💬 MERN Chat App

A real-time chat application built using the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js) with Socket.IO for instant messaging. Includes features like online status, unread message notifications, authentication, and user profiles.

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🚀 Features

• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Real-time messaging with Socket.IO
• 🔒 JWT Authentication (Login/Signup)
• 👁️ Online/offline status tracking
• 🔔 Unread message notifications
• 📝 Update profile & settings
• 🌙 switch into different theme
• 📱 Responsive UI

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend:

• React.js
• React Router
• Zustand / Redux (state management)
• Axios
• Tailwind

Backend:

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Socket.IO
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• Bcrypt.js

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📦 Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Divyanshi2408/Chat-App
cd chat-app

2. Install dependencies for frontend & backend

# In root directory
cd client
npm install

cd ../server
npm install

3. Set up .env in /server directory

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret

4. Run the app ➤ Start Backend Server

cd server
node src/index.js

➤ Start Frontend

cd client
npm start

💬 Contact

📧 [divyanshipal2808@gmail.com]