Chat App API

A team collaboration REST API built with Django and Django REST Framework — similar to a lightweight Slack/Discord backend.

Live API: https://chat-app-d3do.onrender.com/api/docs/

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Features

• JWT Authentication — register, login, token refresh
• Workspaces — create workspaces, invite/remove members with role-based access control
• Role-Based Permissions — Owner, Admin, and Member roles with different access levels
• Channels — create and manage channels within workspaces
• Messages — send and retrieve messages within channels
• Reactions — add/remove emoji reactions on messages (toggle behavior)
• File Uploads — attach files to messages
• Notifications — in-app notification system
• Activity Logs — track user actions across workspaces
• Search — search users by username or email
• Filtering & Pagination — filter messages by sender, search by content, paginated responses
• Swagger Docs — fully documented API with Swagger UI

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Tech Stack

• Backend: Python, Django, Django REST Framework
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Authentication: JWT (djangorestframework-simplejwt)
• API Docs: drf-spectacular (Swagger UI)
• Testing: pytest-django
• Deployment: Render

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API Endpoints

Auth

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/auth/register/	Register a new user
POST	/api/auth/login/	Login and receive JWT tokens
POST	/api/auth/token/refresh/	Refresh access token

Workspaces

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/workspaces/	List user's workspaces
POST	/api/workspaces/	Create a workspace
GET	/api/workspaces/<id>/	Get workspace details
PUT	/api/workspaces/<id>/	Update workspace
DELETE	/api/workspaces/<id>/	Delete workspace
POST	/api/workspaces/<id>/invite/	Invite a member
DELETE	/api/workspaces/<id>/members/<id>/remove/	Remove a member

Channels

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/	List channels
POST	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/	Create a channel
GET	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/<id>/	Get channel details
DELETE	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/<id>/	Delete channel

Messages

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/<id>/messages/	List messages
POST	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/<id>/messages/	Send a message
PUT	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/<id>/messages/<id>/	Edit message
DELETE	/api/workspaces/<id>/channels/<id>/messages/<id>/	Delete message

Other

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/messages/<id>/reactions/	Add/remove reaction
POST	/api/attachments/upload/	Upload file attachment
GET	/api/notifications/	List notifications
GET	/api/activities/	List activity logs
GET	/api/search/?query=	Search users

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Local Setup

Prerequisites: Python 3.10+, PostgreSQL

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/chat_app.git
cd chat_app

2. Create virtual environment:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Create .env file:

SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here
DEBUG=True
DATABASE_URL=your-postgresql-url-here

5. Run migrations:

python manage.py migrate

6. Start server:

python manage.py runserver

API will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/ Swagger docs at http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/docs/

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Running Tests

pytest chat/tests.py -v

8 tests covering authentication and role-based permissions.

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Design Decisions

Custom User Model — extended Django's AbstractUser to add avatar and verification fields while keeping all built-in auth functionality.

Role-Based Access Control — three roles (Owner, Admin, Member) with different permissions. Only owners and admins can invite/remove members and create/delete channels.

JWT Authentication — stateless token-based auth using djangorestframework-simplejwt. Access tokens are short-lived; refresh tokens allow seamless re-authentication.

Nested URL Structure — channels live under workspaces, messages live under channels. This enforces the data hierarchy at the URL level and makes permissions easier to reason about.

Reaction Toggle — using get_or_create to handle reactions means a single endpoint both adds and removes reactions, keeping the API clean.

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Project Structure

chat_app/
├── chat/
│   ├── models.py        # User, Workspace, Channel, Message, etc.
│   ├── serializers.py   # DRF serializers for all models
│   ├── views.py         # API views and viewsets
│   ├── urls.py          # App-level URL routing
│   └── tests.py         # pytest test suite
├── chat_app/
│   ├── settings.py      # Django settings
│   └── urls.py          # Project-level URL routing
├── requirements.txt
├── Procfile
└── README.md

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Author

Built by DHRUV RAJ SINGH — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhruv-raj-singh-4b4575284/ | https://github.com/rajdhruvsingh