Chat Application

Real-time messaging platform with secure user authentication and conversation management.

Key Features

• 🔐 JWT Authentication
• 💬 Real-time messaging with Socket.IO
• 👥 1:1 & group conversations
• 📱 Responsive React frontend
• 🚀 Express.js backend API
• 📊 MongoDB database

Quick Start

# Clone repo
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/chatapp.git

# Backend setup
cd backend
npm install

# Frontend setup
cd ../frontend
npm install

# Start servers (in separate terminals)
npm run dev # frontend
npm run dev # backend

Environment Variables

Create .env in backend:

MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_key
PORT=3000

Create .env in backend:

VITE_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3000/api
VITE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000

Technologies

• Backend: Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Socket.IO
• Frontend: React, Redux, Tailwind CSS