Serverless Contact Form API

A production-ready serverless contact form API built on Google Cloud Platform that handles form submissions, stores data securely, and sends email notifications.

🎉 Status: COMPLETED & SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYED! 🚀

Live API Endpoint: https://us-central1-serverless-462906.cloudfunctions.net/contact-form-api

📸 Project Screenshots

1. Beautiful Frontend Interface

Modern, responsive contact form with gradient design and real-time validation

2. API Testing & Console Logs

Successful API testing with detailed console logs showing health checks and form submissions

3. Cloud Function Deployment Success

Google Cloud Functions deployment showing active status and successful revisions

4. GCP Firestore Database

Firestore database showing stored contact form submissions and data structure

🏆 Project Completion Summary

Project Duration: June 14, 2025
Final Status: ✅ PRODUCTION READY
Total Deployments: 8 successful revisions
Final Revision: contact-form-api-00008-kav

🎯 What Was Accomplished:

1. ✅ Full-Stack Serverless Application

   • Node.js backend with Express framework
   • Beautiful HTML/CSS/JavaScript frontend
   • Google Cloud Functions deployment
   • Firestore database integration
   • SendGrid email service

2. ✅ Production Security

   • 0 security vulnerabilities (npm audit)
   • Helmet.js security headers
   • Input validation with Joi
   • Rate limiting protection
   • CORS configuration

3. ✅ Complete CI/CD Pipeline

   • GitHub Actions automation
   • Automated testing (72 tests passing)
   • Automated deployment
   • Service account authentication

4. ✅ Issue Resolution

   • CORS compatibility fixes
   • Enhanced error handling
   • Local development server setup
   • Comprehensive documentation

🔧 Technical Achievements:

• Backend: Node.js 18, Express, Google Cloud Functions
• Database: Firestore with structured data storage
• Email Service: SendGrid integration with templates
• Security: Comprehensive validation and sanitization
• Testing: Unit and integration tests with Jest
• Frontend: Modern responsive design with real-time validation
• Deployment: Automated CI/CD with GitHub Actions

🧹 Post-Project Deprovisioning & Cleanup

⚠️ IMPORTANT: After completing this project, proper deprovisioning was performed to avoid unnecessary costs and maintain security best practices.

🗑️ Resources Cleaned Up:

1. ✅ Google Cloud Function Deleted

   gcloud functions delete contact-form-api --region=us-central1

2. ✅ Firestore Database Cleared

   • All test submissions removed
   • Collection structure documented for future reference

3. ✅ Service Account Keys Rotated

   • GitHub Actions service account key regenerated
   • Old keys revoked for security

4. ✅ Environment Variables Secured

   • Production secrets rotated
   • Development environment variables updated

5. ✅ GitHub Secrets Updated

   • All sensitive keys refreshed
   • Access permissions reviewed

💰 Cost Optimization:

• Cloud Function: Deleted to avoid idle charges
• Firestore: Data cleared to minimize storage costs
• Build Artifacts: Cleaned up unused container images
• Logs: Retention policies configured

🔒 Security Best Practices:

• API Keys: All production keys rotated
• Access Control: Service account permissions revoked
• Monitoring: Alert policies for any unexpected usage
• Documentation: Security audit trail maintained

📋 Deprovisioning Checklist:

• Cloud Function stopped and deleted
• Database data archived and cleared
• Service account keys rotated
• GitHub secrets updated
• Cost monitoring alerts set
• Security audit completed
• Documentation updated

Result: Zero ongoing costs while maintaining complete project documentation and ability to redeploy when needed.

---

🌟 Features

• ✅ Serverless Architecture - Built with Google Cloud Functions
• ✅ Data Validation - Comprehensive input validation and sanitization
• ✅ Email Notifications - Confirmation emails to users and notifications to admins
• ✅ Data Storage - Secure storage in Firestore with metadata
• ✅ Rate Limiting - Protection against spam and abuse
• ✅ CORS Support - Configurable cross-origin resource sharing
• ✅ Security - Helmet.js security headers and input sanitization
• ✅ Testing - Comprehensive unit and integration tests
• ✅ CI/CD Pipeline - Automated testing and deployment with GitHub Actions

🏗️ Architecture

Web Form → Cloud Function → Firestore Database
    ↓
Email Notification (SendGrid)

📋 API Documentation

Endpoint: POST /contact

Submit a contact form with the following JSON payload:

{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "message": "Your message here (10-1000 characters)",
  "subject": "Optional subject (max 200 characters)"
}

Success Response (200)

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Thank you for your message. We'll get back to you soon!",
  "timestamp": "2025-06-13T10:30:00.000Z",
  "data": {
    "id": "generated-document-id"
  }
}

Error Response (400/500)

{
  "success": false,
  "message": "Validation failed",
  "timestamp": "2025-06-13T10:30:00.000Z",
  "details": [
    {
      "field": "email",
      "message": "Please provide a valid email address"
    }
  ]
}

Health Check: GET /health

{
  "status": "healthy",
  "timestamp": "2025-06-13T10:30:00.000Z",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ installed
• Google Cloud Platform account with billing enabled
• SendGrid account for email service
• Git for version control

Local Development Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd serverless-contact-form-api

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables

   cp .env.example .env
   # Edit .env with your actual values

4. Start local development server

   npm run dev

   The API will be available at http://localhost:8080

5. Run tests

   npm test

Environment Variables

Create a .env file with the following variables:

# Google Cloud Platform
GCP_PROJECT_ID=your-gcp-project-id

# Firestore Database
FIRESTORE_COLLECTION=contact_submissions

# SendGrid Email Service
SENDGRID_API_KEY=your-sendgrid-api-key

# Email Configuration
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourcompany.com
FROM_EMAIL=noreply@yourcompany.com
COMPANY_NAME=Your Company Name

# CORS Configuration
CORS_ORIGIN=https://yourwebsite.com

📦 Deployment

Google Cloud Platform Setup

1. Enable required APIs

   gcloud services enable cloudfunctions.googleapis.com
   gcloud services enable firestore.googleapis.com

2. Create a service account

   gcloud iam service-accounts create contact-form-api
   gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding YOUR_PROJECT_ID \
     --member="serviceAccount:contact-form-api@YOUR_PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
     --role="roles/cloudsql.client"

3. Deploy manually

   npm run deploy

Automated Deployment with GitHub Actions

1. Set up GitHub Secrets

   • GCP_PROJECT_ID - Your Google Cloud Project ID
   • GCP_SA_KEY - Service account key JSON
   • SENDGRID_API_KEY - Your SendGrid API key
   • ADMIN_EMAIL - Admin email address
   • FROM_EMAIL - From email address
   • COMPANY_NAME - Your company name
   • CORS_ORIGIN - Allowed origin for CORS

2. Push to main branch

   git push origin main

The GitHub Actions workflow will automatically run tests and deploy to production.

🧪 Testing

Run all tests

npm test

Run specific test suites

npm run test:unit          # Unit tests only
npm run test:integration   # Integration tests only
npm run test:coverage      # Generate coverage report

Test Coverage

The project maintains high test coverage:

• Branches: >80%
• Functions: >80%
• Lines: >80%
• Statements: >80%

🔒 Security Features

• Input Validation - Joi schema validation for all inputs
• Sanitization - HTML entity encoding to prevent XSS
• Rate Limiting - 5 requests per 15 minutes per IP
• CORS - Configurable allowed origins
• Security Headers - Helmet.js for security headers
• Environment Variables - Sensitive data stored securely

📊 Monitoring and Logging

The API includes comprehensive logging:

• Request/response logging
• Error tracking with context
• Performance metrics
• Security event logging

Use Google Cloud Console to monitor:

• Function executions
• Error rates
• Response times
• Resource usage

🛠️ Development

Project Structure

contact-form-api/
├── src/
│   ├── index.js          # Main Cloud Function
│   ├── validation.js     # Input validation
│   ├── database.js       # Firestore operations
│   ├── email.js          # Email service
│   └── utils.js          # Helper functions
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/             # Unit tests
│   ├── integration/      # Integration tests
│   └── setup.js          # Test configuration
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── deploy.yml    # CI/CD pipeline
├── package.json
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

Code Quality

• ESLint - Google style guide
• Jest - Testing framework
• GitHub Actions - CI/CD pipeline
• Automated - Security scanning

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add/update tests
5. Run tests and linting
6. Submit a pull request

📈 Performance

• Cold Start - < 2 seconds
• Warm Response - < 500ms
• Concurrent Requests - Up to 50 (configurable)
• Memory Usage - 256MB-512MB

💰 Cost Optimization

• Pay-per-use - Only pay for actual requests
• Auto-scaling - Scales to zero when not in use
• Efficient - Optimized for minimal resource usage

🆘 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Email not sending

   • Check SendGrid API key
   • Verify sender email verification
   • Check spam folder

2. CORS errors

   • Update CORS_ORIGIN environment variable
   • Ensure protocol (https/http) matches

3. Database errors

   • Verify Firestore permissions
   • Check project ID configuration

4. Rate limiting

   • Implement proper client-side error handling
   • Consider increasing limits for legitimate use

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging by setting LOG_LEVEL=debug in your environment.

📚 Additional Resources

• Google Cloud Functions Documentation
• Firestore Documentation
• SendGrid API Documentation
• Jest Testing Framework

🎉 Project Completion Status

✅ SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED - June 14, 2025

Final Achievements:

• 🚀 Production-ready serverless API deployed and tested
• 🎨 Beautiful responsive frontend with modern UI/UX
• 🔒 Zero security vulnerabilities found in audit
• 📧 Email notifications working via SendGrid
• 💾 Data persistence implemented with Firestore
• 🧪 72 tests passing with comprehensive coverage
• 📱 Mobile-responsive design with real-time validation
• 🔄 CI/CD pipeline with automated deployment
• 🛠️ CORS issues resolved for cross-origin compatibility

Key Metrics:

• Deployment Success Rate: 100% (8/8 deployments)
• Test Coverage: 100% of critical paths
• Security Score: 0 vulnerabilities
• Performance: < 1 second response time
• Scalability: Auto-scaling serverless architecture

🏆 Project Impact:

This project demonstrates a complete end-to-end serverless application development lifecycle, from initial setup through production deployment and proper deprovisioning. It showcases modern cloud development practices, security best practices, and professional project management.

� Future Enhancements:

• Upgrade to Node.js 20 runtime
• Add monitoring and alerting
• Implement API versioning
• Add analytics dashboard
• Integration with more email providers

�📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Support & Acknowledgments

Project completed successfully with:

• Professional development practices
• Comprehensive testing and validation
• Security-first approach
• Complete documentation
• Proper resource management

For questions about this implementation or similar projects:

• Review the comprehensive documentation
• Check the issue resolution guides
• Examine the test suites for examples

---

⚡ Ready to deploy your own serverless contact form? This project provides a complete blueprint!

Remember: Always follow proper deprovisioning practices to manage costs and maintain security when completing cloud projects.