I’m building out a new React front-end and now need the server side to catch up. The priority is a robust Node.js backend that exposes well-structured RESTful endpoints returning clean, predictable JSON. The data layer will live in MySQL, so you’ll design the schema, set up migrations, and write queries or use an ORM—whichever keeps performance high and code readable. Although Laravel experience is welcome and I do plan to introduce a small GraphQL layer later, right now your main focus will be the REST API: authentication (token-based), role management, pagination, filtering, and solid error handling. Clear inline documentation and a concise README or Swagger / OpenAPI file should accompany each route so the React team can plug in immediately. I’m flexible on timing; quality is more important than speed. Let me know how you like to structure milestones and we can map the work together.