Chat Fullstack Application

A real-time chat application built with React, Express, MongoDB, and WebSockets.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Material-UI
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Mongoose, WebSocket (ws)
• Auth: JWT with HTTP-only cookies, bcryptjs

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• MongoDB instance

Setup

1. Backend

   cd backend
   npm install

   Create a .env file in backend/:

   MONGO_URL=your_mongodb_connection_string
   JWT_SECRET=your_secret_key
   CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173
   

   node index.js

   Server runs on http://localhost:4000.

2. Frontend

   cd client
   npm install
   npm run dev

   App runs on http://localhost:5173.

Features

• User registration and login with JWT authentication
• Real-time online user presence via WebSocket
• Responsive UI with Tailwind CSS and Material-UI icons