API Gateway Auth Ecosystem
A distributed backend architecture project focused on secure authentication, API gateway enforcement, RBAC authorization, OAuth2 integration, Redis-powered rate limiting, and scalable microservice orchestration for multi-tenant systems.
Overview
A production-focused backend systems project designed to build a complete identity, access management, and service governance ecosystem. The project combines authentication infrastructure, centralized API enforcement, role-based authorization, rate limiting, and microservice coordination into a scalable architecture suitable for SaaS platforms and distributed applications.
System Architecture
The platform is built around four primary layers:
- Client Layer — Frontend applications or external consumers
- API Gateway — Routing, authentication enforcement, rate limiting, and tenant validation
- Authentication Service — JWT, OAuth2, refresh token management, and RBAC
- Microservices Layer — User, Order, and Analytics services
Supporting Infrastructure
- PostgreSQL — Users, roles, permissions, and tenant data
- Redis — Token blacklist, refresh token storage, and distributed rate limiting
Core Features
Authentication Service
- User registration and login
- JWT access tokens (short-lived)
- Refresh token lifecycle management
- Secure logout and token invalidation
- Password hashing with bcrypt
- Multi-tenant user structure
OAuth2 Integration
- Google OAuth
- GitHub OAuth
- Third-party authentication with internal JWT issuance
RBAC Authorization
- Role assignment
- Permission mapping
- Protected route authorization
- Admin, manager, and tenant-specific access controls
API Gateway
- Reverse proxy request routing
- Centralized JWT verification
- Request forwarding to microservices
- Tenant-aware access enforcement
- Unified security layer for distributed services
Rate Limiting
- Redis-backed request governance
- Per-user request limits
- Per-IP request limits
- Token bucket and sliding window strategies
Microservices
- User Service
- Order Service
- Analytics Service
Admin Dashboard
- User management
- Role creation
- Permission assignment
- Tenant oversight
API Documentation
- Swagger / OpenAPI integration
- Developer-ready endpoint documentation
Technical Stack
Backend
- Node.js
- Express.js
- JWT
- Passport.js
- bcrypt
Infrastructure
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
Security
- OAuth2
- RBAC
- Token rotation
- Token blacklisting
- Rate limiting
Project Goals
- Build enterprise-style authentication systems
- Implement API gateway security architecture
- Design scalable multi-tenant backend infrastructure
- Simulate production-grade microservice ecosystems
- Strengthen backend engineering, systems design, and security architecture skills
Key Takeaways
This project emphasizes practical backend engineering through authentication design, authorization systems, traffic governance, and distributed architecture. It demonstrates capability in building scalable security-first systems that extend beyond traditional REST APIs into full ecosystem-level backend infrastructure.