Inspiration

I was inspired by platforms like TikTok and Discord, where people connect, share content, and build communities in real time. I wanted to create something similar—a system where users can upload, share, and interact with videos while also integrating community features like chat or server connections.

The goal was to understand how modern social platforms work behind the scenes and to challenge myself to build a scalable backend system from scratch.

What I Learned

During this project, I learned a lot about:

Backend architecture and API design Handling user authentication and data flow Structuring large projects into scalable folders Working with databases and cloud storage Debugging real-world issues like file size limits and server crashes

I also improved my understanding of how platforms like GitHub handle version control and deployment workflows.

How I Built It

I built this project as a backend system for a short-video platform.

Core features include:

User authentication (signup/login) Video upload and storage Feed system (like TikTok-style scrolling) API endpoints for frontend integration

Example logic (Node.js):

app.post('/upload', upload.single('video'), async (req, res) => { const videoUrl = await uploadToCloud(req.file); res.json({ success: true, url: videoUrl }); });

I structured the backend like this:

src/ ├── config/ ├── controllers/ ├── routes/ ├── models/ ├── middleware/

Challenges I Faced

Some of the biggest challenges were:

Handling large file uploads (video files can be huge) Fixing Git push limits (over 100MB issues) Debugging server crashes and dependency errors Designing a system that could scale like real-world apps

For example, I had to rethink how files are stored and compressed to avoid hitting limits:

Storage Efficiency

Useful Data Total Storage Used Storage Efficiency= Total Storage Used Useful Data ​

What’s Next

Add real-time features (chat, notifications) Connect frontend (React or mobile app) Deploy to cloud (AWS / Vercel / DigitalOcean) Optimize performance and security

Built With

• amazon-web-services
• mongodb