Bubbles

An event-based messaging app designed for students.

How to get started

This app requires Node.js and a MongoDB Atlas or local database.

Clone the directory by running git clone 'https://github.com/biquando/cs35l-app'.

Setting up the back-end server

First, cd into api/. Here, you will need to install modules and set up environment variables.

Run npm install to automatically install modules for the back end.

In the current directory, create a file named .env. This file will hold configuration variables for the server. With your favorite text editor, put the following in this file:

MONGODB_ATLAS_URI=<your atlas url>
SALT_ROUNDS=10
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=somesecretstring
REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=someothersecretstring

Replace <your atlas url> with the url of your MongoDB atlas database (without the angle brackets). You can also use the address of a locally running database.

To start the server, run npm start.

Setting up the front end

In another terminal, cd into cs35l-app/client/.

Run npm install to automatically install modules for the front end.

To start the server, run npm start. The app will be running at localhost:3000, or possibly another port if 3000 is already in use.