CipherChat | Secure Real-Time Messaging Platform

A modern, feature-rich messaging application enabling secure, one-on-one real-time conversations, built with the MERN stack and WebSockets.

Key Functionalities

• Instant Messaging: Enables bi-directional, real-time text and image messaging.
• User Presence: Provides live tracking and display of online/offline status.

Technical Highlights

• Real-Time Core: Engineered using Socket.io with secure, authenticated WebSocket connections.
• Security Fortification: APIs hardened with Arcjet, configuring a WAF and rate-limiter to protect against XSS, SQLi, and bot attacks.

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Environment Setup

Create a .env file in the /backend directory:

PORT=3000
MONGO_URI=your_mongo_uri
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173
ARCJET_KEY=your_arcjet_key
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=secret

Installation

1. Backend

   cd backend && npm install && npm run dev

2. Frontend

   cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev