Node.js Backend for Frontend (BFF) API
Built a production-grade Backend for Frontend service to provide a unified, secure, and optimized API layer between enterprise front-end applications and downstream microservices.
Node.jsAPIJWTTesting
The Challenge
- Front-end teams consuming multiple microservices directly, leading to over-fetching and tight coupling.
- No centralized authentication or authorization layer across services.
- Lack of API documentation slowing down onboarding and integration.
The Solution
Designed and implemented a Node.js BFF API with JWT-based authentication, role-based access control (RBAC) middleware, and rate limiting. Integrated interactive Swagger/OpenAPI documentation for seamless developer experience.
Key Features
- JWT Authentication & RBAC middleware for secure, role-aware access control
- Rate limiting to protect downstream services from abuse
- Interactive Swagger/OpenAPI docs for self-service API exploration
- 88% test coverage with Jest and structured error handling
- Optimized payload shaping — aggregates and transforms microservice responses for UI consumption
Tech Stack
- Runtime: Node.js, Express.js
- Auth: JWT, RBAC middleware
- Docs: Swagger / OpenAPI
- Testing: Jest (88% coverage)
- DevOps: GitHub Actions, Docker
Impact
Decoupled front-end from microservices, reduced API call overhead, and improved developer onboarding through interactive documentation.