📑 Table of Contents

• Description
• Features
• Technologies
• Architecture
• Setup and Installation
• Usage
• Security
• Authors

📢 Description

EncChat is a modern real-time communication application that offers users an intuitive and secure environment for chatting. With support from advanced technologies such as React, Vite, Node.js, and PostgreSQL, EncChat ensures reliability, flexibility, and security in message management. The application includes features like registration, login, friend search, profile and chat personalization, and notification management.

🎯 Features

User Authentication

• Account registration with CAPTCHA and password encryption
• Login via username or email
• Password recovery and "remember me" option
• Email verification

Main Interface

• User profile with photo, name, and email
• Friends list and recent chats
• Conversation window
• User search capability

Profile Settings

• Change profile picture, password, and personal information
• Application appearance customization
• Blocked users management
• Message and contact statistics

Chat Settings

• Disappearing message mode
• Multimedia preview
• User blocking capability

Notifications

• Recent event information
• Invitation and notification list management

End-to-End Encryption

• Client-side message encryption
• Secure key exchange protocol
• Protection against unauthorized access to messages

Key Backup & Recovery

• Secure encryption key backup system
• Key recovery mechanisms
• Protection against key loss

Friend Management

• Friend request system
• Friend search functionality
• Managing friend relationships

Toast Notification System

• Real-time status notifications
• Action feedback alerts
• Error and success messaging

🛠️ Technologies

Frontend

• React + Vite
• React Router
• WebSockets for real-time communication
• Web Crypto API for client-side encryption

Backend

• Node.js
• Express
• WebSocket server
• JWT authentication

Database

• PostgreSQL with Prisma ORM

Cloud Services

• Cloudinary for image storage

🏗️ Architecture

The application follows a client-server architecture with end-to-end encryption:

1. User Interface Layer: React components handling the UI/UX
2. Client-side Encryption Layer: WebCrypto API for local message encryption
3. Communication Layer: WebSockets for real-time data exchange
4. Server Layer: Node.js + Express handling API requests
5. Storage Layer: PostgreSQL database for persistent data

🚀 Setup and Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• PostgreSQL
• Git

Installation Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/EncChat.git
   cd EncChat

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env file with necessary environment variables:

   DATABASE_URL=postgresql://username:password@localhost:5432/encdb
   JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
   ENCRYPTION_KEY=your_encryption_key
   CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
   CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key
   CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

4. Initialize the database:

   npx prisma migrate dev

5. Run the development server:

   npm run dev

💻 Usage

• Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser
• Register a new account or log in to an existing one
• Add friends by searching for their username
• Begin chatting in a secure, end-to-end encrypted environment
• Customize your profile and chat settings as needed

🔒 Security

EncChat prioritizes user security with several key features:

• End-to-end encryption using the Web Crypto API
• RSA key pairs for secure key exchange
• AES-GCM for symmetric message encryption
• No plaintext message storage on the server
• Secure chat session management
• Password hashing with bcrypt

✍️ Authors

• Patryk Czartowski - Project Lead - GitHub
• Kacper Pianka - Developer - GitHub
• Paweł Piernicki - Developer - GitHub

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.