The Chat App

A real-time chat application built with the MERN stack.

Features

• Real-time messaging
• User authentication
• Responsive design

Technologies Used

• MongoDB: Database
• Express.js: Backend framework
• React.js: Frontend library
• Node.js: Backend runtime environment

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/alys28/the-chat-app.git
   cd the-chat-app

2. Install dependencies:

   • For the server:

     cd server
     npm install

   • For the client:

     cd ../client
     npm install

3. Set up environment variables:

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

     MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
     JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
     

4. Start the application:

   • In the server directory:

     npm start

   • In the client directory:

     npm start

   The server will run on http://localhost:5000 and the client on http://localhost:3000.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.