First build · Advanced beginner · Lesson 30 of 98 · about 4 weeks
Project: a reading-list application from a spec
After this you can show a deployed full-stack application that you built from a specification without a tutorial.
Why it matters
**The spec.** Build a reading-list app. A visitor can add a book (title, author, optional notes), see the list, mark a book as reading, finished or abandoned, filter by status, edit and delete entries. Data lives in Postgres behind an Express API; the interface is React. **Required:** API validation with clear 400 responses; correct status codes throughout; loading and error states in the interface; schema changes via migrations; environment variables for all configuration; deployed frontend and API; a README. **Stretch:** search by title; sort by date added; a simple statistics view (books finished per month) written as one SQL query. If you are stuck for more than an hour, write down exactly what you are trying to do and what is happening instead. Half the time that is enough to unstick you.
How to use this resource
Your starting point. Everything beyond this comes from the docs you have already met, not a tutorial.
Go further
Go deeper