# Ember Market Integrated Application

This project combines both the Ember Market frontend (Next.js) and backend (Express) into a single application. This approach eliminates the need to run two separate servers and avoids routing conflicts between Next.js and Express.

## Setup Instructions

1. **Clone both repositories** if you haven't already:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/your-username/ember-market-frontend.git
git clone https://github.com/your-username/ember-market-backend.git
```

2. **Install dependencies**:
```bash
cd ember-market-frontend
npm install
```

3. **Run the setup script** to copy backend files to the frontend project:
```bash
npm run setup-backend
```

4. **Update environment variables**:
   - The setup script copies the backend `.env` file to `.env.backend` in the frontend project
   - Make sure to review and adjust environment variables as needed
   - Ensure MongoDB connection string and other critical variables are set correctly

## Running the Application

### Development Mode

```bash
npm run dev:custom
```

This starts the combined server in development mode on port 3000 (or the port specified in your environment variables).

### Production Mode

```bash
npm run build
npm run start:custom
```

## How It Works

This integration uses a custom Express server that:

1. Handles API routes at `/api/*` using the existing Express backend code
2. Delegates all other routes to Next.js to handle frontend rendering

### Key Files

- `server.js`: Custom server that combines Express and Next.js
- `setup-backend.js`: Script to copy backend files into the frontend project
- `next.config.mjs`: Configured to work with the custom Express server

## API Routes

All backend API routes are available at the same paths as before, but now they're served from the same server as your frontend:

- Authentication: `/api/auth/*` 
- Products: `/api/products/*`
- Orders: `/api/orders/*`
- etc.

## Development Workflow

When making changes:

1. **Frontend changes**: Modify files in the frontend project as usual
2. **Backend changes**: You have two options:
   - Make changes in the original backend repo and run `npm run setup-backend` to sync
   - Make changes directly in the frontend project's `backend/` directory
   
Remember that changes made directly in the frontend project's `backend/` directory won't automatically sync back to the original backend repository.

## Troubleshooting

- **Port conflicts**: Make sure no other service is using port 3000 (or your configured port)
- **MongoDB connection issues**: Verify your connection string in the environment variables
- **Path issues**: Ensure paths in imports are correct for the new project structure