CipherTalk - Real-Time Secure Chat Application 🚀

CipherTalk is a modern, secure, and feature-rich chat application built with a focus on real-time communication and user experience. It leverages the power of FastAPI, React, and WebSocket technology to deliver seamless messaging capabilities.

🌟 Features

Authentication & Security

• JWT-based authentication with access and refresh tokens
• Secure password hashing using bcrypt
• Email verification system
• Password reset functionality
• HTTP-only cookie implementation for enhanced security

Chat Functionality

• Real-time messaging using Socket.IO
• One-on-one private conversations
• Group chat support with admin controls
• File sharing capabilities
• Typing indicators
• Read receipts
• Message history

User Experience

• Modern, responsive UI built with React and TailwindCSS
• Real-time updates and notifications
• Intuitive group management
• User search functionality
• Avatar support
• Clean and intuitive interface

Monitoring & Performance

• Grafana dashboard integration
• MongoDB performance monitoring
• Real-time database metrics
• System health monitoring
• Resource usage tracking

🛠️ Technology Stack

Backend

• FastAPI: High-performance Python web framework
• MongoDB: NoSQL database for flexible data storage
• Socket.IO: Real-time bidirectional event-based communication
• JWT: Token-based authentication
• Bcrypt: Password hashing
• Mailtrap: Email testing service

Frontend

• React: UI library for building user interfaces
• TailwindCSS: Utility-first CSS framework
• Socket.IO Client: Real-time communication
• React Query: Server state management
• React Router: Navigation management

Monitoring

• Grafana: Analytics and monitoring platform
• MongoDB Metrics: Database performance tracking
• System Metrics: Resource utilization monitoring

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Node.js 14+
• MongoDB
• Grafana

Environment Variables

ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret
REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your_refresh_token_secret
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_MINUTES=15
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY=7
MONGODB_URL=your_mongodb_url
MAILTRAP_SMTP_USER=your_mailtrap_user
MAILTRAP_SMTP_PASS=your_mailtrap_password

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Dhruv-mak/CipherTalk.git
cd CipherTalk

2. Set up the backend

cd backend
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn main:app --reload

3. Set up the frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

📊 Monitoring Dashboard

The Grafana dashboard provides real-time insights into:

• MongoDB read/write operations
• Query performance metrics
• Connection pool status
• System resource utilization
• Error rates and types
• User activity patterns

🔒 Security Features

• JWT Authentication: Secure token-based user authentication
• HTTP-Only Cookies: Prevention of XSS attacks
• Password Hashing: Secure storage of user credentials
• Email Verification: User validation through email
• Rate Limiting: Protection against brute force attacks
• Input Validation: Prevention of injection attacks

🔄 API Documentation

The API documentation is automatically generated using FastAPI's built-in Swagger UI and can be accessed at /docs when running the server.

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

📧 Contact

For any queries or support, please reach out to [email protected]