ZCloud

ZCloud is a self-hosted cloud storage web application that allows users to upload, organize, and download files through a web interface. It was built as a full-stack project to explore backend infrastructure, containerization, and deployment workflows while providing a simple alternative to commercial cloud storage services.

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Features

• User authentication (signup and login)
• Upload and download files
• Folder creation and organization
• Web interface for browsing stored files
• Self-hosted deployment
• Dockerized backend
• CI/CD style auto-deployment using bash scripts
• Reverse proxy using Nginx

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Tech Stack

Frontend

• React (Vite)
• JavaScript
• TailwindCSS
• zustand

Backend

• Node.js
• Express

Database

• PostgreSQL

Infrastructure

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Nginx
• Bash scripts for CI/CD
• GitHub repository with deploy keys

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Architecture

ZCloud is structured as a typical full-stack application.

Client (React)
        |
        v
     Nginx
        |
        v
Express Backend (Docker)
        |
        v
   PostgreSQL

Components

Frontend

• React application compiled into static files
• Served through Nginx

Backend

• Express REST API
• Handles authentication, file uploads, and metadata

Database

• PostgreSQL stores:

  • users
  • file metadata
  • folder structure
  • file contents

Server

• Nginx serves the frontend
• API requests are proxied to the backend container

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Deployment

The project is designed to run on a single Linux server.

Deployment flow:

1. Server checks the Git repository for updates
2. If changes are detected:
3. Backend Docker image is rebuilt
4. Containers are restarted using Docker Compose
5. Frontend is rebuilt and served via Nginx

This creates a simple self-hosted CI/CD pipeline.

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Environment Variables

Environment variables are stored on the server and not committed to the repository.

Example backend environment file:

PORT=5000
DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/zcloud
JWT_SECRET=your_secret

Frontend environment variables are injected during the build process.

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Running Locally

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/zcloud.git
cd zcloud

Install dependencies:

npm install

Run backend:

npm start

Run frontend:

npm run dev

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Docker

Build backend image:

docker build -t zcloud-backend .

Run container:

docker run -p 5000:5000 zcloud-backend

Using Docker Compose:

docker compose up --build

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License

This project is for educational and personal use.