In the ims-api project, we're building the backbone for an Institution Management System. A core feature is the ability for new institutions to register themselves, which involves creating not just an institution record but also an initial director user and their associated profile.

Our ims-api project, built with Express.js, was initially structured with the application definition and server startup logic in a single file. This approach, while straightforward for simple projects, quickly became a bottleneck for effective testing and modular development. Every time we wanted to test an API endpoint, we'd inadvertently spin up the entire server, leading to slower, more

Introduction

Refactoring is an essential part of maintaining a healthy codebase, allowing us to improve design, readability, and performance without changing external behavior. However, it often comes with a common pitfall: inadvertently breaking existing functionality, especially when underlying data structures or service contracts change.