Real-Time Chat Application (Backend)

A Node.js/Express backend for a real-time chat application. This backend handles user authentication, chat rooms, message storage, file uploads, and real-time communication using Socket.io.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Technologies Used
• Getting Started
• Installation
• Usage
• Frontend Repository
• Contributing
• License

Features

• JWT-based user authentication
• Real-time messaging with Socket.io
• Group and private chats
• File uploads (avatars, PDFs)
• Password reset and email verification
• User and message management
• MongoDB database integration

Technologies Used

• Node.js & Express: Backend framework
• Mongoose: MongoDB ODM
• Socket.io: Real-time communication
• JWT: Authentication
• Bcryptjs: Password hashing
• Nodemailer: Email sending
• Express-validator: Input validation

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (version 14 or higher)
• npm (Node package manager, comes with Node.js)
• MongoDB (local or cloud)
• Git

Installation

1. Clone the backend repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mostafa2113/nodejs-chat.io.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd nodejs-chat.io

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install

4. Set up environment variables: Create a .env file in the root directory and configure the following:

MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
PORT=5000
NODE_ENV=development
SALT=your_salt_value
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
JWT_EXPIRE=30d
COOKIE_EXPIRE=30*24*60*60*1000
EMAIL_USER=your_email
EMAIL_PASS=your_email_password
RESET_TOKEN_EXPIRE=3600
CLIENT_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5173

Usage

1. Run the backend::

   npm run dev

2. The server will run on http://localhost:5000

Frontend Repository

To fully run the application, you need to set up the frontend. You can find the frontend repository and instructions here.

Contributing

1. Fork the repo:

2. Create a new branch for your feature:

   git checkout -b feature/YourFeatureName

3. Make your changes and commit them:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Add your message here"

4. Push to your forked repository:

   git push origin feature/YourFeatureName

5. Create a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.