Full-Stack application with Go Backend & Vue 3 Frontend

A Vue 3 job management application combining frontend interactivity with Go backend API for job discovery and application tracking

A modern, full-stack job application platform built with Vue 3 on the frontend and Go (Gorilla Mux, GORM) on the backend. This project explores real-time job listing management, applicant tracking, and seamless frontend-backend communication through a robust REST API layer with PostgreSQL persistence.

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TYPEFull-Stack Web App

PUBLISHEDSep 14, 2024

ROLESolo Builder & Architect

UPDATEDNov 14, 2024

TECH STACK

VUE.JS

GORILLA MUX

GORM

POSTGRESQL

VITE

TAILWIND CSS

VUE ROUTER

TESTIFY

POSTMAN

Why I Built This

After learning Go fundamentals functions, methods, interfaces, and concurrency I wanted to apply my full-stack developer skills to a real project. Job applications today suffer from scattered workflows, and most job boards treat the applicant as passive. This project explores what happens when you put agency back into the hands of the user with transparent tracking and organized management.

The core insight driving this build: separate concerns ruthlessly. Frontend handles what users see and interact with; backend owns the data and business rules. This forced me to design clean APIs and make both layers testable independently. Implementing gorilla/mux taught me request routing patterns, while GORM deepened my understanding of database migrations and model relationships.

Every dependency earned its place. Gorilla Mux provides flexible routing. GORM abstracts PostgreSQL complexity. Vue Router orchestrates navigation without bloat. Tailwind CSS eliminates custom CSS files. Testify ensures backend reliability. Postman validates API contracts. This stack represents my growth from a frontend-focused developer to a full-stack engineer.

Full-Stack application with Go Backend & Vue 3 Frontend

Architecture Overview

The application follows a three-layer architecture: the Vue 3 frontend renders dynamic UI and manages client state, a Go backend (Gorilla Mux + GORM) handles business logic and data persistence, and PostgreSQL serves as the production database.

Frontend (Vue 3 + Vite)

Single-file Vue components (.vue files) with script, template, and scoped styles. Hot module replacement for instant feedback. Vue Router handles navigation between job listings, application forms, and profile management. Client state lives in reactive refs and computed properties, communicating with backend via REST API calls.

API Layer (Go + Gorilla Mux)

RESTful endpoints served by Go backend using gorilla/mux router. Handlers process incoming requests, validate input, and coordinate between frontend and database. Middleware handles CORS, logging, and rate limiting. JSON payloads flow between Vue frontend and Go services.

Data Layer (GORM + PostgreSQL)

GORM ORM manages database schema, migrations, and model relationships. PostgreSQL stores jobs, applications, and user data with ACID compliance. Connection pooling and prepared statements ensure production-ready performance.

Reactive Vue refs scoped to individual components or composables. Server state cached locally via job detail store. Toast notifications provide real-time user feedback. Router state drives the active view. Database state managed through GORM transactions.

EXPLORER

Job_app

cmd

pkg

src

public

index.html

package.json

package-lock.json

vite.config.js

tailwind.config.js

postcss.config.js

jsconfig.json

README.md

Core Features

Job Listing & Discovery

End-to-end flow: PostgreSQL stores job listings via GORM models. Go handlers process GET requests using gorilla/mux routing. Vue components fetch, cache, and render jobs with real-time filters.

• Human View/jobs displays cards with title, company, location, and salary range. Primeicons mark job types (full-time, remote, etc.).

• REST API EndpointGET /api/v1/jobs returns paginated JSON objects. Gorilla Mux routes requests to appropriate handlers with path parameter parsing.

• Detail ViewIndividual job page (/jobs/:id) shows complete description, requirements, and application CTA. Backend validates job ID existence via GORM query.

• Filter & SearchGET /api/v1/jobs?type=remote&salary_min=50000. GORM builds dynamic WHERE clauses, PostgreSQL executes efficient indexed queries.

Application Tracking System

Complete application lifecycle management with status tracking, follow-up reminders, and dashboard visualization using Vue frontend and Go backend.

• Application SubmissionVue form validates input → POST /api/v1/applications with job ID, user info, cover letter → Go handler validates with Testify-tested logic → GORM creates PostgreSQL record → Toast confirms submission.

• Status DashboardGET /api/v1/applications/:user_id returns all applications with status badges (pending, reviewed, rejected, offered). Vue renders filterable, sortable table.

• Application UpdatePATCH /api/v1/applications/:id allows status updates. GORM performs atomic update with optimistic locking. Frontend shows real-time status change.

• Withdraw ApplicationDELETE /api/v1/applications/:id with proper authorization. Go middleware checks user permissions before GORM soft delete.

Go Backend Implementation

Production-ready Go backend showcasing my learning of functions, methods, interfaces, concurrency, and standard library patterns.

• Gorilla Mux RouterImplements request router and dispatcher for matching incoming requests to respective handlers. Supports path variables, query parameters, and middleware chaining.

• GORM ORM IntegrationFull database ORM with auto-migrations, model associations (Job has many Applications), preloading, and transaction support. PostgreSQL for production data persistence.

• Testify Testing SuiteComprehensive backend testing with testify/assert for equality checks, testify/mock for dependency isolation, and testify/suite for test organization.

• Postman ValidationPostman collections document and test all API endpoints. Environment variables manage dev/prod configurations. Automated API contract testing.

Backend Systems

Go Backend Architecture

Clean architecture separating handlers, models, database, and middleware. Gorilla Mux provides routing with subrouters for API versioning. Handlers process requests, validate input, call service layer, return JSON responses. Environment variables manage configuration (DB credentials, JWT secrets, API ports).

GORM + PostgreSQL

GORM models define struct tags for column mapping, relationships, and validation. Auto-migration creates/updates schema. Connection pool with configurable max open/idle connections. Prepared statements prevent SQL injection. PostgreSQL provides ACID compliance, JSONB support, and full-text search capabilities.

Middleware Pipeline

Request logging (method, path, duration). CORS headers for Vue dev server. Rate limiting (5 requests/second per IP) using golang.org/x/time/rate. Recovery from panics. Basic auth or JWT for protected routes.

Testing Infrastructure

Table-driven tests for handlers. Testify suite for database operations (setup/teardown test DB). Mock interfaces for external dependencies. Postman newman CLI runs integration tests in CI pipeline.

Key Decisions

Gorilla Mux over net/http

Gorilla Mux provides advanced routing features: path variables (/jobs/{id}), regex matching, method-based routing, and middleware support. While net/http serves basic needs, Gorilla Mux reduces boilerplate and makes route definitions declarative. The trade-off is an extra dependency, but the expressive API routing patterns justify it for production applications.

GORM over raw SQL

GORM automates CRUD operations, migrations, and relationship management. This accelerated development by eliminating repetitive SQL. For full-stack learning, GORM's callback hooks and preloading make complex queries readable. The trade-off: some performance overhead vs raw SQL, but for this application scale, developer velocity matters more than micro-optimizations.

PostgreSQL over SQLite

PostgreSQL offers production-ready features: concurrent connections, advanced indexing, JSON operations, and full-text search. SQLite works for local development, but PostgreSQL mirrors deployment environments. Learning GORM with PostgreSQL builds transferable skills for enterprise development.

Vue 3 over React

Vue's single-file component model keeps template, script, and styles together, reducing context-switching. Built-in reactivity is simpler than hooks for beginners. Faster initial learning curve without sacrificing power. After learning Go backend, Vue's gentle frontend curve kept project momentum high.

Testify + Postman for Quality

Testify provides Go-native testing with rich assertions. Postman enables API exploration and documentation. Together they ensure backend reliability before frontend integration. This catches contract violations early and serves as living API documentation.

What I Learned

Go's Concurrency Patterns Are Powerful

Learning goroutines and channels helped me implement non-blocking email notifications. When users submit applications, the handler spawns a goroutine to send confirmation emails while immediately returning a success response. This improved perceived performance dramatically. The lesson: Go's concurrency isn't just for systems programming—it's for responsive web backends too.

GORM's N+1 Problem is Real

Initially, fetching applications for a user triggered separate queries for each job relation. Learning to use GORM's Preload() and Joins() eliminated 10+ database round trips. Pro Tip: Always profile query counts in development. GORM's debug mode reveals N+1 patterns immediately.

API Contract is the Contract

With separate Vue frontend and Go backend development, locking the API shape early prevented integration nightmares. Postman collections served as the single source of truth. Both teams (my frontend and backend selves) worked from the same contract. Changing it later broke both layers—but Postman's contract testing caught breaks immediately.

Testify Transformed My Testing Discipline

Before Testify, my Go tests were verbose assert-if chains. Testify's assert/require made tests readable: assert.Equal(t, expected, actual). Mock interfaces isolated database dependencies. Table-driven tests reduced duplication. The result: test coverage from 40% to 85%, and I actually enjoy writing tests now.

Full-Stack Means Owning the Entire Data Journey

Understanding PostgreSQL indexing, GORM query generation, JSON serialization, Vue reactivity, and HTTP caching as a unified flow—not separate silos—changed how I debug. An API performance issue could be database indexing (PostgreSQL), ORM query (GORM), or frontend caching (Vue). Building both ends taught me systematic debugging.