Project Introduction

Project Name: Chithi

Chithi is a social media application designed to provide a smooth and engaging user experience using modern technologies. It includes features for authentication, chat, user profiles, posts, comments, reactions, notifications, and follower/block management.

Feature	Sub-feature	Feature	Sub-feature
Authentication	1. Sign Up	Post	1. Create Post (also With Image)
	2. Sign In		2. Get All Post (Based on following, public)
	3. Log Out		3. Update Post
	4. Password Reset		4. Edit Post
Chat	1. Private messages	Comments	1. Add Comment
	2. Add Message Reaction		2. Delete Comment
	3. Send Image in Message	Reactions	1. Add Post Reaction
	4. Mark Message as Read		2. Show All Post Reaction
	5. Delete Message self / both		3. Remove Self Reaction
	6. Search User for chat	Notification	1. Notification Setting
User	1. Get Single User Profile		2. Send Notification on Action
	2. Get Multiple User with infinite scrolling		3. Mark read as notification
	3. Get Random Suggested Users		4. Display All Notifications
	4. Edit Profile	Followers & Block	1. Follow User
	5. Add Cover Page		2. UnFollow User
			3. Show all Follower and Following List
			4. Block User
			5. Unblock User

Technology Stack

1. Typescript
2. React 18
3. Node.js
4. Express.js
5. Mongoose
6. Redux Toolkit
7. Jest
8. Vitest
9. React Testing Library
10. Redis
11. Socket IO
12. MSW (API Mock)
13. BullMQ (Implementing Message Queue )
14. PM2
15. Cloudinary
16. MongoDB
17. Nodemailer
18. BREVO(SMTP)

Requirements

1. Node.js

   • Install Node.js from nodejs.org.

2. Giphy API Key

   • Sign up on Giphy Developers to get an API key.

3. Cloudinary

   • Use the same Cloudinary cloud name as the backend for storage. Sign up at Cloudinary if needed.

4. Environment Variables

   • Copy all environment variables from .env.example and update the .env file with your credentials.

Installation

1. Clone the Repository and Install Dependencies

   git clone <this_url> && cd <repo_name>
   npm i

2. Create and Configure the .env File

   • Create a .env file in the root directory.
   • Add the following environment variables and update them with your credentials:

     VITE_BASE_ENDPOINT=<Your Backend URL>
     VITE_ENVIRONMENT=<development | production | test>
     VITE_CLOUD_NAME=<Your Cloudinary Cloud Name>
     VITE_GIPHY_API_KEY=<Your Giphy API Key>

3. Run the Development Server

   npm run dev

Running Unit Tests

To ensure the reliability and correctness of the application, you can run the unit tests using the following command:

npm run test

Challenges Faced

While working on Chithi, we encountered several challenges, particularly in real-time communication, state management, and user experience:

1. Using Socket.IO

   • Ensuring real-time updates for chat messages and reactions.
   • Avoiding multiple event listener registrations and memory leaks.

2. Managing State

   • Keeping state consistent across components with asynchronous updates.
   • Optimizing state updates to prevent unnecessary re-renders.

3. User Authentication

   • Implementing secure sign-up, sign-in, and password reset.
   • Managing user sessions across different devices.

4. User Experience

   • Implementing real-time notifications for new messages and reactions.
   • Providing efficient user search functionality.

5. Testing and Debugging

   • Setting up automated tests with Jest, Vitest, and React Testing Library.
   • Debugging issues in a real-time environment.