Simple Social Network A lightweight social networking application built with the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js).

Features

User Authentication: Secure registration and login system Post Creation: Share your thoughts with text posts Social Interactions: Like posts and see other users' content User Profiles: View profiles and follow other users Responsive Design: Modern UI that works across devices

Technology Stack Frontend

React: UI library for building the user interface React Router: For client-side routing Context API: For state management JavaScript: ES6+ features

Backend

Node.js: JavaScript runtime Express: Web framework for Node.js MongoDB: NoSQL database for data storage JWT: JSON Web Tokens for authentication

Setup Instructions Prerequisites

Node.js (v14 or higher) npm (v6 or higher) MongoDB database (local or Atlas)

Installation and Running Locally

Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/afmontoya/simple-social-network.git cd simple-social-network Set up the backend cd backend npm install Create a .env file in the backend directory with: MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret Set up the frontend cd ../frontend npm install Run the application In the backend directory: npm run dev In the frontend directory: npm run dev Access the application

Frontend: http://localhost:5173 Backend API: http://localhost:5000

Deployment The application is deployed using Vercel for the frontend. You can access the live version at: https://simple-social-network-afmontoya.vercel.app/

Project Structure

simple-social-network/
├── frontend/                # React frontend
│   ├── public/              # Static files
│   ├── src/                 # Source files
│   │   ├── components/      # React components
│   │   ├── context/         # Context API files
│   │   ├── App.jsx          # Main app component
│   │   └── main.jsx         # Entry point
│   ├── package.json         # Frontend dependencies
│   └── vite.config.js       # Vite configuration
├── backend/                 # Node.js backend
│   ├── models/              # Mongoose models
│   ├── routes/              # API routes
│   ├── middleware/          # Custom middleware
│   ├── server.js            # Express server
│   └── package.json         # Backend dependencies
└── vercel.json              # Vercel deployment configuration

Future Improvements

Add comment functionality Support image uploads for posts and profiles Add real-time notifications using WebSockets Implement direct messaging between users Add post search functionality

Contributing Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. License This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details. Acknowledgments

This project was built as a learning exercise for the MERN stack Inspired by common social networking features from platforms like Twitter and Facebook