I posted a while ago a short article expressing my desire to do some open-source projects.
While I've been using the time to publish some stuff on my GH page, now I believe I'm finally ready to start working on my idea.

If only I knew where to start...

I want to create an application where the user uploads a code bar from a soft-drink bottle, the code is translated to a string, the image discarded and based on the string some queries on the DB.

This is the short version of it. The front-end can be anything, but I will probably go for Gatsby or Gridsome.

For the back-end, I just need some easy API where I can create some CRUD entities, do some queries (POST / GET) and throw a json back.

Here are my questions:

1. What would be the easiest way to create such an API, host and deploy it? I was thinking of a Graphql API on NodeJs. (mostly because it looks like something fun to learn). But I have no experience creating a full API back-end.

2. How can I upload an image "somewhere", fetch the barcode string from it and then discard it? (I have no use to save it)

Any advice on how to plan all these and get started would be greatly appreciated.