ParsChat

ParsChat is a full-stack real-time chat application with a Go backend and a React frontend.

Overview

• Backend: Go (net/http) + SQLite + JWT auth + SSE realtime stream
• Frontend: React + TypeScript + Zustand + Axios + Vite
• Realtime: Server-Sent Events for incoming messages, typing signals, and online/offline updates
• Storage: SQLite database (chat.db) and local upload storage (uploads/)

Key Features

• User authentication (register/login with JWT)
• One-to-one chat
• Group chat (create group, add/remove members, leave group)
• Typing indicators
• Online/offline presence
• Block / unblock users
• Media and file sharing (image, video, audio, generic files)
• Voice message recording from browser microphone
• Location sharing (latitude/longitude with map link)
• Emoji picker in composer
• Profile modal (view/edit username, full name, bio, avatar)
• Message reactions API support

Project Structure

ParsChat/
├── backend/
│   ├── cmd/server/main.go
│   ├── internal/
│   │   ├── config/
│   │   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── models/
│   │   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── server/
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   └── utils/
│   ├── public/
│   ├── uploads/
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   └── go.mod
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   ├── features/
│   │   ├── hooks/
│   │   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   └── types.ts
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   ├── package.json
│   └── vite.config.ts
├── API_AUDIT.md
├── LOCATION_SHARING.md
└── docker-compose.yml

Tech Stack

Backend

• Go 1.21
• SQLite (github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3)
• JWT (github.com/golang-jwt/jwt/v5)
• SSE over HTTP (/events)

Frontend

• React 18
• TypeScript
• Zustand (state management)
• Axios (HTTP client)
• Vite (dev server and bundler)

Requirements

• Go 1.21+
• Node.js 20+
• npm 9+
• Docker + Docker Compose (optional)

Environment Variables

Backend reads these variables:

• PORT (default: 8080)
• DB_PATH (default: ./chat.db)
• JWT_SECRET (default is development-only fallback)

Frontend (Vite) can use:

• VITE_PROXY_TARGET (default: http://localhost:8080)

Run Locally (Recommended for Development)

1) Start backend

cd backend
go mod tidy
go run ./cmd/server

Backend URL: http://localhost:8080

2) Start frontend

Open a second terminal:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend URL: http://localhost:5173

Vite proxies /api, /events, and /uploads to the backend.

Build Frontend for Backend Static Serving

If you build the frontend, backend can serve frontend/dist automatically.

cd frontend
npm install
npm run build

Then run backend as usual:

cd backend
go run ./cmd/server

Docker

Run full stack from root

docker compose up --build

Services:

• Backend: http://localhost:8080
• Frontend: http://localhost:5173

Run only backend

cd backend
docker compose up --build

Run only frontend

cd frontend
docker compose up --build

Stop containers

From whichever directory you started compose:

docker compose down

API Summary

Auth

• POST /api/register
• POST /api/login

Users and Profile

• GET /api/users
• GET /api/profile?userId=...
• POST /api/profile

Messaging and Realtime

• GET /api/messages
• POST /api/send
• POST /api/typing
• GET /events

Uploads and Presence

• POST /api/upload
• GET /api/online

Blocking

• POST /api/block
• POST /api/unblock
• GET /api/blocked

Groups

• GET /api/groups
• POST /api/groups
• POST /api/group/add
• POST /api/group/remove
• POST /api/group/leave
• GET /api/group/members

Reads and Reactions

• POST /api/messages/read
• POST /api/reactions/add
• POST /api/reactions/remove
• GET /api/reactions

Key Exchange

• POST /api/keys/save
• GET /api/keys/get

For detailed request/response shapes, check API_AUDIT.md.

Database Notes

Database schema is initialized automatically on startup.

Current tables include:

• users
• groups
• group_members
• messages
• message_reads
• message_reactions
• blocked_users
• user_keys

The service also performs lightweight migration attempts for profile fields (bio, avatar_url) on startup.

Troubleshooting

vite: not found

Install frontend dependencies first:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Cannot find module 'zustand' or other frontend package errors

cd frontend
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install
npm run dev

Port already in use

• Change backend PORT
• Or stop the process currently using 8080 / 5173

Uploads not accessible

• Ensure backend is running
• Ensure uploads/ exists and is writable
• Access files via /uploads/<filename>

Security Notes

• Default JWT_SECRET fallback is for development only.
• Set a strong JWT_SECRET in production.
• Consider running behind HTTPS and adding stricter auth checks for profile update ownership.

Related Docs

• API_AUDIT.md: API contracts and endpoint details
• LOCATION_SHARING.md: location-sharing behavior

License

No license file is currently included in this repository.