Conduit API with Reading Time

A social blogging platform API built with Express, TypeScript, and Prisma. This implementation includes a readingTime field on all article responses.

Features

• Reading Time Calculation: Every article response includes a readingTime field (integer) calculated as Math.ceil(wordCount / 200)
• User authentication (register, login)
• Article CRUD operations
• Article favoriting
• Article feed
• Tag support

Reading Time Implementation

The readingTime field appears on every article in all API responses:

• POST /api/articles - Create article
• GET /api/articles/:slug - Get single article
• PUT /api/articles/:slug - Update article
• POST /api/articles/:slug/favorite - Favorite article
• DELETE /api/articles/:slug/favorite - Unfavorite article
• GET /api/articles - List articles
• GET /api/articles/feed - Get feed

Calculation

function calculateReadingTime(body: string): number {
  const words = body.trim().split(/\s+/).length;
  return Math.ceil(words / 200);
}

• Splits article body by whitespace to count words
• Divides by 200 words per minute
• Rounds up using Math.ceil()
• Returns an integer

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

2. Set up environment variables:

   cp .env.example .env
   

Edit .env with your database credentials.

1. Run database migrations:

   npm run prisma:migrate
   

2. Generate Prisma client:

   npm run prisma:generate
   

Development

npm run dev

Testing

npm test

The test suite includes comprehensive tests for the readingTime field across all endpoints.

API Response Examples

Create Article Response

{
  "article": {
    "slug": "test-article-xyz123",
    "title": "Test Article",
    "description": "A test article",
    "body": "Article body with content...",
    "tagList": ["test"],
    "createdAt": "2026-09-11T12:00:00.000Z",
    "updatedAt": "2026-09-11T12:00:00.000Z",
    "favorited": false,
    "favoritesCount": 0,
    "readingTime": 2,
    "author": {
      "username": "johndoe",
      "bio": null,
      "image": null,
      "following": false
    }
  }
}

List Articles Response

{
  "articles": [
    {
      "slug": "article-1",
      "title": "Article 1",
      "description": "Description",
      "body": "Body...",
      "tagList": ["tech"],
      "createdAt": "2026-09-11T12:00:00.000Z",
      "updatedAt": "2026-09-11T12:00:00.000Z",
      "favorited": false,
      "favoritesCount": 5,
      "readingTime": 3,
      "author": {...}
    }
  ],
  "articlesCount": 1
}

Implementation Details

Key Files

• src/utils/readingTime.ts - Reading time calculation function
• src/utils/formatArticle.ts - Article response formatter (includes readingTime)
• src/routes/articles.ts - Article endpoints
• src/types/article.ts - TypeScript types with readingTime field
• src/tests/articles.test.ts - Comprehensive test suite

Architecture

The implementation uses a centralized formatArticle function that:

1. Retrieves article data from Prisma
2. Calculates reading time from the article body
3. Formats the response with all required fields including readingTime
4. Returns consistent structure across all endpoints

This ensures the readingTime field is present on every article response without duplication.