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How to structure my project folder when building a secured NodeJs REST API

I am building a REST API using NodeJS and Express, powered by a MongoDB database.
I've been struggling for days now trying to get the right folder structure nailed down. So far, I can connect to my database and add new users without an API, but by simply doing GET, POST, etc. requests. I've seen several tutorials online on how to build API using node, but none of them have a more standardized way for setting their folder structure. And that is the reason why I am having such a hard time making it work given my current folder structure.
Here is my Folder Structure
app
---models
------user.js
---api.js
---routes.js
config
---auth.js
---database.js
---passport.js
public
views
package.json
server.js
Server.js
// server.js
// set up ======================================================================
// get all the tools we need
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var port = process.env.PORT || 2016;
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var passport = require('passport');
var flash = require('connect-flash');
var configDB = require('./config/database.js');
// configuration ===============================================================
mongoose.connect(configDB.url); // connect to our database
require('./config/passport')(passport); // pass passport for configuration
app.configure(function() {
// set up our express application
app.use(express.logger('dev')); // log every request to the console
app.use(express.cookieParser()); // read cookies (needed for auth)
app.use(express.bodyParser.json()); // get information from html forms
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname + '/views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs'); // set up ejs for templating
// set the static files location /public/img will be /img for users
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
// required for passport
app.use(express.session({ secret: 'xxxxxxxxx' })); // session secret
app.use(passport.initialize());
app.use(passport.session()); // persistent login sessions
app.use(flash()); // use connect-flash for flash messages stored in session
});
// routes ======================================================================
// require('./app/routes')(app, passport); // load our routes and pass in our app and fully configured passport
// require('./app/api')(api, passport);
app.use('/', require('./app/routes')(app, passport));
app.use('/api', require('./app/api')(api, passport));
// error handlers
// Catch unauthorised errors
app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {
if (err.name === 'UnauthorizedError') {
res.status(401);
res.json({"message" : err.name + ": " + err.message});
}
next();
});
// launch ======================================================================
app.listen(port);
console.log('Live on port ' + port);
api.js
var User = require('./models/user');
var express = require('express');
var apiRoutes = express.Router();
app.use('/api', apiRoutes);
module.exports = function(apiRoutes, passport){
apiRoutes.get('/testapi', function (req,res) {
res.json({SecretData: 'abc123'});
});
}
Every time I hit the endpoint /testapi I get the error "Cannot GET /testapi"
I think my main issue is how to organize my files and folder properly and import/require them the right way. Can anyone help me figure this out?

Server.js
on this line app.use('/api', require('./app/api')(api, passport));
Here you are telling Express to use ./app/api as an middleware by passing "api" and "passport" as arguments.
where you have defined api variable ?
Lets assume its a typo.. in that case from "app/api.js" you are exporting a function and you trying to execute it in server.js app.use('/api', require('./app/api')(api, passport)); which returns undefined.
Express will be expecting a function as middleware not a return value from function.
app/api.js
on line 4 you have app.use('/api', apiRoutes); which doesn't make any sense, because api.js has no idea about "app".
Cleanup your server.js and api.js and try again
This tutorial might help Node with Express

Error while running app.js in node

I am completely new to node and trying to work with webRTC application.
I have installed node,express and socket.io in my project, However when I try to run app.js I get error. I am unable to debug because I am not experienced enough to spot the error.
The following is the code in app.js
var express = require('express')
, routes = require('./routes')
, http = require('http');
var app = express();
var server = app.listen(3000);
var io = require('socket.io').listen(server); // this tells socket.io to use our express server
app.configure(function(){
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
app.set('view engine', 'jade');
app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(app.router);
});
app.configure('development', function(){
app.use(express.errorHandler());
});
app.get('/', routes.index);
console.log("Express server listening on port 3000");
When I write the command node app.js it shows the following error.
I have setup exprees in my project.
The file structure inside webRTC directory is as follows
Here is the link to webpage that accompanies step by step to setup node,npm express and socket.io inside a peoject . I have followed every step properly but the part where it says to run app.js after downloading socket.io it shows error.
How to install node in ubuntu
Here is the index.js code inside route folder where the error is occuring
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
/* GET home page. */
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
res.render('index', { title: 'Express' });
});
module.exports = router;
and here is the image which was previously not visible properly

NodeJS multiple instances and require routes in subfolder

I'm writing a multi instance NodeJS application serving my Chrome extensions.
I think I got stuck in all that is related to subfolders, requiring and exporting modules.
Here's my app structure:
At the very bottom, I have start.js which bootstraps some major parts of the application like Express, models, views, controllers, routes, etc..
var express = require('express'),
http = require('http'),
arguments = process.argv.slice(2),
port = arguments[0] || 3000;
var app = express(),
server = app.listen(port),
io = require('socket.io' ).listen(server ),
routes = require('./config/routes')(app);
app.configure(function(){
"use strict";
app.set('views', __dirname + '/app/views');
app.set('view engine', 'jade');
app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/app/public'));
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(app.router);
});
app.configure('development', function() {
"use strict";
app.use(express.errorHandler());
});
console.log('Server is running on port ' + port);
module.exports = app;
In root folder of app, I have the instance files themselves. Like app.js (main), dealer.js (dealer instance), etc...
I run them like this:
[deb0rian#localhost www.bkbot.org]$ node ./app/dealer.js 3003
app/dealer.js itself for now is pretty simple:
var app = require('../start.js');
app.get('/', app.routes.dealer.index);
And my config/routes/index.js is:
var fs = require('fs' ),
required_files = [];
module.exports = function(app){
fs.readdirSync(__dirname).forEach(function(file) {
if (file == "index.js") return;
var name = file.substr(0, file.indexOf('.'));
require('./' + name)(app);
});
}
And it fails to read my route files with this error:
[deb0rian#localhost www.bkbot.org]$ node ./app/dealer.js 3003
info - socket.io started
path.js:299
return splitPathRe.exec(filename).slice(1);
^
RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
Is there something wrong with my file structure?
I want to be able to read only routes in /config/routers/dealer if I run that particular instance, no problem giving it command line argument, but i have to overcome this issue first and I don't know how to read only specific routes subdirectory.
Any help or advise will be appreciated!
Thanks

Configuring 'simplest' node.js + socket.IO + Express server

Realized after setting up a simple node.js socket.IO server that it isn't sufficient to handle even the simplest webpages containing script tags.
So I investigating express which is a simple web framework for node.js.
After looking thru the express documentation http://expressjs.com/guide.html
I was still confused as to how I simply combine express with socket.IO on a node.js server.
Couple hours of googling later I came across this tutorial
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-express-a-node-js-framework-and-set-up-socket-io-on-a-vps
/**
* Module dependencies.
*/
var express = require('express')
, routes = require('./routes')
, http = require('http');
var app = express();
var server = app.listen(3000);
var io = require('socket.io').listen(server); // this tells socket.io to use our express server
app.configure(function(){
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
app.set('view engine', 'jade');
app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(app.router);
});
app.configure('development', function(){
app.use(express.errorHandler());
});
app.get('/', routes.index);
console.log("Express server listening on port 3000");
io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
console.log('A new user connected!');
socket.emit('info', { msg: 'The world is round, there is no up or down.' });
});
My question is, would anyone reading this configure their server differently?
I don't need anything special, no session handling etc, just the ability to serve html pages containing links to external CSS and javascript files.

Remove the first app.configure wrapper but leave it's contents. It is useless in general, but especially if you don't pass an argument to it.
Remove methodOverride and bodyParser as you aren't using them

Thanks for all the replies. Finally have something that works and am posting so someone else may benefit. My first attempt(above) was obviously NOT the simplest solution:)
//npm install express
//npm install socket.io
var express = require('express');
var server = express.createServer();
server
.use( server.router )
.use( express.static(__dirname+'/public') )
.get('/api', function(req, res) {
res.write('API');
});
server=server.listen(3000);
var io = require('socket.io');
var socket = io.listen(server);
socket.on('connection', function (client){
// new client is here!
});

nodejs peepcode tutorial - can't get it to work

I bought the latest nodejs peepcode tutorial and followed it, however I can't get past the initial step.
I'm getting frustrated after spending several hours to find out where I got an error since debugging nodejs is a riddle for me.
app structure looks like this:
example
|__public
|__views
|__assets
|__apps <- instead of routes
server.js
package.json
Here is my simple code:
server.js
/**
* Module dependencies.
*/
require('coffee-script');
var express = require('express');
var app = module.exports = express.createServer();
// Configuration
app.configure(function(){
app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
app.set('view engine', 'jade');
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(app.router);
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
});
app.configure('development', function(){
app.use(express.errorHandler({ dumpExceptions: true, showStack: true }));
});
app.configure('production', function(){
app.use(express.errorHandler());
});
// routes
require('./apps/authentication/routes')(app);
app.listen(3000);
console.log("Express server listening on port %d in %s mode", app.address().port, app.settings.env);
/apps/authentication/routes.coffee:
routes = (app) ->
app.get '/login', (req, res) ->
res.render "views/login",
title: 'Login'
stylesheet: 'login'
module.exports = routes
apps/authentication/views/login.jade template:
form(action='/sessions', method='post')
label
| Username
input(type='text', name='user')
label
| Password
input(type='password', name='password')
input(type='submit', name='Submit')
nothing fancy, i got a stylesheet file and login.css in public/stylesheet/login.css
instead of a login template from authentication/routes.coffe when browsing http://localhost:3000/
Cannot GET /
no any other error message from node either:
Express server listening on port 3000 in development mode
I can't figure out where the problem is and this is really frustrating.
Probably some dumb typo somewhere but I can't figure this out :(

You do not have a route configured for the root '/'. Navigating to http://localhost:3000/login should return your login view as specified by the route to the resource '/login'. You need to add something along the lines of:
app.get '/', (req, res) ->
#if not logged-in then send to /login else
res.render('/views/authenticated', 'Home', 'index')
For more details on routing see http://expressjs.com/guide.html#routing.

It looks like everything is working as intended. The problem is that you haven't defined a route that matches the request GET /. You've only defined a route matching GET /login in your routes.coffee; also, GET /anythinginyourpublicdir will work thanks to the express.static middleware.