CozyRoom

CozyRoom is a full-stack chat app with authentication, profile management, room-based messaging, and room invitations.

Project Status

This project is an MVP and a learning sketch.

• It is intentionally focused on exploring architecture and implementation ideas.
• Expect rough edges, incomplete flows, and evolving structure.
• The goal is learning and iteration, not production readiness.

This workspace contains two applications:

• cozyroom/: Next.js frontend (App Router)
• thebackroom/: NestJS backend API

What is built

• Email/password auth (login, register, logout)
• Cookie-based session flow with access and refresh tokens
• Automatic token refresh in frontend middleware
• User profile page (display name, bio, phone, avatar upload)
• Room-based chat
• Realtime message updates via Supabase Realtime
• Room invitations (send, list pending, accept)

Tech stack

• Frontend: Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4
• Backend: NestJS 11, TypeScript
• Data/Auth/Storage/Realtime: Supabase

Repository layout

.
|- cozyroom/       # Next.js app
|- thebackroom/    # NestJS API
`- README.md       # You are here

How it works

1. User authenticates through frontend forms.
2. Frontend server actions call backend auth endpoints.
3. Tokens are set as HTTP-only cookies (access_token, refresh_token).
4. Frontend middleware checks cookies and tries /auth/refresh when needed.
5. Frontend calls internal Next.js API routes, which proxy requests to NestJS.
6. Backend uses Supabase for auth, profile data, chat data, and avatar storage.
7. Chat UI subscribes to Supabase realtime inserts for new messages.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• npm 10+
• A Supabase project with auth enabled

Environment variables

Create .env.local in cozyroom/ and .env (or .env.local) in thebackroom/.

Frontend (cozyroom/.env.local)

# Supabase
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_DEFAULT_KEY=your_supabase_anon_key

# Optional
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_IMAGE_PATH=/storage/v1/object/public/**
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3001
API_URL=http://localhost:3001

Notes:

• NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL and NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_DEFAULT_KEY are required.
• NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is used in the browser.
• API_URL is used by server-side fetches.

Backend (thebackroom/.env)

# Supabase
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_DEFAULT_KEY=your_supabase_anon_key

# Optional
PORT=3001

Notes:

• Backend currently reads the same Supabase variables shown above.
• Default backend port is 3001.

Database and storage expectations

The backend expects these Supabase resources to exist:

• Tables/views used by code:
  • profiles
  • public_profiles
  • rooms
  • room_members
  • messages
  • room_invitations
• Storage bucket:
  • avatar

Local development

Open two terminals from the workspace root.

1) Start backend

cd thebackroom
npm install
npm run start:dev

Backend runs on http://localhost:3001 by default.

2) Start frontend

cd cozyroom
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend runs on http://localhost:3000.

Build and run (production mode)

Frontend

cd cozyroom
npm run build
npm run start

Backend

cd thebackroom
npm run build
npm run start:prod

Useful scripts

Frontend (cozyroom/package.json)

• npm run dev
• npm run build
• npm run start
• npm run lint

Backend (thebackroom/package.json)

• npm run start:dev
• npm run build
• npm run start:prod
• npm run lint
• npm run test
• npm run test:e2e

API surface (high level)

Auth:

• POST /auth/login
• POST /auth/register
• GET /auth/me
• POST /auth/refresh
• POST /auth/logout

Users:

• GET /users/search?q=...&limit=...
• GET /users/me/profile
• PATCH /users/me/profile
• POST /users/me/avatar

Chat:

• GET /chat/rooms
• POST /chat/rooms
• GET /chat/rooms/:roomId/messages
• POST /chat/rooms/:roomId/messages
• GET /chat/rooms/:roomId/members
• POST /chat/rooms/:roomId/invite
• GET /chat/invitations
• PATCH /chat/invitations/:invitationId/accept

Frontend routes

• / landing page
• /login
• /register
• /profile
• /chat
• /chat/[roomId]

Troubleshooting

• App fails at startup with missing Supabase vars:
  • Confirm both frontend and backend env files contain required variables.
• Frontend cannot reach backend:
  • Confirm backend is running on 3001.
  • Set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL and API_URL explicitly if needed.
• Avatar image does not load:
  • Check Next.js image host config and Supabase storage permissions.
• Realtime messages do not appear:
  • Confirm Supabase Realtime is enabled for the messages table.

Notes

• Existing app-specific README files inside cozyroom/ and thebackroom/ are starter templates.
• Use this root README as the main project guide.