💬 MERN Real-Time Chat Application

A simple and fully functional real-time chat application built using the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js) and Socket.IO. This app allows multiple users to send and receive messages instantly through a shared chat interface.

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📌 Table of Contents

• ✨ Features
• 📦 Tech Stack
• 🗂️ Folder Structure
• ⚙️ Setup Instructions
• 🧪 Example Code Snippets
• 🛠️ Known Limitations
• 🤝 Contributing
• 📝 License

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✨ Features

• 📡 Real-time messaging using Socket.IO
• 👥 Users join with their name
• 🗨️ Live message updates across all clients
• 💾 Persistent chat data using MongoDB
• ⚛️ Minimal and intuitive React frontend
• 🔌 REST + WebSocket-based architecture

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📦 Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React, Axios, Socket.IO Client
Backend	Node.js, Express.js
Database	MongoDB, Mongoose
Realtime	Socket.IO
Utilities	dotenv, cors, nodemon

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🗂️ Folder Structure

mern-chat-app/
├── client/                 # React frontend
│   ├── public/
│   └── src/
│       ├── App.js
│       ├── index.js
│       └── components/
├── server/                 # Express backend
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── Message.js
│   ├── index.js
│   └── .env
├── README.md
└── package.json