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Overview

The Users API provides endpoints for managing user profiles and notifications. Users are automatically created when they first authenticate with a valid Firebase token.

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Get Authenticated User

curl -X GET "https://your-domain.com/api/auth/me" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
GET /api/auth/me Get the authenticated user directly from the Firebase token without a database query. This is faster than /api/users/me but returns less information.

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Response

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_id
string
User ID
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firebaseUid
string
Firebase authentication UID
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email
string
User’s email address
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displayName
string
User’s display name
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role
string
User role (default: “user”, can be “admin”)
{
  "_id": "507f1f77bcf86cd799439011",
  "firebaseUid": "abc123xyz",
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "displayName": "John Doe",
  "role": "user"
}

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Get Current User Profile

curl -X GET "https://your-domain.com/api/users/me" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
GET /api/users/me Get the authenticated user’s profile. Requires authentication.

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Response

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user
object
User profile object

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Update User Profile

curl -X PUT "https://your-domain.com/api/users/me" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "displayName": "John Doe",
    "bio": "Computer Science student passionate about algorithms",
    "preferences": {
      "theme": "dark",
      "emailDigest": true
    }
  }'
PUT /api/users/me Update the authenticated user’s profile. Requires authentication.

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Request Body

All fields are optional. Only include fields to update.
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displayName
string
User’s display name
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photoURL
string
Profile photo URL
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bio
string
User biography
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preferences
object
User preferences (structure is flexible)

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Response

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message
string
“Profile updated successfully”
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user
object
Updated user object

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Get Notifications

curl -X GET "https://your-domain.com/api/users/me/notifications" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
GET /api/users/me/notifications Get user’s in-app notifications, sorted by most recent first. Requires authentication.

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Response

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notifications
array
Array of notification objects, sorted by createdAt descending

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Manage Notifications

curl -X PUT "https://your-domain.com/api/users/me/notifications" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "action": "markAllRead"
  }'
PUT /api/users/me/notifications Mark notifications as read or delete them. Requires authentication.

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Request Body

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action
string
required
Action to perform:
  • markAllRead - Mark all notifications as read
  • markRead - Mark specific notifications as read (requires notificationIds)
  • delete - Delete specific notifications (requires notificationIds)
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notificationIds
array
Array of notification IDs (required for markRead and delete actions)

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Response

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message
string
Success message:
  • “All notifications marked as read”
  • “Notifications marked as read”
  • “Notifications deleted”

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User Auto-Creation

Users are automatically created on first authentication:
  1. User authenticates with Firebase
  2. API verifies Firebase token
  3. If user doesn’t exist in database:
    • Creates user with Firebase UID, email, display name, photo
    • Sets default role to “user”
    • Initializes default notification settings
  4. Returns user object
This means you don’t need a separate “sign up” endpoint - just authenticate with Firebase.

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Error Responses

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400 Bad Request

{
  "error": "No valid fields to update"
}

{
  "error": "Invalid action. Must be markRead, markAllRead, or delete"
}

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401 Unauthorized

{
  "error": "No token provided"
}

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404 Not Found

{
  "error": "User not found"
}

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