🚀 YapUp - Real-Time Chat Application

YapUp is a full-stack real-time chat application that supports image sharing, unread message tracking, and online presence detection.

🔧 Built With

• Frontend: Next.js, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Socket.IO
• Authentication: Clerk
• Database: MongoDB with Mongoose
• Image Upload: Cloudinary

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✨ Features

• ⚡ Real-time messaging using Socket.IO
• 🔐 User authentication with Clerk
• 🖼️ Image attachments via Cloudinary
• 😄 Emoji picker support
• 👤 One-to-one private conversations
• 🔔 Unread message tracking per user
• ✅ Message read status
• 🗑️ Deletion logic for sender/receiver
• 🟢 Online user presence indicator
• 💻 Desktop-first responsive design

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📦 Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/avijitdas126/Real-time-chat-app.git
cd Real-time-chat-app

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🖥️ Frontend Setup

cd chat_app
npm install
npm run dev

➕ Add .env.local in /chat_app

NEXT_PUBLIC_SOCKET_URL=http://localhost:8000
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLOUD_NAME=
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOAD_PRESET=

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🛠 Backend Setup

cd server
npm install
npm start

➕ Add .env in /server

MONGO_URL=mongodb://0.0.0.0:27017/real-time-chat
CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=

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🙌 Support

If you found this project helpful, please ⭐️ the repo. It encourages me to improve it further!