ChitChat

ChitChat is a simple real-time chat application built with Flask, Redis, and Celery. It allows multiple users to communicate instantly in a shared chatroom environment. The project demonstrates the use of asynchronous task queues, message broadcasting, and real-time updates using Python's popular web and messaging frameworks.

Features

• Real-Time Messaging: Messages are broadcast instantly to all users in the chatroom.
• Asynchronous Task Processing: Celery is used to handle message storage and broadcasting without blocking the main application.
• Persistent Storage: Redis is used for storing messages, ensuring they persist and can be retrieved later.
• Multi-User Support: Multiple users can join the chat, each with their own unique username.
• Simple and Responsive UI: A clean and responsive user interface built with HTML, Bootstrap, and JavaScript.

Technologies Used

• Flask: A lightweight web framework for Python.
• Redis: An in-memory data structure store used as a message broker and for persistent storage.
• Celery: An asynchronous task queue/job queue based on distributed message passing.
• Bootstrap: A CSS framework used to create a responsive front-end.
• JavaScript & jQuery: For handling real-time updates and DOM manipulation.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/imriadutta/chitchat.git
   cd chitchat

2. Set up a virtual environment:

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Start Redis server:

   redis-server

5. Start Celery worker:

   celery -A app.celery worker --loglevel=info

6. Run the Flask application:

   python3 app.py

7. Access the application: Open your browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:5000/.

Usage

• Visit the homepage to join the chat.
• Enter your username and start messaging.
• Messages will be broadcast to all users in real-time.