Mongoose stuff

User.js

var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
    Schema = mongoose.Schema,

var User = new Schema({
    email    : { type : String, required: true, unique: true },
    firstName: { type : String}
    // and so on
})

exports.User = mongoose.model('User', User)

userroute.js

var User = require(__dirname + '/../models/user').User

    User.findOne({email : req.query.email}, function(err, user){
        if (err)
            return res.send(500, errors.databaseError)
        //can use user here
    }

// You can also do var myuser = new User()
// then set attributes and call myuser.save() to insert