🚀 Zap - Real-time Chat Application

A modern, feature-rich real-time chat application built with React, Node.js, Socket.io, and MongoDB. Zap offers seamless communication with advanced real-time features and professional-grade architecture.

✨ Core Features

💬 Real-time Messaging

• Instant messaging with Socket.io
• Message status indicators (sent, delivered, read)
• Typing indicators - see when others are typing
• Message history with intelligent date grouping
• Delete messages functionality
• Clear chat conversations

👥 Group Chat System

• Create and manage group chats
• Multi-user real-time messaging
• Group member management
• Group-specific file sharing
• Group message read receipts
• Real-time group notifications

📞 Video Calling System

• WebRTC-powered video calls
• Call notifications with accept/reject options
• Real-time peer-to-peer connection
• Cross-browser compatibility

📎 Advanced File Sharing

• Multi-format file support (PDF, DOC, DOCX, CSV, XML, TXT, JPG, PNG)
• File size validation with 10MB smart limits
• Secure cloud storage via Cloudinary integration
• Real-time file transfer with progress tracking
• Group file sharing capabilities

👥 User Management & Authentication

• Google OAuth 2.0 secure authentication
• Real-time user presence (online/offline status)
• Last seen timestamps with smart formatting
• Avatar management with fallback systems
• Session management with JWT tokens

🎨 Modern Architecture & UI

• Responsive design optimized for all devices
• Dark theme professional interface
• Real-time notifications system
• Scalable backend architecture
• Production-ready deployment

🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 18 with Vite build system
• Tailwind CSS for modern styling
• Socket.io Client for real-time communication
• WebRTC for video calling infrastructure

Backend

• Node.js with Express.js framework
• Socket.io for real-time bidirectional communication
• MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• JWT for secure authentication
• Google OAuth 2.0 via Passport.js
• Cloudinary for scalable file storage
• Multer for file upload handling

Production Deployment

• Frontend: Vercel (CDN + Edge deployment)
• Backend: Render (Auto-scaling containers)
• Database: MongoDB Atlas (Cloud clusters)
• File Storage: Cloudinary (Global CDN)

🌐 Live Demo

Try Zap Chat now: https://zap-nu.vercel.app/

Experience real-time messaging, group chats, video calls, and file sharing in action.

📸 Screenshots

Chat Interface