HNG 13 Backend Stage 0 – Building a Simple API with Node.js and Express

Frank Micheal — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 11:43:40 +0000

🚀 Backend Stage 0: Building a Dynamic Profile API with Node.js & Express

Hey everyone 👋, I'm Trayshmhirk, and this is my submission for the HNG 13 Backend Stage 0 Task — where we were asked to build a simple RESTful API endpoint that returns our profile information along with a dynamic cat fact fetched from the Cat Facts API. 🐱

🧩 Task Overview

The goal was to create a GET /me endpoint that:

Returns a JSON response containing:
- My name, email, and backend stack
- A timestamp (in ISO 8601 format)
- A random cat fact fetched from an external API
Uses best practices for clean, maintainable backend code
Handles API errors gracefully
Is hosted online (I used Railway 🚉)

⚙️ Tech Stack

For this task, I used:

Node.js – JavaScript runtime environment
Express.js – Web framework for building APIs
Axios – To fetch data from the Cat Facts API
CORS – To allow external access to the endpoint

🏗️ How I Built It

Project setup

   npm init -y
   npm install express axios cors

Created folder structure

   src/
   ├── app.js              # Express setup
   ├── routes/
   │   └── profile.js      # /me route logic
   └── services/
       └── cat-facts.js    # External API integration

Integrated the Cat Facts API
I used Axios to fetch a random fact from the endpoint https://catfact.ninja/fact.

If the request fails (e.g., timeout or API down), I return a friendly fallback message like:

"Could not fetch cat fact at the moment."
Built the /me route

The route responds with this structure:

   {
     "status": "success",
     "user": {
       "email": "harlex.mikkey@gmail.com",
       "name": "Micheal Osunbajo",
       "stack": "Node.js/Express"
     },
     "timestamp": "2025-10-17T14:23:45.678Z",
     "fact": "Cats have over 20 vocalizations, including the purr, meow, and chirp."
   }

Deployment on Railway I deployed the API to Railway, which automatically detects Node.js projects and assigns a public URL.

Live Endpoint:

🔗 https://tray-stage-zero-backend-task-production.up.railway.app/me

🧠 What I Learned

How to build and structure a simple Express.js API from scratch
How to make and handle external API requests using Axios
How to properly return JSON responses in RESTful APIs
How to deploy a Node.js app to Railway
The importance of clear README documentation and error handling

This task was a great refresher on backend fundamentals and a perfect warm-up for the upcoming stages. 🔥

🧾 GitHub Repository

📂 Repository: https://github.com/Trayshmhirk/tray-stage-zero-backend-task.git

🏁 Final Thoughts

Even though the task was small, I treated it like a real-world microservice — clean folder structure, graceful error handling, and proper documentation.

"Start small, but build like a pro." 💪

Author: Micheal Osunbajo

📧 harlex.mikkey@gmail.com

💻 Stack: Node.js / Express

Cat facts provided by Cat Facts API

DEV Community: Frank Micheal