moinpalekar.com
This site: a Next.js and TypeScript frontend on Vercel, an Express and MongoDB API on Render, JWT auth, and a Markdown + LaTeX blog engine.
The problem
A portfolio should prove engineering skill, not just describe it. That means real authentication, a real API, and a publishing workflow, not a static template.
What I built
- Built a Next.js and TypeScript frontend deployed on Vercel
- Built an Express and MongoDB API on Render, with JWT authentication guarding admin-only publishing
- Wrote a Markdown renderer with KaTeX math and syntax highlighting, accepting LaTeX pasted from Overleaf
- Designed a custom canvas animation of cosmic history for the navigation bar
Key decisions
Separate frontend and API hosts
Each scales and deploys independently, mirroring how production systems are split.
Registration closed by default
Only the owner can publish, enforced on the server rather than hidden in the UI.
Tech stack
Next.jsTypeScriptExpressMongoDBTailwindJWT