Data model

Status: Scaffolded 2026-09-24

Every collection is a Mongoose schema in vegan-grove-api/src/models, with timestamps: true, every reference an ObjectId, and every index declared in the schema. That last sentence is the whole lesson from The Trick Book, where 38 collections were shaped by whichever insertOne ran first and userId was an ObjectId, a string, or a DBRef depending on the file.

The field-level privacy view is the data inventory. This page is the structural view.

Relationships

Collections by domain

Identity

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
users	email (lowercase), emailVerifiedAt, passwordHash?, handle, avatarKey?, homeArea, discoverable, publicPostsEnabled, role, providers[], interests[], deletedAt?	unique email, unique handle, providers.provider + providers.subject
sessions	userId, tokenHash, expiresAt, lastSeenAt, client	unique tokenHash, TTL expiresAt, userId
magic_links	email, tokenHash, expiresAt, usedAt?	unique tokenHash, TTL expiresAt

Social graph

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
friendships	userA, userB (sorted so the pair is canonical), status, requestedBy	unique userA + userB, userB
friend_invites	userId, code, expiresAt, usesLeft	unique code, TTL expiresAt
groves	name, slug, area, description, memberCount	unique slug, area
grove_members	groveId, userId, role	unique groveId + userId, userId
organizations	name, slug, type, description, website?, verified, adminUserIds[]	unique slug

Places and events

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
places	name, slug, type, veganLevel, location (GeoJSON Point), address, city, area, tags[], photoKeys[], approvalStatus, submittedBy?, source, osmId?, ratingAvg, reviewCount	unique slug, 2dsphere location, approvalStatus + type, sparse unique osmId
place_reviews	placeId, userId, rating, content, visitedMonth, showHandle, status	placeId + createdAt, userId
place_lists	userId, name, placeIds[], isPublic	userId
events	title, slug, type, startsAt, endsAt, location, placeId?, venueName, address, detailsAfterRsvp, hostType, hostId, description, coverKey?, visibility, rsvpCount, status, createdBy	unique slug, 2dsphere location, startsAt + status, hostType + hostId
event_rsvps	eventId, userId, status	unique eventId + userId, userId

Feed

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
posts	userId, mediaType, imageKeys[], bunnyVideoId?, caption, visibility, groveId?, placeId?, eventId?, stats, status	userId + createdAt, visibility + createdAt, groveId + createdAt
comments	postId, userId, parentId?, content, status	postId + createdAt
reactions	postId, userId, type	unique postId + userId
saved_posts	postId, userId	unique postId + userId
reports	targetType, targetId, reportedBy, reason, status	status + createdAt

Messages

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
conversations	participantIds[] (sorted), lastMessageAt, unread	unique participantIds, participantIds + lastMessageAt
messages	conversationId, senderId, ciphertext, iv, keyId, type, expiresAt	conversationId + createdAt, TTL expiresAt

Content and companion

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
media_items	title, slug, kind, year, synopsis, posterKey?, watchLinks[], trailerYoutubeId?, tags[], featured, status	unique slug, status + featured
guides	title, slug, category, body, status	unique slug, category
action_log	userId, type, eventId?, hours?, note?, occurredAt	userId + occurredAt
companion_conversations	userId, messages[], pinned, expiresAt?	userId, TTL expiresAt

Notifications

Collection	Key fields	Indexes
push_tokens	userId, token, platform, deadAt?	unique token, TTL deadAt
notification_preferences	userId, eventReminders, friendRequests, messages, quietHours?	unique userId
scheduled_notifications	userId, kind, payload, scheduledFor, status, idempotencyKey	unique idempotencyKey, scheduledFor + status

Conventions

• Derived counters (memberCount, rsvpCount, ratingAvg, reviewCount, stats) are maintained by the service that owns the write and recomputed by a nightly worker. They are never trusted for permission checks.
• TTL indexes carry the retention policy: sessions, magic links, invites, messages, unpinned companion conversations, dead push tokens.
• Soft delete exists only on users (deletedAt) so that a deleted account's handle is released after a cooling period. Every other deletion is hard.
• Geo queries are bounding-box $geoWithin on the 2dsphere index. There is no $near query anywhere, because $near needs a point, and the client never sends one.