NodeJS Chat App

• This project is a production ready chat application that can be easily integrated into any application (mobile, web or desktop).
• It is aimed to prepare a ready-made system that even someone who does not have any knowledge about backend systems can easily use. That's why I tried to prepare a detailed documentation. (See documentation section)

Features

• JWT auth mechanism for a secure system
• Optimized to use as few resources as possible
• Instant message notifications with FCM
• Pagination system for messages
• Indicators such as online users, typing etc.
• Efficient use of MongoDB

Installation

• Clone the project
• Install dependencies: npm install
• Create a file named .env in the project folder (at root level)
• You need to define 4 variables in .env:

MONGO_URL = // You can get this by creating a DB in MongoDB (see https://www.mongodb.com/atlas/database). 
JWT_SEC = // Create a unique JWT_SECRET and put it here
SECRET = // Create a unique SECRET and put it here
PORT = // (To run tests on local. You can delete this when deploying)

• Create a Service Account Key JSON file in Firebase. (See https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/auth-server) And put this file to the project level folder (root level) by naming it serviceAccountKey.json. It will not work if you give it another name. Also you need to enable Firebase Cloud Messaging in Firebase Panel. This step is for enabling push notifications.

• To test the project on local: To test the project locally, specify the PORT number in the .env and you can run tests in Postman or any other environment using the root url localhost:3000/api/v1 (assuming you set the port number to 3000).

• You also need to specify an origin for socket io on the chat server. You need to add this in index.js where const io is specified. For example to set the socket origins to localhost port 3000, use: origin: "http:localhost:3000"

• And you are good to go! Run npm start to start the server on local

Documentation

• Documentation on how to use endpoints is available at http://localhost:{YOUR_PORT_NUMBER}/api/v1/docs

Deployment

• You can deploy to any service. After deploying, don't forget to add the url you deployed to the origin section in const io in the index.js for the sockets to work correctly. For example, if the url you deployed is: https://testchat.app/myappetc/, you need to write this url in the origin section.