Full-Stack Project Checklist

Phase 1 Planning & Setup

Define project requirements and features

Sketch wireframes/mockups for each page

Design the database schema (tables, columns, relationships)

Plan API endpoints (method, URL, request/response)

Set up project folder structure

Initialize Git repository

Phase 2 Database Setup

Create the database in MySQL

Create tables with proper data types and constraints

Add PRIMARY KEY, UNIQUE, NOT NULL constraints

Insert sample/seed data for testing

Save SQL setup script as setup.sql

Phase 3 Backend API

Initialize Node.js project (npm init)

Install dependencies (express, mysql2, cors, dotenv)

Create .env file with database credentials

Set up database connection pool

Implement GET endpoint (list all)

Implement GET endpoint (single by ID)

Implement POST endpoint (create)

Implement PUT endpoint (update)

Implement DELETE endpoint

Use prepared statements for ALL queries

Add input validation

Add error handling (try/catch)

Enable CORS middleware

Test all endpoints with curl or Postman

Phase 4 Frontend UI

Create HTML structure with semantic tags

Include Bootstrap CSS and JS via CDN

Include viewport meta tag for responsiveness

Build responsive navigation bar

Create data display area (table or cards)

Build add/create form with validation

Add search/filter functionality

Test responsive layout on mobile sizes

Phase 5 Frontend-Backend Integration

Implement fetch GET to load data

Implement fetch POST to create items

Implement fetch PUT to update items

Implement fetch DELETE to remove items

Add loading states (spinners)

Add error handling and user-friendly error messages

Add success notifications (alerts/toasts)

Add delete confirmation dialog

Refresh data after create/update/delete

Phase 6 Testing & Polish

Test all CRUD operations end-to-end

Test with invalid/edge case inputs

Test responsive design on different screen sizes

Check for XSS vulnerabilities (escape HTML)

Ensure .env is in .gitignore

Add README.md with setup instructions

Clean up code and add comments

Commit and push to GitHub