RealTime Chat App

A full-stack real-time chat application built with React, Vite, Zustand, DaisyUI, Express, MongoDB, Socket.IO, and Cloudinary.

---

Features

• Real-time messaging with Socket.IO
• User authentication (signup, login, logout)
• Profile management with avatar upload (Cloudinary)
• Theme switching (DaisyUI themes)
• Responsive UI with Tailwind CSS and DaisyUI
• User presence (online/offline status)

---

Project Structure

chat-app/
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── .env
│   └── package.json
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── public/
│   ├── index.html
│   └── package.json
├── package.json
└── README.md

---

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+ recommended)
• npm
• MongoDB Atlas account (or local MongoDB)
• Cloudinary account

---

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the backend/ directory with the following variables:

MONGO_URL=your_mongodb_connection_string
PORT=5001
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
NODE_ENV=development
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret

---

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/gup-abhi/chat-app.git
cd chat-app

2. Install dependencies

# Install backend dependencies
cd backend
npm install

# Install frontend dependencies
cd ../frontend
npm install

3. Configure environment variables

• Copy the example above into backend/.env and fill in your values.

4. Seed the database (optional)

If you want to seed users for testing, run:

cd backend
node src/seeds/user.seed.js

5. Start the backend server

cd backend
npm run dev

6. Start the frontend development server

cd frontend
npm run dev

• The frontend will run on http://localhost:5173
• The backend will run on http://localhost:5001

---

Build for Production

# Build frontend
cd frontend
npm run build

# Serve with backend (make sure NODE_ENV=production in backend/.env)
cd ../backend
npm start

---

License

MIT

---

Acknowledgements

• React
• Vite
• Zustand
• DaisyUI
• Tailwind CSS
• Express
• Socket.IO
• MongoDB
• Cloudinary