Netlify & PostgreSQL Functions

Netlify Functions & PostgreSQL Integration

Freak-Flix utilizes Netlify Functions as a serverless backend to handle user authentication, profile persistence, and API proxying. These functions interact with a PostgreSQL database to ensure your library settings and user data are synchronized across devices.

⚙️ Database Configuration

To enable the backend features, you must provide a PostgreSQL connection string. The functions automatically look for the following environment variables in your Netlify dashboard:

| Variable | Description | | :--- | :--- | | DATABASE_URL | Primary PostgreSQL connection string (e.g., postgres://user:pass@host:port/db). | | JWT_SECRET | A secure string used to sign and verify application-level JSON Web Tokens. | | JWT_EXPIRY | (Optional) Token duration, defaults to 7d. |

🔐 Authentication Services

The backend supports two authentication flows: Independent App Auth (built-in) and Netlify Identity Integration.

1. Independent User Management (/api/users)

This service handles direct registration and login within the application database.

Endpoints:

• POST /api/users?action=register: Create a new account.
• POST /api/users?action=login: Authenticate and receive a JWT.
• POST /api/users?action=me: Verify a token and return the current user.

Request Body (JSON):

{
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "password": "your-password",
  "action": "login" 
}

2. Netlify Identity Sync (/api/identity-webhook)

If using Netlify's built-in Identity service, this function acts as a webhook to automatically synchronize Identity users into your PostgreSQL identity_users table upon signup or login.

3. Profile Retrieval (/api/get-profile)

Retrieves extended user metadata for users authenticated via Netlify Identity.

• Authorization: Requires a valid Netlify Identity JWT in the Authorization: Bearer <token> header.

🌐 Proxy Services

To bypass Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) restrictions in web builds, Freak-Flix includes specialized proxy functions.

Microsoft Authentication Proxy (/api/ms_auth/*)

Proxies requests to login.microsoftonline.com for OneDrive integration.

• Usage: Replace the base Microsoft login URL with your Netlify function URL.
• Example Path: /.netlify/functions/ms_auth_proxy/common/oauth2/v2.0/token
• Supported Methods: GET, POST, OPTIONS.

StashDB Proxy (/api/stash_proxy)

Proxies GraphQL queries to StashDB to protect API keys and handle CORS.

• Endpoint: POST /api/stash_proxy
• Headers Required:
  • ApiKey: Your StashDB API Key.
  • Content-Type: application/json
• Request Body: Standard StashDB GraphQL query payload.

🛠 Internal Data Structures

While managed automatically, the following tables are initialized in your PostgreSQL database:

• app_users: Stores email and hashed passwords for the independent auth system.
• identity_users: Stores synchronized profiles from Netlify Identity, including display_name and custom metadata JSON blobs.

[!TIP] When deploying to Netlify, ensure your netlify.toml is configured to route /api/* to /.netlify/functions/* for the cleanest API interface.