💬 TinyTalks

Where small messages make big noise.

TinyTalks is a simple message board app built with Node.js, Express, EJS, and PostgreSQL.
Users can post, view, and delete short messages that appear instantly on the homepage.
It’s a lightweight and fun project built as part of The Odin Project, focusing on routing, templating, and connecting an Express app to a live database.

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🌐 Live Demo

TinyTalks is live! 🎉
Check it out here:
👉 tiny-talks.onrender.com

Post a message, view it, or delete it — because every tiny talk deserves a stage 💬

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🚀 Features

• 📝 Post short messages with your name and text
• 👀 View individual messages on their own page
• 🗑️ Delete messages (instant satisfaction)
• 🕒 Persistent storage powered by PostgreSQL
• ⚙️ Clean and modular Express routing
• 🖼️ Dynamic views rendered with EJS
• 🎨 Minimal, modern UI styled with pure CSS and Google Fonts

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🧩 Tech Stack

Category	Tech
Backend	Node.js, Express
Frontend	EJS (Embedded JavaScript Templates)
Database	PostgreSQL (hosted on Neon)
Hosting	Render
Utilities	date-fns, dotenv, pg

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📁 Project Structure

TINY-TALKS/
├── public/
│   └── styles.css
├── db/
│   ├── pool.js
│   └── populate.js
├── routes/
│   └── indexRouter.js
├── views/
│   ├── index.ejs
│   ├── form.ejs
│   ├── message.ejs
│   ├── 404.ejs
│   └── partials/
│       ├── head.ejs
│       └── header.ejs
│       └── footer.ejs
├── .env
├── app.js
├── package.json
└── README.md

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⚡ Getting Started

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/devxsameer/tiny-talks.git
cd tiny-talks

2. Clone the repo

pnpm install
# or
npm install

3. Set up environment variables

Create a .env file in the project root and add your Neon connection string:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://<username>:<password>@<your-neon-host>/<database>?sslmode=require

4. Populate the database

Run the populate script to create the messages table and seed sample data:

pnpm run populate-db
# or
npm run populate-db

5. Run the app

pnpm start
# or
npm run start

6. Open in your browser

http://localhost:6969

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🧠 Learning Goals

• Practice setting up Express routes and middleware
• Use EJS for server-side rendering
• Handle POST requests and form data
• Implement dynamic routes (for individual messages)
• Connect an Express app to a PostgreSQL database
• Deploy a full-stack Node app to Render
• Manage environment variables securely with dotenv

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☁️ Deployment

Deployed on Render, connected to a Neon PostgreSQL database for persistent storage.

🌐 tiny-talks.onrender.com

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🧑‍💻 Author

Made with ♥ by Sameer Ali

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