ChatApp

A real-time chat application built with a monorepo architecture using Turborepo.
The app is divided into three main services:

• web → Frontend (Next.js)
• http → Backend REST API (Node.js + Express)
• ws → WebSocket server for real-time messaging

The project uses Prisma ORM with PostgreSQL for data persistence and follows a professional Git branching strategy to showcase version control skills.

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🛠 Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js (with Server Actions)
• Job Queue & Messaging: BullMQ + Redis
• Backend HTTP: Next.js API Routes (migrated from Express)
• Backend WebSocket: ws (custom WebSocket server)
• Database & ORM: Prisma + PostgreSQL
• Authentication: Better Auth (Google & GitHub OAuth providers)
• Real-Time Communication: WebSocket Rooms + Event Broadcasting
• Monorepo Tooling: Turborepo
• Infrastructure: Docker (for Redis and other services)

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🚀 Features

• Real-time messaging with WebSocket
• Room creation, joining, and management
• Secure authentication with Better Auth (Google & GitHub login)
• Job queueing with BullMQ (Redis) for scalable message handling
• Database persistence for messages, rooms, and users
• Monorepo architecture for better scalability and modularity
• Professional Git workflow with 3 branches:
  • master → Production-ready code
  • staging → Pre-production testing
  • dev → Active development

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🌱 Git Workflow

This project follows a multi-branch Git workflow to ensure code quality and maintainability.

# Work on a feature
git checkout -b <new-branch>

# Merge dev into staging for testing
git checkout staging
git merge <new-branch>

# Merge staging into main for production
git checkout master
git merge staging

Branches: 1. main — Production-ready code, 2. staging — Pre-production testing 3. dev — Active development

📦 Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Tejas-pr/chatapp.git
cd chatapp

2️⃣ Install dependencies

pnpm install

3️⃣ Set up environment variables

Create a .env file in the root:

JWT_SECRET=""
NODE_ENV=""
# OAUTH
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=""
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=""
BETTER_AUTH_URL=""
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=""
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=""
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=""
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=""
# backend-common
JWT_SECRET=""
CORS_ORIGIN_FE=""
PORT_BE=""
# ws-backend - worker.ts
REDIS_HOST=""
REDIS_PORT=""
# prisma-DB
DATABASE_URL=""

4️⃣ Run Prisma migrations

Inside db folder

pnpm prisma migrate dev
npx prisma generate

5️⃣ Start the apps

In root path

# Start all apps with Turborepo
pnpm install
pnpm run build
pnpm run dev

📊 Prisma ORM & Database

Managed with Prisma Tables for: Users, Chat, Rooms

Added createdAt timestamps for tracking messages

🚀 Migration Updates

🔧 Infrastructure

• Integrated Redis with BullMQ to power the job queue for the WebSocket chat application.
• This setup allows the WebSocket server to push messages into Redis, while a dedicated worker service consumes them asynchronously to store in the database.
• ✅ Result: More scalable and reliable chat system.

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🔐 Authentication

• Migrated from basic auth to modern authentication providers.
• Added Google and GitHub login for a smoother and more secure user experience.

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🌐 Backend Architecture

• Transitioned from a traditional HTTP backend to Next.js Server Actions.
• This simplifies data fetching, reduces API overhead, and improves developer experience.

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📝 License

This project is licensed under @Tejas-pr.