How to Build a Redwood.js Frontend and Connect It to a Backend?

in this tutorial, you will build a to do list application using redwood js and connect it to a managed backend on back4app this hands on guide walks you through every step—from setting up your redwood js project to integrating parse for backend communication—so you can focus on creating a dynamic and responsive user interface redwood js is designed to simplify full stack development by combining a modern react based frontend with a robust backend architecture in this tutorial, you will use back4app to manage your backend services, allowing you to perform essential crud operations without the hassle of managing server infrastructure key takeaways by the end of this guide, you will be able to initialize a modern redwood js project with industry standard tools connect your redwood js frontend to a back4app backend using the parse javascript sdk implement crud operations to manage your to do list containerize your redwood js app and deploy it via back4app web deployment prerequisites before you start, ensure you have the following node js and npm/yarn installed on your machine verify installation with node v and npm v or yarn v basic redwood js knowledge , including the project structure, routing, and components familiarity with react concepts is beneficial a back4app account to set up and manage your backend services sign up at back4app https //www back4app com/ if needed with these prerequisites in place, you’re ready to set up your redwood js project and connect it to a scalable backend project setup start by creating a new redwood js application open your terminal and run the following command, replacing todo app with your desired project name yarn create redwood app todo app navigate into your project directory cd todo app install all dependencies yarn install run the development server to verify that your project is set up correctly yarn rw dev visit the url displayed in your terminal to confirm that your redwood js app is running setting up the todo backend on back4app back4app provides a managed parse backend that simplifies data handling for your application in this section, you will create a data model to store tasks for your to do list creating your backend application log in to your back4app dashboard https //www back4app com/ and click "create a new app " name your application (e g , todoredwoodapp ) and choose nodejs/parse as the backend type in the "database" > "browser" section, click "create a class" and select "custom " name the class task and set its class level permissions to allow public read and write (adjust these settings later as needed) add the following fields to the task class title (string) – the title of the task description (string) – details about the task completed (boolean) – whether the task is done duedate (date) – the deadline for the task click "save" to finalize the schema integrating back4app with redwood js to connect your redwood js app to back4app, install the parse javascript sdk yarn add parse next, configure parse by creating a new file in the web/src directory name it parseclient js and add the following code replace 'your application id' and 'your javascript key' with your credentials from the back4app dashboard (under app settings > security & keys ) // web/src/parseclient js import parse from 'parse/dist/parse min js' const parse app id = 'your application id' const parse js key = 'your javascript key' const parse server url = 'https //parseapi back4app com/' parse initialize(parse app id, parse js key) parse serverurl = parse server url export default parse this configuration enables you to call parse methods from any redwood js component building the frontend with redwood js with your backend connected, it’s time to build the to do list interface in redwood js, pages are placed under the web/src/pages directory creating the todo page create a new folder named todopage in web/src/pages and add a file called todopage jsx mkdir p web/src/pages/todopage touch web/src/pages/todopage/todopage jsx open web/src/pages/todopage/todopage jsx and add the following code // web/src/pages/todopage/todopage jsx import { usestate, useeffect } from 'react' import parse from 'src/parseclient' const todopage = () => { const \[tasks, settasks] = usestate(\[]) const \[title, settitle] = usestate('') const \[description, setdescription] = usestate('') useeffect(() => { fetchtasks() }, \[]) const fetchtasks = async () => { try { const task = parse object extend('task') const query = new parse query(task) const results = await query find() settasks(results map((task) => ({ id task id, task tojson() }))) } catch (error) { console error('error fetching tasks ', error) } } const addtask = async (e) => { e preventdefault() try { const task = parse object extend('task') const task = new task() task set('title', title) task set('description', description) task set('completed', false) await task save() settitle('') setdescription('') fetchtasks() } catch (error) { console error('error adding task ', error) } } const toggletask = async (id, currentstatus) => { try { const task = parse object extend('task') const query = new parse query(task) const task = await query get(id) task set('completed', !currentstatus) await task save() fetchtasks() } catch (error) { console error('error toggling task ', error) } } const deletetask = async (id) => { try { const task = parse object extend('task') const query = new parse query(task) const task = await query get(id) await task destroy() fetchtasks() } catch (error) { console error('error deleting task ', error) } } return ( \<div classname="container"> \<h1>to do list\</h1> \<form onsubmit={addtask} classname="form"> \<input type="text" placeholder="task title" value={title} onchange={(e) => settitle(e target value)} required /> \<input type="text" placeholder="description" value={description} onchange={(e) => setdescription(e target value)} required /> \<button type="submit">add task\</button> \</form> \<div classname="tasks"> {tasks length === 0 ? ( \<p>no tasks available\</p> ) ( tasks map((task) => ( \<div key={task id} classname={`task item ${task completed ? 'completed' ''}`} \> \<h3>{task title}\</h3> \<p>{task description}\</p> \<button onclick={() => toggletask(task id, task completed)}> {task completed ? 'undo' 'complete'} \</button> \<button onclick={() => deletetask(task id)}>delete\</button> \</div> )) )} \</div> \</div> ) } export default todopage configuring routes to make your todo page accessible, open the routes jsx file located in web/src/routes jsx and add a new route // web/src/routes jsx import todopage from 'src/pages/todopage/todopage' const routes = () => { return ( \<router> \<route path="/" page={todopage} name="todo" /> \<route notfound page={notfoundpage} /> \</router> ); }; export default routes; adding global styles to add global styles, add the css styles below to the css file named index css in the web/src folder / web/src/index css / container { max width 600px; margin 40px auto; padding 0 20px; text align center; font family sans serif; } container h1 { margin bottom 20px; } form { display flex; flex direction column; align items center; gap 10px; margin bottom 20px; } form input\[type="text"] { width 80%; max width 400px; padding 8px; font size 1rem; } form button { padding 8px 16px; cursor pointer; font size 1rem; border none; background color #eaeaea; transition background color 0 2s ease; } form button\ hover { background color #ccc; } tasks p { font size 1rem; } task item { display flex; flex direction column; align items center; gap 12px; border 1px solid #ccc; border radius 6px; padding 15px; margin 10px 0; background color #fafafa; text align center; transition background color 0 2s ease; } task item completed h3, task item completed p { text decoration line through; color #888; } task item h3 { margin 0; font size 1 1rem; } task item p { margin 0; font size 1rem; } task item button { padding 6px 12px; border none; background color #eaeaea; cursor pointer; font size 0 9rem; } task item button\ hover { background color #ccc; } @media (min width 600px) { task item { flex direction row; } } your redwood js app now features a functional to do list interface that interacts with a back4app backend containerizing and deploying your redwood js app on back4app back4app web deployment offers a containerized environment that simplifies app deployment in this section, you will package your redwood js app into a docker container and deploy it preparing your app for production first, build your redwood js app for production yarn rw build web creating a dockerfile to set up docker for your redwood js project, you need to run the docker set up command on your terminal yarn rw setup docker the setup commands perform several tasks it creates four files dockerfile, dockerignore, docker compose dev yml, and docker compose prod yml it adds the @redwoodjs/api server package to the api side and the @redwoodjs/web server package to the web side it updates the browser open setting in redwood toml if this setting remains true, it will cause the development server to break when running docker compose dev yml the command provides a dockerfile that builds your redwood js application and prepares a production image using a minimal node js runtime you can start the dev compose file with docker compose f /docker compose dev yml up open http //localhost 8390 in your browser to verify that your redwood js app is running correctly deploying via back4app web deployment push your project to github git init git add git commit m "initial commit for back4app deployment" git branch m main git remote add origin \<your github repository url> git push u origin main then, log in to back4app web deployment https //www back4app com/containers and follow these steps click "create new app" and enter your project details select github repository and authorize back4app choose your todo redwood repository select dockerfile deployment and verify the build settings click "deploy" to start the deployment process after deployment, use the back4app dashboard to monitor logs, manage builds, and set up custom domains if necessary testing and debugging your application once deployed, ensure your app functions as expected api connectivity use browser developer tools to verify that api requests for adding, toggling, and deleting tasks are successful data persistence add tasks through the ui and refresh to confirm that tasks persist in the back4app database crud operations test toggling and deleting tasks while checking for any errors in the console or api logs edge cases validate that input validations prevent empty submissions best practices and optimization tips for a secure and efficient application, consider the following optimize api requests use batch processing and fetch only required fields environment variables secure sensitive credentials (application id and javascript key) using environment variables access control implement dynamic acls so that only authorized users can modify data cloud code offload complex logic to back4app cloud code to improve performance and security conclusion you have now built a full stack to do list application using redwood js integrated with a back4app backend this tutorial covered everything from project initialization and backend integration to containerized deployment as you continue developing, consider adding features like advanced user management, real time updates, and third party integrations for more information, explore the back4app documentation https //www back4app com/docs and redwood js resources