DisasterOps – Backend

This is the backend service for DisasterOps, an AI-powered disaster response coordination platform. It p### Available Serverless Commands

All serverless commands are available through pnpm scripts:

# Local development and testing
pnpm run sls:offline    # Run serverless locally (starts at localhost:3000)
pnpm run sls:invoke     # Test specific functions locally
pnpm run sls:info       # View serverless service information
pnpm run sls:logs       # View function logs in real-time
pnpm run sls:print      # Print the compiled CloudFormation template

# Deployment
pnpm run deploy         # Deploy to AWS Lambda (prod dependencies + clean deploy)
``` for submitting help requests, task assignment, user authentication, and real-time updates.

The backend is built with **Node.js** and **Express**, and integrates with **Firebase** services for database operations, authentication, storage, and more. AI agent logic (e.g., prioritization, assignment) is handled separately in the AI repository and consumed via API or logic hooks.

## Key Features

- RESTful API built with Express
- Firebase Authentication (role-based: Admin, Responder, Volunteer, Affected)
- AI integration via external service (separate AI repo)
- Realtime support for tasks, users, and resources
- Sync support for offline devices
- Modular and scalable structure for easy maintenance

## Technologies Used

| Component        | Tech                                                        |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Runtime          | Node.js                                                     |
| Framework        | Express.js                                                  |
| Main Database    | Firebase Firestore                                          |
| Realtime Support | Firebase Realtime Database                                  |
| Authentication   | Firebase Auth                                               |
| AI Logic         | External AI Agent API (maintained in a separate repository) |

Folder Structure

my-express-backend/ ├── src/ │ ├── config/ │ │ ├── index.js # Loads env, selects provider adapters │ │ └── providers.js # Maps CLOUD_PROVIDER to adapter modules │ │ │ ├── common/ │ │ ├── logger/ # Winston or similar │ │ └── errors/ # Custom error classes │ │ │ ├── adapters/ # Provider-specific implementations │ │ ├── database/ │ │ │ ├── firebaseDb.js # Firebase Realtime Database adapter │ │ │ └── mongoDb.js # MongoDB adapter (example) │ │ └── storage/ │ │ ├── firebaseStorage.js │ │ └── s3Storage.js # AWS S3 adapter example │ │ │ ├── domain/ # Feature modules │ │ ├── users/ │ │ │ ├── users.model.js │ │ │ ├── users.service.js │ │ │ ├── users.controller.js │ │ │ └── users.routes.js │ │ └── posts/ │ │ ├── posts.model.js │ │ ├── posts.service.js │ │ ├── posts.controller.js │ │ └── posts.routes.js │ │ │ ├── interfaces/ # Abstractions for adapters │ │ ├── IDatabaseService.js │ │ └── IStorageService.js │ │ │ ├── middlewares/ │ │ ├── auth.js │ │ └── errorHandler.js │ │ │ ├── routes/ │ │ └── index.js # Main router mounting feature routes │ │ │ ├── app.js # Express app setup │ └── server.js # Starts HTTP server │ ├── tests/ # Unit & integration tests │ ├── unit/ │ └── integration/ │ ├── .env.example ├── package.json └── README.md

## Setup Instructions

### 1. Clone the Repo

```bash
git clone https://github.com/DisasterOpsAI/disasterops-core-api.git
cd disasterops-core-api

2. Install Dependencies

pnpm install

3. Environment Configuration

Create a .env file based on .env.example and configure your environment variables:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your specific configuration

4. Start the Server Locally

pnpm dev

Serverless Local Development

This project supports serverless development using the Serverless Framework for local testing and AWS Lambda simulation.

Prerequisites

1. Node.js and pnpm: Make sure you have Node.js (v18+) and pnpm installed
2. Serverless Framework: Already included as a dev dependency, no global installation needed

Getting Started with Serverless

1. Install dependencies (if not already done):

pnpm install

1. Run serverless offline (simulates AWS Lambda locally):

pnpm run sls:offline

This will start the API at http://localhost:3000

Available Serverless Commands

All serverless commands are available through pnpm scripts:

# Local development and testing
pnpm run sls:offline    # Run serverless locally (starts at localhost:3000)
pnpm run sls:invoke     # Test specific functions locally
pnpm run sls:info       # View serverless service information
pnpm run sls:logs       # View function logs in real-time
pnpm run sls:print      # Print the compiled CloudFormation template

Testing the Serverless API

Once you run pnpm run sls:offline, you can test your API endpoints using:

• Browser: Navigate to http://localhost:3000
• cURL: curl http://localhost:3000/your-endpoint
• Postman: Use http://localhost:3000 as your base URL
• Thunder Client (VS Code): Use http://localhost:3000 as your base URL

Development Commands

# Standard development
pnpm run dev          # Run with nodemon
pnpm run start        # Run production build

# Code quality
pnpm run lint         # Lint your code using ESLint
pnpm run lint:fix     # Auto-fix linting issues
pnpm run format       # Format code with Prettier
pnpm run format:check # Check if code is properly formatted

# Serverless commands (see section above)
pnpm run sls:offline  # Run serverless locally
pnpm run sls:invoke   # Test functions locally
pnpm run sls:info     # View serverless information
pnpm run sls:logs     # View function logs
pnpm run sls:print    # Print serverless template

Deployment

AWS Lambda Deployment

To deploy the application to AWS Lambda, use:

pnpm run deploy

This command will:

1. Install production dependencies with post-install scripts enabled (for ESBuild)
2. Clear any stale serverless artifacts
3. Deploy the application to AWS Lambda with optimized packaging

Prerequisites for Deployment

• AWS CLI configured with appropriate credentials
• AWS account with Lambda and API Gateway permissions
• Serverless Framework configured for your AWS account

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please:

• Fork the repo
• Create a feature branch
• Follow the linting/formatting conventions
• Open a pull request

License

The Unlicense – See LICENSE file for details.