E2EE Chat Application

A secure, end-to-end encrypted chat application that allows users to communicate privately with one-on-one messaging.

Features

• 🔒 End-to-End Encryption using Signal Protocol
• 👤 User Authentication
• 👥 One-on-One Chat
• 📝 Profile Management
• 💬 Real-time Messaging
• 🔐 Secure Key Exchange

Tech Stack

Frontend

• JavaFX
• FXML for UI
• CSS for styling
• Signal Protocol Library for Java

Backend

• Spring Boot
• Spring Security
• Spring WebSocket
• MongoDB
• JWT Authentication

Prerequisites

• Java 17 or higher
• MongoDB (4.4 or higher)
• Maven 3.6+
• A modern web browser (for WebSocket support)

Getting Started

Installation and Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/e2ee-chat.git
   cd e2ee-chat
   

2. Make sure MongoDB is running

   # Check status
   sudo systemctl status mongodb
   
   # If not running, start MongoDB
   sudo systemctl start mongodb
   

3. Build and run the backend

   cd backend
   ./mvnw clean package
   java -jar target/e2ee-chat-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
   

4. Build and run the frontend (in a separate terminal)

   cd frontend
   ./build.sh
   

Alternatively, you can use the provided startup script:

chmod +x start.sh
./start.sh

Configuration

The default configuration is stored in backend/src/main/resources/application.properties. You can override settings by:

1. Creating an application-dev.properties file in the same directory
2. Running the app with: java -jar target/e2ee-chat-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar --spring.profiles.active=dev

• Maven
• MongoDB
• JavaFX SDK

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

2. Install dependencies:

   # Install backend dependencies
   cd backend
   mvn install
   
   # Install frontend dependencies
   cd ../frontend
   mvn install

3. Set up environment variables:

   • Create application.properties in the backend directory
   • Configure the necessary properties (see application.properties.example)

4. Start the development servers:

   # Start backend server
   cd backend
   mvn spring-boot:run
   
   # Start frontend application
   cd ../frontend
   mvn javafx:run

Security Features

• End-to-End Encryption using Signal Protocol
• Secure key exchange
• Message authentication
• Perfect forward secrecy
• Double ratchet algorithm

License

MIT

Project Setup

A note on Maven

Choice of Dependency management tool: Maven Why?

• Doesn't require much setup
• Convention over configuration
• Easier to read

Choice of Database

For now, we're using MongoDB. Why?

• Great for prototyping

Later we can modify the code to accommodate PostgreSQL Why?

• PostgreSQL is more scalable

Responsibilities

Sumit Joshi

Building the backend API