💬 MERN CHAT APP

A full-stack real-time chat application built using the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js). This project showcases how to build a modern, responsive messaging platform with real-time capabilities using Socket.io.

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🚀 Features

• ✅ Real-time chat with Socket.io
• 👨‍💼 User authentication (JWT-based)
• 🗂️ Private and group messaging
• 🖼️ Image/file upload support (optional with Cloudinary)
• 📱 Responsive UI for mobile and desktop
• 🟢 Online user status indicator

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🛠️ Tech Stack

🔧 Frontend

• React
• Zustand (for global state)
• Tailwind CSS + DaisyUI
• Axios

⚙️ Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB (Mongoose)
• Socket.io

🧩 Other Tools

• JWT (Authentication)
• Cloudinary (for image uploads - optional)
• Dotenv (for environment configs)

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📦 Getting Started

📌 Prerequisites

• Node.js
• MongoDB (Local or MongoDB Atlas)
• npm or yarn

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🛠️ Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/mern-chat-app.git
   cd mern-chat-app
   

2. Install backend & frontend dependencies

    cd mern-chat-app
    npm install
    cd client
    npm install
   

3. Set up environment variables Create a .env file in the root directory:

   MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_uri
   JWT_SECRET=your_secret_key
   CLOUDINARY_URL=optional_if_used
   

4.Start the development server

  ```bash
  # From root
  npm run dev

📸 Screenshots

🌟 Highlights 🌐 MERN + Socket.io + TailwindCSS + DaisyUI

🔐 JWT-based authentication and authorization

💬 Real-time messaging with Socket.io

🟢 Online user status

⚙️ Zustand for global state management

🐞 Error handling on both server and client