InnoIT. Blog & CMS

A custom blog platform with a built-in CMS, built with Node.js, Express, PostgreSQL, and EJS.

Features

• Public blog — home page, blog listing with pagination, individual post pages, about page
• Custom CMS — full admin panel with dashboard, post editor, category and user management
• Markdown editor — write posts in Markdown with toolbar and live preview
• Image uploads — upload images inline or as featured images
• Categories & tags — organise posts by topic
• Draft/publish workflow — save drafts and publish when ready
• Multi-author support — admin and author roles
• Session-based auth — secure email/password login
• Responsive design — works on all screen sizes
• Style guide compliant — Darker Grotesque font, #fff / #000 / #ff4136 colour scheme

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• PostgreSQL 14+

Setup

1. Install dependencies

npm install

2. Create the database

CREATE DATABASE innoit_blog;
CREATE USER innoit WITH PASSWORD 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE innoit_blog TO innoit;

3. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your database credentials and session secret

4. Run migrations and seed data

npm run setup

This creates all database tables and adds:

• An admin user (admin@innoit.dev / changeme123)
• Sample categories, tags, and a welcome post

5. Start the server

# Development (with auto-reload)
npm run dev

# Production
npm start

The site will be running at http://localhost:3000.

Admin Panel

Access the admin panel at /admin. Log in at /auth/login.

Feature	Path
Dashboard	/admin
Manage posts	/admin/posts
New post	/admin/posts/new
Categories	/admin/categories (admin only)
Users	/admin/users (admin only)

Roles

Role	Permissions
Admin	Full access — manage all posts, categories, tags, and users
Author	Create and manage own posts only

Project Structure

├── server.js              # Express app entry point
├── config/
│   └── database.js        # PostgreSQL connection pool
├── db/
│   ├── migrate.js         # Database migrations
│   └── seed.js            # Seed data
├── middleware/
│   ├── auth.js            # Authentication guards
│   └── upload.js          # Multer image upload config
├── models/
│   ├── User.js            # User model
│   ├── Post.js            # Post model
│   ├── Category.js        # Category model
│   └── Tag.js             # Tag model
├── routes/
│   ├── public.js          # Home, About pages
│   ├── blog.js            # Blog listing & post pages
│   ├── auth.js            # Login / Logout
│   ├── admin.js           # CMS admin panel
│   └── api.js             # API (image upload)
├── views/                 # EJS templates
│   ├── partials/          # Header, footer, admin layout
│   ├── blog/              # Blog views
│   ├── admin/             # Admin panel views
│   ├── auth/              # Login page
│   └── errors/            # 404, 500
├── public/
│   ├── css/               # Stylesheets
│   ├── js/                # Client-side JavaScript
│   └── uploads/           # Uploaded images
└── assets/                # InnoIT. logos

Deployment

For VPS deployment:

1. Install Node.js and PostgreSQL on your server
2. Clone the repo and run npm install --production
3. Set NODE_ENV=production and a strong SESSION_SECRET in .env
4. Run npm run setup to initialise the database
5. Use a process manager like PM2: pm2 start server.js --name innoit-blog
6. Set up Nginx as a reverse proxy for port 3000
7. Configure SSL with Let's Encrypt / Certbot

Changing the Admin Password

After first login, change the default password. You can also update it directly:

node -e "
  require('dotenv').config();
  const User = require('./models/User');
  User.updatePassword(1, 'your-new-secure-password').then(() => {
    console.log('Password updated');
    process.exit();
  });
"

License

UNLICENSED — InnoIT.