Chat It

Chat It is a feature-rich chat application that provides a dynamic and interactive platform for real-time communication. Leveraging a robust technology stack, including Express, MongoDB, React, and Socket.io, the application offers a seamless chat experience with advanced features such as group chat, group administration, password encryption, JWT authentication, and cloud-based profile photo management through Cloudinary.

Backend Technologies:

1. Express.js: A Node.js web application framework used for building the server-side application.

2. MongoDB: A NoSQL database used for storing chat messages and user data.

3. bcrypt: A library for password hashing and encryption.

4. JSON Web Tokens (JWT): Used for secure user authentication.

5. Socket.io: Enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication between clients and the server.

Frontend Technologies:

1. React: A JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

2. Material-UI (MUI): A React UI framework that provides pre-designed components for a consistent and modern look.

3. Toastify: A library for displaying notifications in the application.

Cloud Services:

1. Cloudinary: A cloud-based image and video management service used for storing and managing user profile photos.

Development and Build Tools:

1. Node.js: A JavaScript runtime for executing server-side code.

2. npm: The package manager for JavaScript used for installing and managing project dependencies.

Version Control:

1. Git: A distributed version control system for tracking changes in source code.

OTHERS:

1. WEBRTC - for one to one Video calls

These technologies collectively contribute to the functionality and design of your Chat It application.

Features

1. Real-time Chat: Utilizes Socket.io for seamless real-time communication between users.

2. Video Call: One on one Video calling functionality

3. Group Chat: Enables users to participate in group conversations.

4. Group Admin: Empowers administrators with additional control and management capabilities within group chats.

5. Password Encryption: Implements bcrypt for secure password hashing and storage.

6. JWT Authentication: Uses JSON Web Tokens for user authentication, providing a secure and efficient login system.

7. Change Profile Photo: Integrates Cloudinary to allow users to easily change and update their profile photos.

8. Frontend with React: Utilizes React for a dynamic and responsive user interface.

9. Notification System: Implements Toastify for a user-friendly notification system.

10. Material-UI (MUI): Enhances the application's UI with the Material-UI component library.

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm installed
• MongoDB installed and running
• Cloudinary account for profile photo storage

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/raghav1482/chat-it.git
   cd chat-it

2. Install dependencies:

   cd mychatserver && npm install
   cd ../mychatapp && npm install

3. Set up environment variables:

   Create a .env file in the server directory and configure the following:

   PORT=3001
   DATABASE=your_mongodb_connection_string
   JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
   CLD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
   CLD_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
   CLD_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret

4. Run the application:

   # Start the server
   cd mychatserver && nodemon index
   
   # Start the client
   cd ../mychatapp && npm start

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser to access the application.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Remember to replace placeholders like `your-username`, `your_mongodb_connection_string`, `your_jwt_secret`, `your_cloudinary_cloud_name`, `your_cloudinary_api_key`, and `your_cloudinary_api_secret` with your actual information. Additionally, you might want to create `CONTRIBUTING.md` and `LICENSE` files if you haven't already and include them in your repository.