Celestial Gatherings is a space-themed event management platform that makes it easy to create, share, and join events under the stars. Built with Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB Atlas, and EJS, it follows the MVC pattern and provides a smooth, secure experience for both event hosts and guests.
The app combines robust backend functionality with a clean, responsive UI/UX, giving users everything they need to plan astronomy meetups, science talks, watch parties, or any gathering that feels out of this world.
🔗 Live Demo: celestialgatherings.com
📌 Note: Demo resets daily.
Want to explore without signing up?
Use the following demo credentials:
- Email:
johndoe2@gmail.com - Password:
JaaL42$Aa
-
Event Management
Create, edit, and manage events with full CRUD capabilities. Each event includes title, category, location, description, start/end dates, and optional image. -
RSVP System
Registered users can RSVPYES / NO / MAYBE. Hosts are prevented from RSVPing to their own events to keep data clean and meaningful. -
Authentication & Profiles
Secure sign-up and login with session-based auth. Logged-in users can view their profile, hosted events, and RSVPs. -
Image Hosting
Upload event images via Cloudinary (with Multer). If no image is uploaded, a placeholder is used. -
User Feedback
Flash messages and custom error pages provide clear guidance for success, warning, and error states. -
Responsive UI/UX
Space-inspired theme with accessible forms, visible focus states, and navigation that adapts to login state.
- Frontend: EJS templates, Bootstrap 4, custom CSS
- Backend: Node.js, Express.js
- Database: MongoDB Atlas with Mongoose
- Authentication:
express-session+connect-mongosession storage - File Uploads: Multer + Cloudinary (
multer-storage-cloudinary) - Validation & Security: express-validator, validator, Helmet, express-rate-limit, bcryptjs
- Performance & Logging: compression, morgan
- Utilities: Luxon (date/time), he (HTML entity encoding)
-
Guests can:
- Browse events
-
Registered Users can:
- Sign up / log in securely
- RSVP to events
- Host new events
- Edit or delete events they created
- Manage RSVPs
-
Authorization middleware ensures only event hosts can modify their own events.
- Space-inspired theme with deep blues and cosmic accents
- Accessible forms with visible focus states, proper input validation, and keyboard-friendly navigation
- Dynamic header navigation: changes based on login state (Sign Up/Login vs. Profile/New Event/Logout)
- Custom error views: informative 400, 401, 404, and 500 pages
- Responsive layouts: looks great on desktop, tablet, and mobile
- Shared style variables in one place (colors, spacing, corners, shadows, type)
- Consistent hover/active/focus states across main nav and account links
- Text scales smoothly on all screens; clean spacing; sticky footer; no layout shift
- Full keyboard support: clear focus outline + "skip to content" link
- Semantic landmarks (header, nav, main, footer), time elements, meaningful headings
- Forms announce errors; labels tied to inputs; status messages are announced
- Large, readable text and strong color contrast (meets WCAG AA level)
- Respects "Reduce Motion" preference
- Uses express-validator to validate/sanitize form input
- Passwords are hashed securely with bcrypt before storage
- Friendly error pages for:
- Invalid IDs
- Unauthorized access
- Missing resources
- Server/database errors
- Backend:
express,mongoose,express-session,connect-mongo - Auth/Security:
bcryptjs,express-rate-limit,helmet,validator - File Uploads:
multer,multer-storage-cloudinary,cloudinary - Validation/Formatting:
express-validator,luxon,he - UX/Feedback:
connect-flash - Performance/Logging:
compression,morgan
This codebase follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. This keeps the app maintainable, testable, and easy to extend.
- Models (Mongoose): data schema + validation.
- Views (EJS): server-rendered HTML templates.
- Controllers (Express): request in → response out.
- Routes: HTTP method + path → controller.
- Middleware: pre-route logic (auth/sessions/logging).
├─ app.js #app entrypoint: Express config, sessions, MongoDB, routes, views
├─ middlewares.js #auth/role checks (isAuthenticated, isGuest, isHost/isNotHost)
├─ controllers/ #controllers (request handlers)
│ ├─ mainController.js #home/about/contact
│ ├─ userController.js #auth, profile
│ └─ eventController.js #event CRUD, RSVP
├─ models/ #models (Mongoose schemas)
│ ├─ user.js
│ ├─ eventModel.js
│ └─ rsvp.js
├─ routes/ #express routers
│ ├─ mainRoutes.js
│ ├─ userRoutes.js
│ └─ eventRoutes.js
├─ views/ #views (EJS templates)
│ ├─ about.ejs
│ ├─ contact.ejs -
│ ├─ edit.ejs -
│ ├─ error.ejs
│ ├─ event.ejs -
│ ├─ events.ejs
│ ├─ index.ejs
│ ├─ login.ejs
│ ├─ newEvent.ejs
│ ├─ profile.ejs
│ ├─ signup.ejs -
│ └─ partials/ #shared UI
│ ├─ header.ejs
│ ├─ footer.ejs
│ └─ nav.ejs
├─ public/ #static assets served by Express
│ ├─ css/
│ ├─ images/
│ └─ javascript/ #client-side scripts
├─ package.json
└─ package-lock.json- Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/jillmpla/node_js_space_events_app.git
cd node_js_space_events_app- Install dependencies
npm install- Create a .env file with your keys
MONGODB_URI=...
SECRET_KEY=...
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=...
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=...
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=...
CLOUDINARY_URL=...- Run the app
npm start- Visit: http://localhost:3000
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the License file for details.