ChatHive - A social media platform using MERN stack

Description

This is a social media platform built using MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js). It allows users to create posts, like posts, and add friends. Dark mode is also supported.

Live Deployment

You can check out the live deployment here. The backend is deployed here.

You can login with the following credentials:

• Email: fake.person@mail.com
• Password: nullnullnull

NOTE: First login might take a while since the backend response time is not great (free plan). Please refresh the page and try again if it does not redirect after 10s.

Run Locally

• Clone the repository
• Set up .env file in server directory with the following content:

MONGO_URL=<your_mongo_url>
JWT_SECRET=<your_jwt_secret>
PORT=3001

where <your_mongo_url> is the URL to your MongoDB database, and <your_jwt_secret> is the secret key for JWT.

• Run npm install in both client and server directories
• Run npm start in both client and server directories

Limitations

The project is only for demonstration purpose, and several limitations are apparent:

• Messages, notifications, and help button (accesible from navbar) are not implemented.
• Sharing posts and adding comments are not implemented.
• Images are hosted in the backend, and the frontend only displays the images available in the backend. Therefore, users cannot upload images.
• Links to other social media platforms are not implemented.
• Admin privileges are not implemented.
• Styling is not perfect.
• Search bar is not implemented.
• Slow loading time due to the hosting of images in the backend.
• Many more...

Timeline

Table:

Date and time	Task	Labour (hours)
07.07.2023	Brainstorming and initialize project	2
07.07.2023	Setting up database	2
07.07.2023	Authentication and authorization	6
10.07.2023	User routes	4
11.07.2023	Post routes	6
11.07.2023	Add mock data + Fix package.json not pushed	2
11.07.2023	Add REST requests	1
12.07.2023	Add mock assets and initialize frontend	3
13.07.2023	Setup frontend	6
13.07.2023	Theme and styling	10
14.07.2023	Navbar	10
16.07.2023	Login and register page	20
16.07.2023	Fix mock schema and move mock injections out of index.js	1
18.07.2023	Home page and navigate to login/register page if not logged in	20
19.07.2023	Post widget	10
21.07.2023	Each post on home page	20
22.07.2023	Ads and friend list	10
23.07.2023	Profile page	5
24.07.2023	Testing and debugging	3
24.07.2023	Deploy on Render and README.md	1
07.08.2023	Fix online deployment (add Render rewrite rules)	1
Total		143

References

Based on this tutorial.