Package Manager: pnpm
• Containerization: Docker
• API Testing: Bruno
• Code Quality: ESLint, Prettier
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions

Development Notes

SWC vs Traditional NestJS Build

This project uses SWC instead of the traditional Nest CLI or TypeScript compiler:

Feature	Nest CLI	SWC
Build Speed	~3-5s	~0.1s
Hot Reload	Built-in	Custom setup
Source Maps	✅	✅
Dependencies	@nestjs/cli	@swc/cli
Configuration	nest-cli.json	.swcrc

License

This project is licensed under the GNU License - see the LICENSE file for details.