socket-chat

A server hosted locally allowing users on the same local area network to chat with each other. This project features.

A cross-platform desktop application created with electron to run the chatroom on any operating system (Window, Mac, Linux).
Responsive design allowing for mobile and tablet users to connect.
Local rooms can run without internet acess.
Private rooms with a password.

Prerequisites 💾

This project requires NodeJS installed on your system to run. NodeJS is available for download at https://nodejs.org/en/

Usage

Setting up the server ⚙️

To setup the server navigate to the file located in src/server-data.json and change the information e.g Room Name, Password in the file.

Running the server 💡

To start the chat room, begin by cloning this repository using:

git clone https://github.com/manuanish/bon5r
cd chat-room

Once this is finished, we need to install the dependencies that are required for the server to run.

npm install

Finally, we can start the server using the command:

npm start

Now, the server is hosted on you network at localhost:3000.

Connecting Clients 🔌

On the machine which the server is running, clients can join using the URL: http://localhost:3000 . Other users on the local network can connect to the room using your IP adress followed by the port: http://<local ip>:3000 .

Desktop Application 💻

The chatroom can also be accessed using an electron application. To run this first we go into the folder electron-app and execute the following command to install required dependencies.

cd electron-app
npm install

To launch the application, run the command:

npm start

Now the application should be running. This can be distributed and packaged using ham electron-forge to other clients on different platforms.

Warning! As of now, the application only works for the user running the server.

Hosting Globally 🌍

The server can be hosted on platforms such as Heroku, Google Cloud, etc. allowing users from around the world to connect to the room.

Planned Features 💭

Here are some of the things planned to be added soon to the project.

Allow all local users to run the Desktop Application.
Message history for the running session.
Show all online users in the sidebar.

Minor Updates 🔨

Broadcast a message when a user joins the room.

manuanish / socket-chat