LetsChat

LetsChat is a real-time chat application designed to facilitate seamless communication. It leverages modern web technologies to deliver a fast and responsive user experience. It's live! 🚀

Tech Stack

Backend:

• Node.js with Express.js
• MongoDB with Mongoose ORM
• Socket.io for real-time communication
• Cloudinary for media storage
• dotenv for environment variable management

Frontend:

• React.js for building the user interface
• Vite for fast development and bundling
• Tailwind CSS and DaisyUI for styling
• Axios for HTTP requests
• Zustand for state management
• React Router for routing

Features

• Real-time messaging with WebSockets (Socket.io)
• User authentication and authorization
• Media upload functionality with Cloudinary
• Responsive and interactive UI with React and Tailwind CSS
• Environment-specific configuration using dotenv

Project Setup

Backend:

1. Navigate to the backend folder:

   cd backend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env file in the backend directory and add the following secrets:

   MONGO_URI="mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster0.iwv13.mongodb.net/LetsChat?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=Cluster0"
   PORT=5001
   JWT_SECRET="YourJWTSecret"
   NODE_ENV="development"
   CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME="YourCloudinaryCloudName"
   CLOUDINARY_API_KEY="YourCloudinaryAPIKey"
   CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET="YourCloudinaryAPISecret"

4. Replace <username>, <password>, and other placeholders with your own values. Keep these credentials secure!

5. Run the backend server:

   npm run dev

Frontend:

1. Navigate to the client folder:

   cd client

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env file in the client directory and add the following environment variables:

   # For development mode
   VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5001/api
   
   # For production mode
   VITE_API_URL=/api

4. Start the development server:

   npm run dev

Scripts

Backend:

• npm run dev: Starts the backend server with nodemon.

Frontend:

• npm run dev: Starts the frontend development server with Vite.
• npm run build: Builds the production-ready frontend.
• npm run preview: Previews the built project.

Screenshot

Login

Signup

Chats

Profile

Settings

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.

Author

Aman Dubey

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Happy Chatting! 🚀