Chat Application

This is a full-stack chat application built with React, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and Socket.io.

The application allows users to sign up, log in, and chat with other users in real-time.

Features

• User authentication (sign up, log in, log out)
• Real-time messaging with Socket.io
• Profile management
• Online/offline status
• Responsive design

Project Structure

/chat-app
├── backend
│   ├── config
│   │   └── db.js
│   ├── controllers
│   │   └── userController.js
│   ├── middleware
│   │   └── authMiddleware.js
│   ├── models
│   │   └── User.js
│   ├── routes
│   │   └── userRoutes.js
│   ├── utils
│   │   └── cloudinary.js
│   ├── server.js
│   └── package.json
├── frontend
│   ├── public
│   │   └── index.html
│   ├── src
│   │   ├── components
│   │   │   └── Chat.js
│   │   ├── context
│   │   │   └── AuthContext.js
│   │   ├── pages
│   │   │   └── Login.js
│   │   ├── App.js
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   └── styles.css
│   ├── .env
│   └── package.json
├── README.md
└── package.json

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• MongoDB
• Cloudinary account (for image uploads)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/chat-app.git
   cd chat-app

2. Install dependencies for both backend and frontend:

   npm install --prefix backend
   npm install --prefix frontend

3. Create a .env file in the backend directory and add the following environment variables:

   MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_uri
   JWT_SECRET_KEY=your_jwt_secret_key
   CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
   CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
   CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret
   NODE_ENV=development

Running the Application

1. Build the frontend:

   npm run build --prefix frontend

2. Start the backend server:

   npm start --prefix backend

The application will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Development

To run the application in development mode:

1. Start the backend server with nodemon:

   npm run dev --prefix backend

2. Start the frontend development server:

   npm run dev --prefix frontend

The frontend will be available at http://localhost:5173.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.