Blogger: a custom CMS backbone for all my websites

As someone who juggles multiple blogs and platforms, I needed a single, efficient place to manage everything: blog posts, portfolio items, newsletter subscribers, and even SEO metadata. So I built it.

What I built

Blogger is a custom backend-and-dashboard system I designed for my own workflow. It serves as the central API for all my websites and blogs. I use it to create and update content, manage SEO data, host image uploads, and maintain a subscriber list; all from one secure interface.

The backend is a custom GraphQL API written in Node.js and Express, using MongoDB Atlas for cloud data storage. The frontend is a fast, mobile-friendly Next.js PWA that allows me to edit content on the go.

Focus on security

Security is baked in from the ground up:

• Two-factor authentication (TOTP)
• Login monitoring with IP blocking to prevent brute force attacks
• JWT-based auth, hashed passwords with bcrypt, cors, and hardened headers with helmet
• NginX secure config, WAF & intrusion detection on my server once deployed

Tech stack

Back-end:

• Node.js, Express.js, GraphQL, MongoDB Atlas
• Mongoose, JWT, bcryptjs, multer, express-rate-limit, helmet, speakeasy

Front-end:

• Next.js with next-pwa for mobile progressive web app support
• GraphQL data fetching
• Quill.js for rich text editing stored as HTML