How I Built CineMood — A Movie Discovery App

I was tired of scrolling Netflix finding nothing.
So I built CineMood — discover movies based on
your mood, not what's trending.

🔗 Live: https://cinemood-plum.vercel.app/

Stack

• React + Node.js + Express
• MongoDB
• TMDB API
• Vercel + Render

Biggest Challenge — CORS Error

Got this error connecting Vercel frontend
to Render backend:

blocked by CORS policy

Fix:

app.use(cors({
  origin: 'https://cinemood-plum.vercel.app'
}))

2 hours of debugging. One line fix. 😅

What I Learned

• Set up CORS on day one, not after deployment
• TMDB API needs caching for performance
• Vercel + Render = best free fullstack combo

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