How I Built CloudStash
After several weeks of building and deployment debugging, I finally launched CloudStash, a cloud file storage application built to learn how production-style backend systems work beyond basic CRUD applications.
Why I Built It
Most tutorial projects stop after implementing CRUD APIs.
I wanted to understand how real systems handle:
- File uploads
- Background processing
- Object storage
- Caching
- Authentication
- Deployment
- Real-time updates
CloudStash became my learning project for these concepts.
Tech Stack
- Node.js
- TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- BullMQ
- Docker
- Render
- Vercel
Features
- JWT Authentication
- File Uploads and Downloads
- PostgreSQL Metadata Storage
- Redis Caching Layer
- Background Workers with BullMQ
- Real-Time Upload Progress
- Dockerized Deployment
- Object Storage Support
Architecture
[Insert your architecture diagram here]
The system separates metadata from file storage and uses workers for background processing.
Biggest Challenges
The hardest part wasn't writing APIs.
It was:
- Deployment issues
- Environment variables
- Connecting multiple services together
- Handling production configuration
I spent more time debugging deployment than writing features.
What I Learned
- Redis is useful beyond caching
- Background jobs simplify heavy processing
- Separating metadata from blobs improves design
- Production deployments are very different from local development
What's Next
Planned improvements:
- File sharing links
- Folder support
- Storage analytics
- Multipart uploads
- Better monitoring
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