WebSocket Chat Application

This project is a WebSocket-based chat application built with FastAPI for the backend and a simple HTML/JavaScript frontend.

Features

• Real-time communication using WebSocket.
• Token-based authentication for secure connections.
• Chat interface styled to mimic popular messaging apps.

Project Structure

client/
    index.html       # Frontend HTML file
    script.js        # Frontend JavaScript logic
    styles.css       # Frontend styling
server/
    main.py          # Backend FastAPI server
    README.md        # Project documentation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9 or higher
• Node.js (optional, for advanced frontend development)
• Conda (for virtual environment management)

Setup Instructions

Backend

1. Create a virtual environment using Conda:

   conda create -n fastapi_ws_env python=3.9 -y
   conda activate fastapi_ws_env

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install fastapi uvicorn[standard]

3. Run the FastAPI server:

   uvicorn server.main:app --reload

   The server will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Frontend

1. Open client/index.html in a web browser.
2. Use the chat interface to send and receive messages in real-time.

Usage

• Start the backend server as described above.
• Open the frontend in a browser.
• Enter a message in the input field and press Enter or click the Send button to send a message.
• Messages will appear in a chat-like interface, with sent messages aligned to the right and received messages aligned to the left.

Notes

• The token for authentication is hardcoded as valid_token in this example. Replace it with a proper authentication mechanism for production use.
• The WebSocket server is configured to allow all origins (*) for development purposes. Restrict this in production.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.