Chatcraze Chat Application

Chatcraze is a chat application developed to learn WebSocket communication and explore hosting options. It uses FastAPI for the backend and Next.js for the frontend. The application is containerized with Docker using a multi-container setup managed by Docker Compose.

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Features

• Real-time communication powered by WebSockets.
• FastAPI backend with PostgreSQL as the database.
• Next.js frontend for a seamless chat experience.
• Fully containerized for easy deployment.

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Installation and Running Locally

Prerequisites

1. Install Docker and Docker Compose on your system.
2. Ensure docker-compose is available via the command line.
3. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd chatcraze

Running with Docker

1. Build and Start the Containers

docker compose up --build

This will:

• Build the backend and frontend Docker images.
• Start the PostgreSQL database, backend, and frontend services.
• Create necessary networks and volumes.

2. Access the Application

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend: http://localhost:8000

3. Stopping the Services

To stop the containers:

docker compose down

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Running Locally Without Docker

You can run the backend and frontend independently without Docker:

1. Setup PostgreSQL Database

Ensure you have PostgreSQL installed locally and create a database with the required credentials:

CREATE DATABASE chatcraze;
CREATE USER chatcraze_user WITH PASSWORD 'yourpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE chatcraze TO chatcraze_user;

Update the environment variables in .env files under the Root directory.

2. Running the Backend

Navigate to the backend folder and install dependencies:

cd backend
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run the server:

uvicorn app.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

3. Running the Frontend

Navigate to the frontend folder and install dependencies:

cd frontend
npm install

Start the development server:

npm run dev

Access the application:

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend: http://localhost:8000

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Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following variables:

DB_HOST=<Database Host>
DB_PORT=<Database Port>
DB_NAME=chatcraze
DB_USER=chatcraze_user
DB_PASS=yourpassword
RESEND_API=<Your Resend API Key>
AUTH_SECRET=<Authentication Secret Key>
PROD=<true/false>

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Directory Structure

chatcraze/
├── backend/    # FastAPI backend code
├── frontend/   # Next.js frontend code
├── docker-compose.yml
├── .env
└── README.md

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Contributions

Feel free to fork this repository, open issues, or create pull requests to enhance the application.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.

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Enjoy chatting! 🎉