Aether — Spark Conversations

A premium glassmorphic mini social media platform built with Node.js, Express, and vanilla JavaScript. Features a cosmic, frosted-glass UI with real-time interactions.

Features

• User Authentication — Register and login with JWT-based auth (7-day tokens)
• Create Posts — Share thoughts with optional image attachments
• Like & Comment — Engage with posts through likes and threaded comments
• Follow System — Follow/unfollow users to curate your feed
• Explore Page — Discover new people and posts across the network
• User Profiles — View profiles with stats, bio, and post history
• Edit Profile — Update display name, bio, and avatar (DiceBear presets)
• Glassmorphic UI — Modern frosted-glass design with animated glow orbs
• JSON Storage — Lightweight file-based database (no external DB required)
• SPA Architecture — Seamless client-side navigation

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Node.js, Express
Frontend	Vanilla JS, CSS3 (Glassmorphism)
Auth	JSON Web Tokens (jsonwebtoken)
Storage	JSON file (server/db.js)
Font	Outfit (Google Fonts)
Avatars	DiceBear API

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v14+
• npm

Installation

npm install

Run the Server

npm start

Project Structure

├── server.js              # Entry point — Express server
├── package.json
├── database.json          # JSON file database
├── public/
│   ├── index.html         # SPA entry point
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── style.css      # Glassmorphic styles
│   └── js/
│       └── app.js         # Client-side logic
├── server/
│   ├── auth.js            # Auth routes & JWT middleware
│   ├── db.js              # JSON database operations
│   ├── posts.js           # Post CRUD & comments
│   └── users.js           # User profiles & follow system
└── .gitignore

API Endpoints

Auth

• POST /api/auth/register — Register a new user
• POST /api/auth/login — Login
• GET /api/auth/me — Get current user (auth required)

Posts

• GET /api/posts — Get feed (auth required)
• POST /api/posts — Create a post (auth required)
• POST /api/posts/:id/like — Toggle like (auth required)
• GET /api/posts/:id/comments — Get comments (auth required)
• POST /api/posts/:id/comments — Add comment (auth required)

Users

• GET /api/users/suggestions — Who to follow (auth required)
• GET /api/users/discover — All users (auth required)
• GET /api/users/:username — User profile (auth required)
• PUT /api/users/profile — Update profile (auth required)
• POST /api/users/:username/follow — Toggle follow (auth required)

License

ISC