Real-Time Chat Application 💬

A simple, real-time chat application built with Go backend, Vue.js frontend, and Firebase Firestore database. Features clean architecture, gRPC-Web communication, and responsive design.

This is my personal exploration journey into backend development with Go and RPC communication

🚀 Live Application

Access the deployed application here:
🔗 https://chat-app-real-time.fly.dev

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🚀 Features

• Real-time messaging with instant message delivery
• Multiple chat rooms support
• User authentication with Firebase
• Responsive design optimized for both desktop and mobile
• Clean architecture backend with separation of concerns
• gRPC-Web for efficient client-server communication
• Docker containerization for easy deployment
• CI/CD pipeline with Jenkins

🏗️ Architecture

Backend (Go)

backend/
├── cmd/server/          # Application entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── domain/          # Business models and entities
│   ├── interfaces/      # gRPC handlers and protobuf definitions
│   ├── usecases/        # Business logic
│   └── infrastructure/  # Firebase Firestore implementation
├── proto/               # Protocol buffer definitions
└── go.mod              # Go dependencies

Frontend (Vue.js)

frontend/
├── src/
│   ├── components/      # Vue components
│   ├── composables/     # Vue 3 composables 
│   ├── services/        # API services
│   ├── proto/           # Protobuf generated code
│   └── utils/          # Utilities and configuration
├── public/             # Static assets
└── package.json        # Node.js dependencies

🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

• Go 1.24 - Programming language
• gRPC-Web - RPC framework for web clients
• Firebase Firestore - NoSQL database
• Firebase Authentication - User management
• Protocol Buffers - Interface definition language

Frontend

• Vue.js 3 - Progressive JavaScript framework
• gRPC-Web - Client-server communication
• CSS3 - Styling with responsive design

Infrastructure

• Docker - Containerization
• Fly.io - Cloud deployment platform
• Jenkins - CI/CD pipeline
• Docker Hub - Container registry

📦 Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+
• Node.js 20+
• Docker
• Firebase project with Firestore
• Fly.io account
• Docker Hub account

🚀 Quick Start

Option 1: Docker Compose (Recommended for Local Development)

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/BeldiMariem/chat-app.git
   cd chat-app
   

2. Set up Firebase credentials

   • Download your Firebase service account key
   • Save as backend/firebase-service-account.json

3. Run with Docker Compose

   docker-compose up
   

4. Access the application

   • Frontend: http://localhost:3000
   • Backend: http://localhost:8078

Option 2: Manual Setup

Backend Setup

1. Navigate to backend

   cd backend
   

2. Install dependencies

   go mod download
   

3. Run locally

   go run cmd/server/main.go
   

Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to frontend

   cd frontend
   

2. Install dependencies

   npm install
   

3. Run development server

   npm run dev
   

Jenkins Pipeline

The project includes a Jenkins pipelines for backend and frontend that automatically:

• Runs tests
• Builds Docker images
• Pushes to Docker Hub

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

Backend:

• PORT - Server port (default: 8078)
• GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS - Firebase credentials path

Frontend:

• VITE_API_URL - Backend API URL

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Live Demo: https://chat-app.fly.dev

👩‍💻 Developed with ❤️ by Mariem BELDI.