Convo Backend

This is the backend service for the chat application built using NestJS, Prisma, Redis, and WebSocket technologies. The backend provides authentication, real-time messaging, session management, and rate-limiting using Redis.

Features

• User Registration & Authentication: JWT-based authentication with secure session storage.
• Real-time Chat: WebSocket-based messaging system with support for multiple chat rooms.
• Redis Caching: Frequently accessed data (e.g., chat messages) are cached in Redis to improve performance.
• Rate Limiting: Redis-based rate limiting to control how many messages a user can send in a specified period.
• Database: Prisma ORM connected to a PostgreSQL database for managing users, messages, and chat rooms.
• Session Management: Redis is used to store user login sessions for faster authentication checks.

Technologies

• NestJS - Node.js framework for building efficient and scalable server-side applications.
• Prisma - ORM for managing PostgreSQL database.
• Redis - In-memory data store used for caching and rate-limiting.
• Socket.io - Real-time bidirectional event-based communication for chat functionality.
• JWT - JSON Web Token for secure user authentication.

Requirements

• Node.js (v16 or higher)
• PostgreSQL Database
• Redis server
• Docker (optional)

Getting Started

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ricky-ultimate/convo-backend.git
   cd convo-backend

2. Install the dependencies:

   npm install

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory and configure the following environment variables:

# PostgreSQL database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/chatapp

# JWT configuration
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_key
SESSION_SECRET=your-session-secret

# Redis configuration
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

# Rate-limiting configuration
RATE_LIMIT_POINTS=5      # Max messages per duration
RATE_LIMIT_DURATION=10   # Duration in seconds for rate-limiting

Running the Application

To run the server in development mode:

npm run start

API Endpoints

• User Registration: Post /auth/register
• User Login: Post /auth/login
• Create Chat Room: Post /chat/room
• Send Message: Post /chat/message
• Get Messages: GET /chat/messages?chatRoomName=room-name