DevClustra 🚀

Real-time communication platform focused on backend architecture, real-time systems, containerized deployment, and DevOps workflows.

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📖 Overview

DevClustra is a real-time chat and collaboration platform built to explore modern backend engineering, distributed systems, and DevOps workflows.

The project focuses on:

• Real-time communication using Socket.IO
• JWT authentication architecture
• Conversation-based messaging systems
• Dockerized full-stack workflows
• CI/CD integration using Jenkins
• Cloud-native deployment practices
• Scalable backend architecture

This project was designed to understand how modern communication systems work internally while integrating practical DevOps concepts used in production-grade environments.

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✨ Features

🔐 Authentication & Security

• JWT Authentication
• Access & Refresh Token flow
• HTTP-only secure cookies
• Persistent login sessions
• Protected routes
• Secure password hashing using bcrypt

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💬 Real-time Messaging

• One-to-one conversations
• Real-time message delivery
• Online/offline user presence
• Unread message tracking
• Read receipts
• Conversation-based chat architecture
• Socket rooms for real-time updates

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☁️ Cloud Media Support

• Avatar uploads
• Cloudinary integration
• Secure media upload flow

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⚡ Backend Architecture

Backend follows a modular architecture focused on scalability, maintainability, and separation of concerns.

Core architecture layers include:

• Controllers
• Services
• Middlewares
• Authentication Layer
• Conversation Layer
• Message Layer
• Socket Layer

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• Next.js
• React
• Tailwind CSS
• shadcn/ui
• Socket.IO Client
• Zustand
• Axios

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Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB Atlas
• Mongoose
• Socket.IO
• JWT
• bcrypt
• Cloudinary

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DevOps & Cloud

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Docker Hub
• Jenkins
• AWS EC2 (planned)
• Kubernetes (planned)
• Terraform (planned)
• Prometheus & Grafana (planned)

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🐳 Containerization & DevOps

DevClustra is fully containerized using Docker to ensure consistent development and deployment workflows.

Implemented DevOps workflow includes:

• Frontend Dockerization
• Backend Dockerization
• Docker Compose orchestration
• Docker networking
• Environment management
• Docker Hub image registry
• CI/CD integration workflow

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🏗️ Container Architecture

Browser
   ↓
Frontend Container (Next.js)
   ↓
REST APIs + Socket.IO
   ↓
Backend Container (Node.js + Express)
   ↓
MongoDB Atlas

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🔄 CI/CD Workflow

Current CI/CD pipeline architecture:

GitHub Push
      ↓
Jenkins Pipeline
      ↓
Build Docker Images
      ↓
Push Images to Docker Hub
      ↓
Deployment Workflow

This workflow helps automate:

• Build processes
• Image generation
• Deployment consistency
• Environment reproducibility
• Scalable deployment practices

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🏗️ Application Architecture

Frontend (Next.js)
        ↓
REST APIs + Socket.IO
        ↓
Backend (Node.js + Express)
        ↓
MongoDB Atlas

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📂 Project Structure

dev-clustra/
│
├── client/
│   ├── app/
│   ├── components/
│   ├── store/
│   ├── services/
│   ├── lib/
│   ├── public/
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── .dockerignore
│   ├── .env.local
│   └── .env.docker
│
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── config/
│   │   ├── modules/
│   │   │   ├── auth/
│   │   │   ├── user/
│   │   │   ├── conversation/
│   │   │   └── message/
│   │   ├── middlewares/
│   │   ├── helpers/
│   │   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── socket-server.js
│   │   └── app.js
│   │
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── .dockerignore
│   ├── .env
│   └── server.js
│
├── docker-compose.yml
└── README.md

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⚙️ Environment Variables

Frontend .env.local

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5000/api/v1

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Frontend .env.docker

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5000/api/v1

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Backend .env

PORT=
MONGO_URI=

JWT_SECRET=
JWT_ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRES=
JWT_REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRES=

CLIENT_URL=

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=

RESEND_API_KEY=

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🚀 Local Development Setup

1. Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/alokumar01/dev-clustra.git

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2. Install Dependencies

Frontend

cd client
pnpm install

Backend

cd backend
pnpm install

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3. Run Development Servers

Frontend

pnpm dev

Backend

pnpm dev

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🐳 Docker Setup

Build & Run Containers

docker compose up --build

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Stop Containers

docker compose down

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📦 Docker Hub Integration

Docker images are pushed to Docker Hub for deployment and CI/CD workflows.

Docker Hub repositories:

aalokumar01/dev-clustra-frontend
aalokumar01/dev-clustra-backend

Docker workflow:

Dockerfile
    ↓
Docker Build
    ↓
Docker Image
    ↓
Docker Hub Push
    ↓
Deployment Workflow

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☁️ Deployment Roadmap

Current

• Dockerized frontend & backend
• Docker Compose orchestration
• Docker networking
• Docker Hub workflow
• Jenkins CI/CD integration

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Planned

• AWS EC2 deployment
• Kubernetes orchestration
• Terraform infrastructure provisioning
• Monitoring using Prometheus & Grafana
• Redis integration

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🧠 Engineering Concepts Explored

This project focuses heavily on understanding:

• Real-time system design
• WebSocket architecture
• JWT authentication flow
• Refresh token mechanisms
• Socket rooms & presence systems
• Containerized workflows
• Docker networking
• CI/CD pipelines
• Cloud deployment workflows
• Modular backend architecture
• Scalable infrastructure concepts

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🎯 Learning Goals

DevClustra was built to explore practical software engineering concepts beyond traditional CRUD applications.

Primary focus areas include:

• Backend engineering
• Real-time communication systems
• DevOps workflows
• Container orchestration concepts
• Cloud deployment workflows
• Scalable architecture design

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👨‍💻 Developer

Alok Kumar

• Full Stack & DevOps Enthusiast
• Focused on Backend Engineering, Cloud, and Real-time Systems

GitHub

https://github.com/alokumar01

Portfolio

https://whoisalok.tech

Project Repository

https://github.com/alokumar01/dev-clustra