feathers-chat

A Feathers chat application

About

This project uses Feathers. An open source framework for building APIs and real-time applications.

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Usage
• Testing
• Scaffolding
• Help
• Contributing
• Images

Getting Started

1. Make sure you have NodeJS, yarn and postgresql installed.

2. Clone the repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/Hackersgoddest/chat-app.git

3. Install your dependencies

   cd feathers-chat
   yarn
   

4. Configure the environment variables:

   • Create a .env file in the root directory and set your Feathers secret key and database connection details:

     PORT=3000
     HOSTNAME=localhost
     DB_CONNECTION_STRING=postgres://username:password@localhost:5432/database-name
     FEATHERS_SECRET=secret-key
     

5. Start your app

   yarn compile # Compile TypeScript source
   yarn migrate # Run migrations to set up the database
   yarn dev
   

Usage

Working on this Feathers chat application provides valuable learning experiences across various aspects of web development and software engineering. Here are some key lessons you can learn:

1. Setting Up a Modern Web Application

• Dependency Management: Learn how to manage dependencies using Yarn.
• Environment Configuration: Understand the importance of environment variables for configuring your application securely and flexibly.

2. Using FeathersJS

• API Development: Gain hands-on experience in building RESTful and real-time APIs using FeathersJS.
• Service Architecture: Learn how to structure your application with services, making it modular and easy to maintain.

3. Database Integration

• PostgreSQL Setup: Learn how to configure and connect to a PostgreSQL database.
• Migrations: Understand how to use database migrations to version and manage your database schema changes.

4. TypeScript in Node.js

• TypeScript Compilation: Learn how to compile TypeScript code to JavaScript using a build process.
• Type Safety: Experience the benefits of using TypeScript for type safety and improved code quality.

5. Real-Time Communication

• WebSockets: Understand how real-time communication is implemented using WebSockets, enabling features like live chat.

6. User Authentication

• Authentication: Implement user authentication, including sign-up and login functionalities, and learn how to manage user sessions securely.

Testing

Run yarn test and all your tests in the test/ directory will be run.

Scaffolding

This app comes with a powerful command line interface for Feathers. Here are a few things it can do:

$ npx feathers help                           # Show all commands
$ npx feathers generate service               # Generate a new Service

Help

For more information on all the things you can do with Feathers visit docs.feathersjs.com.

Contributing

• Contributions to this project are welcome! If you have ideas for improvements or bug fixes, please submit an issue or a pull request.

Images