Plant tracking system (Express.js + Vue.js)

The Plant Tracker API will allow users to manage and track their plants through different growth stages. Built with Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB, the API will store plant data such as growth stages, start dates, and projected harvest dates. Users will be able to update plant stages, archive or delete plants, and retrieve plant information via a RESTful API. The application will be containerized with Docker for easy deployment and scalability.

Planned future enhancements include a CLI client, a web GUI (Vue.js + Tailwind CSS), and incorporating notifications for plant care reminders among others.

The GUI demo uses json-server and a .json file to provide a sample API for data while I finish the actual API.

Tech Stack

• Node.js & Express.js – Together, they power the backend API, with Node.js handling asynchronous, event-driven tasks and Express providing a lightweight framework for routing and middleware integration
• MongoDB – A NoSQL database for storing plant data, offering flexibility and scalability in managing unstructured data
• Vue.js – Frontend framework for web GUI
• Tailwind CSS – Utility-first CSS framework for web GUI
• Docker – Containerizes the application, ensuring consistent environments and simplifying deployment with Docker Compose to manage multiple services

Features

• Tracks the following information per plant:

  • Name
  • Plant Abbreviation (auto-generated if not provided)
  • Source (seed or clone)
  • Projected harvest date (auto-calculated and updated with each stage change)
  • Start date (date of sprouting)
  • Start date of vegetative phase
  • Start date of flowering phase
  • Harvest date
  • Start date of cure phase
  • Current stage (seedling, vegetative, flowering, harvested, curing)

• Automatically generates unique plant abbreviations if not provided

Plant Schema

• Archived and inactive plants are hidden by default.
• Inactive plants are plants that have been “deleted” through the API. They are only marked as inactive so they can be “undeleted” if necessary.

Create a new plant

POST /api/v1/plants

Valid POST request parameters

If the plant is a clone, stage will default to veg and vegStartedOn be set to the value of startedOn

Possible POST responses

HTTP 201

Successfully created plant. Response contains the newly-created plant. For example:

{
  "_id": "662849f8b87798f29434dc23",
  "status": "active",
  "source": "seed",
  "name": "Roma Tomato 1",
  "stage": "veg",
  "startedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00",
  "potentialHarvest": "2024-06-25T00:00:00.000+00:00",
  "plantAbbr": "RT1-1",
  "createdAt": "2024-04-23T23:53:28.245+00:00",
  "updatedAt": "2024-04-24T12:39:59.743+00:00",
  "vegStartedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00"
}

HTTP 409

An active plant with the same name already exists. See API Errors below.

HTTP 500

An unrecoverable error occurred. See API Errors below.

Get all plants

GET /api/v1/plants

List of plants will be filtered by any request parameters provided.

Valid GET /api/v1/plants request parameters

Possible GET /api/v1/plants responses

HTTP 200

Successfully found plants. Contains array of matching plant objects in response body. For example:

[
  {
    "_id": "662849f8b87798f29434dc23",
    "status": "active",
    "source": "seed",
    "name": "Roma Tomato 1",
    "stage": "veg",
    "startedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00",
    "potentialHarvest": "2024-06-25T00:00:00.000+00:00",
    "plantAbbr": "RT1-1",
    "createdAt": "2024-04-23T23:53:28.245+00:00",
    "updatedAt": "2024-04-24T12:39:59.743+00:00",
    "vegStartedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00"
  },
  {
    "_id": "98f29434dc23662849f8b877",
    "status": "active",
    "source": "seed",
    "name": "Cherry Tomato 1",
    "stage": "veg",
    "startedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00",
    "potentialHarvest": "2024-06-25T00:00:00.000+00:00",
    "plantAbbr": "CT1-1",
    "createdAt": "2024-04-23T23:53:28.245+00:00",
    "updatedAt": "2024-04-24T12:39:59.743+00:00",
    "vegStartedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00"
  },
  ...
]

HTTP 404

No plants found matching the request data provided. See API Errors below.

HTTP 500

An unrecoverable error occurred. See API Errors below.

Get a particular plant

GET /api/v1/plants/{plantId}

Valid GET /api/v1/plants/{plantId} request parameters

See valid request parameters for GET /api/v1/plants above.

Possible GET /api/v1/plants/{plantId} responses

HTTP 200

Successfully found plant. Contains found plant object in response body. For example:

{
  "_id": "662849f8b87798f29434dc23",
  "status": "active",
  "source": "seed",
  "name": "Roma Tomato 1",
  "stage": "veg",
  "startedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00",
  "potentialHarvest": "2024-06-25T00:00:00.000+00:00",
  "plantAbbr": "RT1-1",
  "createdAt": "2024-04-23T23:53:28.245+00:00",
  "updatedAt": "2024-04-24T12:39:59.743+00:00",
  "vegStartedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00"
}

HTTP 404

Plant not found. See API Errors below.

HTTP 500

An unrecoverable error occurred. See API Errors below.

Update a plant

PUT /api/v1/plants/{plantId}

Valid HTTP request parameters

*If the plant stage changes, the dates will be updated accordingly. For example:

• If the plant stage is changing from flower to veg, flowerStartedOn will be unset and veg will be set to today (unless provided in the request parameters).
• If the plant stage is changing from veg to flower, flowerStartedOn is set to today

Possible PUT responses

HTTP 200

Successfully updated plant. Contains the updated plant in body. For example:

{
  "_id": "662849f8b87798f29434dc23",
  "status": "active",
  "source": "seed",
  "name": "Roma Tomato 1",
  "stage": "veg",
  "startedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00",
  "potentialHarvest": "2024-06-25T00:00:00.000+00:00",
  "plantAbbr": "RT1-1",
  "createdAt": "2024-04-23T23:53:28.245+00:00",
  "updatedAt": "2024-04-24T12:39:59.743+00:00",
  "vegStartedOn": "2024-04-23T00:00:00.000+00:00"
}

HTTP 404

Plant not found. See API Errors below.

HTTP 409

An active plant with the same name already exists. See API Errors below.

HTTP 500

An unrecoverable error occurred. See API Errors below.

Examples

To move a plant from seedling to veg, send the following to PUT /api/v1/plants/{plantId}:

{
  "stage": "veg"
}

To move a plant from seedling to veg and set the start date to '2024-04-20', send a PUT request to /api/v1/plants/{plantId} with the following request parameters:

{
  "stage": "veg",
  "vegStartedOn": "2024-04-20"
}

To rename a plant from 'Tomato Plant 1' to 'Roma Tomato Plant 1', send a PUT request to /api/v1/plants/{plantId} with the following request parameters:

{
  "name": "Roma Tomato Plant 1"
}

Delete a plant

DELETE /api/v1/plants/{plantId}

Possible responses:

• HTTP 204 if successful
• HTTP 500 if an error occurred (see API Errors below)

API Errors

If an error occurs, a response will be returned with the error message in the body. For example:

{ "error": "Something bad happened." }

Completeness level

• Creating Plants:

  • Basic functionality
  • Auto-generate plantAbbr
  • Add log entry when creating plant
  • Validate plant before creation (see Validation section below)
  • Set vegStartedOn = startedOn if source == "clone"

• Modifying Plants:

  • Basic functionality
  • Regenerate plantAbbr if name changed
  • Update dates when changing status
    • Set “started on” dates to current date unless provided
    • Unset “started on” dates that occur after current stage
  • Add log entry when updating plant
  • Set vegStartedOn = startedOn if source == "clone"
  • Validate plant before updating (see Validation section below)
  • Add ability to update multiple plants at once
  • Add ability to mark plants as dead

• Listing Plants:

  • Basic functionality
  • Filter based on request parameters
    • Filter based on plant status

• Deleting Plants:

  • Basic functionality
  • Add log entry when deleting plant

• Archiving Plants:

  • Basic functionality
  • Add log entry when archiving plant

• Validation:

  • Set required dates based on plant stage
  • Check plant name for characters outside letters, numbers, and punctuation
    • Add support for emoji in plant name
  • Check plantAbbr for characters outside a–z, A–Z, 0–9 and -
  • Validate stage start dates in relation to each other

• Authentication:

  • Implement OAuth and JWT-based authentication for API
  • Implement password-based authentication for GUI

• Plant Journal:

  • Add support for plant journal entries
  • Add ability to delete journal entries

Other Planned Features

• Frontend GUI:

  • Implement frontend GUI
    • Plants:
      • Add ability to create plants
      • Add ability to view plants
      • Add ability to edit plants
      • Add ability to delete plants
      • Add ability to move plants between stages
      • Add ability to mark plant as dead
    • Plant Journal:
      • Add ability to add plant journal entries
      • Add ability to edit plant journal entries
      • Add ability to delete plant journal entries
    • Integration with Home Assistant:
      • Add ability to pull environmental data (temp, humidity, soil moisture, etc.) via API
      • Potentially use WebSockets for realtime updates
    • Easy, containerized deployment as turnkey solution
      • Docker container running backend and serving frontend with NGINX
      • Docker image automatically rebuilt whenever frontend or backend is updated

Change Log

• 2025.04.01
  • Added mockup screenshots for Vue.js GUI
  • Added Vue.js and Tailwind CSS to tech stack
• 2025.04.07
  • Added Home Assistant integration to planned features
  • Added easy deployment section to planned features