💬 DoChat – Real-Time MERN Chat Application

A modern real-time chat app built with the MERN stack.
DoChat lets users connect instantly, share files, track unseen messages, and manage profiles all with a clean, responsive UI.

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🚀 Live Demo

Try DoChat now!

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🌟 Features

• 🔑 Authentication – Secure login & signup with JWT
• 🟢 User Presence – See who’s online in real time
• 🔍 User Search – Find users by name from the user list
• ⚡ Real-Time Messaging – Instant chats powered by Socket.io
• 📩 Unseen Messages – Track unread messages per user
• 🖼️ File & Media Sharing – Upload and share files via Cloudinary
• 👤 Profile Management – Update profile details like name & bio
• 📱 Responsive UI – Built with React + TailwindCSS for a smooth, modern experience

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend:

• React (v19)
• TailwindCSS
• React Router
• React Toastify
• Socket.io-client
• Axios

Backend:

• Express.js (v5)
• MongoDB + Mongoose
• Socket.io
• JWT for authentication
• bcryptjs for password hashing
• Cloudinary for media storage
• dotenv, CORS

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📸 Screenshots / Preview

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js v16+ and npm
• MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/dochat.git
cd dochat

Install dependencies

npm install             
cd frontend && npm install
cd ../backend && npm install

Create a .env file in server/ with:

• PORT=5000
• MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_uri
• JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
• CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_name
• CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_key
• CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_secret
• CLIENT_URL=your_client_url

Create a .env file in server/ with:

• VITE_BACKEND_URL=your_backend_url

Run in development

  npm start

This uses concurrently to start both client and server.

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Future Improvements

• Group chats support
• Message reactions (👍 ❤️ 😂)
• Dark mode
• Push notifications

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome!
Feel free to fork this repo and submit a PR.

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⚖️ License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

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✍️ Author

Kunal Vijay Choudhary Final-year CSE Student & Full-Stack Developer

• GitHub: KunalVChoudhary
• Email: imkunalvchoudhary@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: kunal-vijayshree-choudhary

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Thank U!