Chat Application

Welcome to the Chat Application! This real-time chat application is built using Node.js, Socket.io, Mongoose, and Tailwind CSS.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Working of the App
• Installation
• Contributing

Introduction

The Chat Application is a real-time chat platform that allows users to create and join chat rooms, send messages, and engage in conversations with others in real-time. It's built using the following technologies:

• Node.js: The server-side JavaScript runtime environment.
• Socket.io: A library for real-time, bidirectional communication between web clients and servers.
• Mongoose: An elegant MongoDB object modeling tool.
• Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework for building responsive and stylish user interfaces.

Working of the App

The Chat Application works by establishing a WebSocket connection using Socket.io between the server and the client. Here's how it works:

1. Users can create an account or log in with their credentials.
2. Once logged in, users can create or join chat rooms.
3. In a chat room, users can send and receive real-time messages from other participants.
4. Socket.io ensures instant message delivery to all users in the same chat room.
5. Messages are stored in MongoDB using Mongoose for persistent storage.

Installation

To run the Chat Application locally, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/chat-application.git

2. Change to the project directory:

   cd chatApp

3. Install the dependencies using npm:

   npm install

4. Create a .env file in the root directory and add the following environment variables:

   MONGODB_URI=your-mongodb-uri
   SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key

Replace your-mongodb-uri with the MongoDB connection URI and your-secret-key with your secret key for session management.

5. Start the server:

   npm start

Open your web browser and visit http://localhost:3000 to access the Chat Application.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community to make the Chat Application even better. If you'd like to contribute, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository on GitHub.

2. Clone your forked repository to your local machine.

3. Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix:

   git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

4. Make your changes, commit them, and push them to your forked repository.

5. Create a pull request from your forked repository to the main repository.

6. Wait for review and approval from the maintainers.

Thank you for considering contributing to this project!