Best Messenger

A one-to-one realtime chat app.

Technologies

• React + Redux
• Node.js + Express + Sequalize
• PostgreSQL

Initial Setup

Create the PostgreSQL database (these instructions may need to be adapted for your operating system):

psql
CREATE DATABASE messenger;
\q

Update db.js to connect with your local PostgreSQL set up. The Sequelize documentation can help with this.

Create a .env file in the server directory and add your session secret (this can be any string):

SESSION_SECRET = "your session secret"

In the server folder, install dependencies and then seed the database:

cd server
npm install
npm run seed

In the client folder, install dependencies:

cd client
npm install

Running the Application Locally

In one terminal, start the front end:

cd client
npm start

In a separate terminal, start the back end:

cd server
npm run dev