Building Full Stack CRUD App with PostgreSQL

Are you just getting started with full stack development and want to build your first CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) app using a real database like PostgreSQL? You're in the right place!

🚀 What We'll Build

Add a new book
View all books
Edit book details
Delete a book

🧱 Step 1: Setup the Backend

📁 Create Project Folder

mkdir book-manager
cd book-manager
npm init -y

📦 Install Dependencies

npm install express cors dotenv prisma @prisma/client📋 Copy

⚙️ Initialize Prisma

npx prisma init

🔗 Update .env

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://youruser:yourpassword@localhost:5432/bookmanager"

📐 Step 2: Define Prisma Schema

model Book {
  id        Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  title     String
  author    String
  createdAt DateTime @default(now())
}

npx prisma migrate dev --name init
npx prisma generate

🧠 Step 3: Create Express Server

const express = require('express');
const cors = require('cors');
const { PrismaClient } = require('@prisma/client');

const prisma = new PrismaClient();
const app = express();

app.use(cors());
app.use(express.json());

app.get('/books', async (req, res) => {
  const books = await prisma.book.findMany();
  res.json(books);
});

app.post('/books', async (req, res) => {
  const { title, author } = req.body;
  const book = await prisma.book.create({ data: { title, author } });
  res.json(book);
});

app.put('/books/:id', async (req, res) => {
  const { title, author } = req.body;
  const { id } = req.params;
  const book = await prisma.book.update({
    where: { id: parseInt(id) },
    data: { title, author }
  });
  res.json(book);
});

app.delete('/books/:id', async (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;
  await prisma.book.delete({ where: { id: parseInt(id) } });
  res.json({ message: 'Book deleted' });
});

app.listen(4000, () => console.log('Server running on http://localhost:4000'));

🌐 Step 4: Set Up React Frontend

npm create vite@latest book-client --template react
cd book-client
npm install axios
npm run dev

🖼️ Step 5: Build the UI

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import axios from 'axios';

const API = 'http://localhost:4000/books';

function App() {
  const [books, setBooks] = useState([]);
  const [form, setForm] = useState({ title: '', author: '', id: null });

  const fetchBooks = async () => {
    const res = await axios.get(API);
    setBooks(res.data);
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    fetchBooks();
  }, []);

  const handleSubmit = async (e) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    if (form.id) {
      await axios.put(`${API}/${form.id}`, form);
    } else {
      await axios.post(API, form);
    }
    setForm({ title: '', author: '', id: null });
    fetchBooks();
  };

  const handleEdit = (book) => {
    setForm(book);
  };

  const handleDelete = async (id) => {
    await axios.delete(`${API}/${id}`);
    fetchBooks();
  };

  return (
    <div className="container" style={{ padding: "20px", maxWidth: "600px", margin: "auto" }}>
      <h2>📚 Book Manager</h2>
      <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
        <input placeholder="Title" value={form.title} onChange={(e) => setForm({ ...form, title: e.target.value })} required />
        <input placeholder="Author" value={form.author} onChange={(e) => setForm({ ...form, author: e.target.value })} required />
        <button type="submit">{form.id ? 'Update' : 'Add'} Book</button>
      </form>
      <ul>
        {books.map((b) => (
          <li key={b.id}>
            <strong>{b.title}</strong> by {b.author}
            <button onClick={() => handleEdit(b)}>Edit</button>
            <button onClick={() => handleDelete(b.id)}>Delete</button>
          </li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

🧪 Step 6: Test It All Together

Start PostgreSQL
Run the backend: node index.js
Run the frontend: npm run dev

🎯 Conclusion

You’ve just built a complete full stack CRUD app with PostgreSQL, Node.js, Express, React, and Prisma!

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, try adding user authentication, search functionality, or deploy your app to production.

💬 What’s Next?

If you found this helpful:

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