WhisperZone

A real-time chat application using Flask, Redis, MongoDB, Flask-SocketIO, and a React frontend powered by Vite. This application supports room-based chats with Redis for in-memory message storage and MongoDB for persistent chat history.

This project began as a demo for practicing DevOps and has now been made public for Hacktoberfest. Contributions and feature suggestions are welcome!

(Hacktoberfest) I'm open to new feature ideas! If you have any cool features you'd like to implement, open an issue, and I'll assign it to you so you can start working on it.

Features

Real-time communication using WebSockets via Flask-SocketIO.
Room-based chat system with dynamically generated room codes.
In-memory chat storage using Redis and persistent chat history saved in MongoDB.
REST API endpoints to create and join chat rooms, and save chat history.
React frontend for user-friendly chat experience.
Dockerized setup with Redis, MongoDB, Flask backend, and React frontend running in containers.
Integration tests for Redis, MongoDB connectivity, and API functionality.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed:

Docker
Docker Compose
Node.js (for frontend development)
Python 3.12.3 (for local backend development and testing)

Getting Started

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/navaneethkrishna30/WhisperZone.git
cd WhisperZone

Setup Docker Secrets

Create a .env file in the project root and define the following secrets:

REDIS_PASSWORD=your_redis_password
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=your_mongo_username
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=your_mongo_password

Running the Application with Docker

Backend Services

This project uses Docker Compose to manage services (backend, Redis, MongoDB).

Build and start the services:
```
docker-compose up --build
```
This will start the backend, Redis, MongoDB, in their respective containers. The backend will be exposed on port 5000.
Access the application:
- The backend API will be available at http://localhost:5000.

Frontend Development

The frontend is built using Vite and React, located in the frontend/ directory.

To run the frontend locally (without Docker), follow these steps:

Navigate to the frontend/ directory:
```
cd frontend
```
Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Start the development server:
```
npm run dev
```
The frontend will now be available at http://localhost:5173.

Running Tests

The application includes integration tests for Redis, MongoDB, and API routes. To run the tests:

Ensure Docker secrets are set for testing (e.g., REDIS_PASSWORD, MONGO_USER, MONGO_PASSWORD).
Run the tests:
```
docker-compose -f compose-test.yaml up --build --abort-on-container-exit
```
This will start the backend in test mode and automatically run the tests.

Docker Services

The application is divided into the following services:

Backend:
- Flask app with WebSocket support via Flask-SocketIO.
- Manages chat rooms and messages.
- REST API for creating/joining rooms and saving chat history.
Redis:
- Used for real-time, in-memory message storage and room management.
MongoDB:
- Used for saving persistent chat history.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community. To get started:

Fork the repository.
Create a feature branch:
```
git checkout -b feature/my-feature
```
Make your changes.
Run tests locally.
Push the changes to your fork.
Submit a pull request.

Local Backend Development

For local backend development without Docker, follow these steps:

Create a virtual environment and activate it:

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # For Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

Install dependencies:
```
pip install -r requirements.txt
```

Set environment variables for Redis and MongoDB:

export REDIS_PASSWORD=your_redis_password
export MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=your_mongo_username
export MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=your_mongo_password

Start the Flask app:
```
flask run
```

The backend will now run locally at http://localhost:5000.

Reporting Issues

If you encounter any bugs or have suggestions for improvements, please open an issue on GitHub.

rishyym0927/WhisperZone