A real-time chat application built with WebSocket protocol, featuring user presence, message history, and desktop notifications.

• Node.js with Express.js
• WebSocket (ws) for real-time communication
• SQLite3 for message persistence
• CORS for handling cross-origin requests

• React 19 with TypeScript
• Vite.js for development and building
• TailwindCSS for styling
• Browser Notifications API

• Real-time messaging
• Message persistence
• User presence detection
• Desktop notifications for new messages
• Message history on connection
• Auto-scroll to latest messages

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/dab/ws-chat.git
cd ws-chat

2. Install dependencies for both backend and frontend:

# Install backend dependencies
npm install

# Install frontend dependencies
cd client
npm install

3. Start the development servers:

# Terminal 1 - Start backend server
cd server
npm run dev  # Runs on http://localhost:3000

# Terminal 2 - Start frontend development server
cd client
npm run dev  # Runs on http://localhost:5173

1. Connection Management

   • Implement automatic reconnection on connection loss
   • Add message delivery confirmation
   • Create offline message queue

2. User Management

   • Implement user authentication
   • Add duplicate username prevention
   • Enable user typing indicators
   • Add user status features (away, busy, etc.)

3. Message Handling

   • Add message editing and deletion
   • Implement file attachments support
   • Enable message formatting (markdown, etc.)
   • Add message delivery status
   • Implement read receipts

4. Performance

   • Implement message pagination
   • Add message lazy loading

5. Security

   • Implement input sanitization
   • Add rate limiting
   • Enable message encryption
   • Implement XSS protection