Memories - A Full-Stack MERN Application

Memories is a full-stack social media application built with the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js). It provides a platform for users to post, share, and interact with interesting events and memories from their lives. The application features a clean, modern UI built with Material-UI and is powered by a robust REST API.

Snapshots

Home Page	Post Detail
Login	Sign Up
Create Memory	Comment on Post

Features

• User Authentication: Secure user registration and login system using JSON Web Tokens (JWT).
• CRUD Operations: Full Create, Read, Update, and Delete functionality for posts.
• Rich Content: Posts include a title, message, tags, and an image upload feature (Base64).
• Social Interaction: Users can like and comment on posts created by others.
• Powerful Search: Search for memories by title.
• Pagination: Efficiently browse through a large number of posts with server-side pagination.
• Detailed View: Click on any post to view its dedicated details page.
• Responsive Design: A user-friendly and responsive interface that works on various screen sizes.

Tech Stack

Backend

• Node.js: JavaScript runtime environment.
• Express.js: Web application framework for Node.js.
• MongoDB: NoSQL database for storing application data.
• Mongoose: Object Data Modeling (ODM) library for MongoDB and Node.js.
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT): For secure user authentication and authorization.
• bcrypt: Library for hashing user passwords.
• CORS: Middleware for enabling Cross-Origin Resource Sharing.
• Dotenv: For managing environment variables.

Frontend

• React: JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• Redux: State management library with Redux Thunk for asynchronous actions.
• React Router: For client-side routing and navigation.
• Material-UI: A popular React UI framework for faster and easier web development.
• Axios: Promise-based HTTP client for making API requests.
• Moment.js: For parsing, validating, manipulating, and displaying dates and times.

Getting Started

Follow these instructions to set up and run the project on your local machine.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or later recommended)
• npm or Yarn
• MongoDB installed and running, or a MongoDB Atlas account.

Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/akshay-bharadva/memories
   cd memories

2. Set up the Backend:

   • Navigate to the backend directory:

     cd back

   • Create a .env file in the back directory and add your environment variables. See the Environment Variables section below for details.
   • Install backend dependencies:

     npm install

   • Start the backend server (runs on http://localhost:5001 by default):

     npm start

3. Set up the Frontend:

   • In a new terminal, navigate to the frontend directory:

     cd front

   • Install frontend dependencies:

     npm install

   • Start the frontend development server (runs on http://localhost:3000):

     npm start

The application should now be running. Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000.

Environment Variables

The backend requires a .env file for configuration. Create a file named .env in the back directory with the following content:

# The connection string for your MongoDB database (local or Atlas)
MONGODB_CONNECTION_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/memories

# The port for the backend server to run on
SERVER_PORT=5001

Note: The application uses a hardcoded JWT secret ('test'). For a production environment, it is highly recommended to replace this with a strong, secret key stored in your .env file.