🚀 SwiftChat

SwiftChat is a modern real-time chat application built with FastAPI, WebSockets, and Neon PostgreSQL.
Features JWT authentication, live messaging, chat room management, and persistent chat history.

✨ Features

• 🔐 User Authentication - Secure registration and login with JWT tokens
• 💬 Real-time Messaging - Instant messaging with WebSocket connections
• 🏠 Chat Rooms - Create and join different chat rooms
• 📱 Responsive UI - Clean, modern interface that works on all devices
• 💾 Message Persistence - Chat history stored in PostgreSQL database
• 🚀 Single-Service Deployment - Frontend and backend served together
• 🔒 Secure - Password hashing with bcrypt and JWT token authentication

🛠️ Tech Stack

🖥️ Backend Technologies

Technology	Purpose	Features
🐍 FastAPI	Web Framework	High-performance async API, Auto-documentation, Type hints
🗄️ SQLAlchemy	Database ORM	Advanced querying, Relationship mapping, Migration support
🐘 PostgreSQL (Neon)	Cloud Database	Serverless, Auto-scaling, High availability
⚡ WebSockets	Real-time Communication	Bi-directional, Low latency, Event-driven
🔐 JWT	Authentication	Stateless, Secure, Token-based auth
🛡️ bcrypt	Password Security	Adaptive hashing, Salt generation, Brute-force resistant
🔧 Uvicorn	ASGI Server	High performance, Production ready, Hot reload
📦 Pydantic	Data Validation	Type validation, Serialization, Auto-documentation

🎨 Frontend Technologies

Technology	Purpose	Features
🌐 HTML5	Structure	Semantic markup, Accessibility, Modern standards
🎨 CSS3	Styling	Flexbox/Grid, Animations, Responsive design
⚡ Vanilla JavaScript	Interactivity	WebSocket client, Async/await, DOM manipulation
📱 Responsive Design	Mobile Support	Adaptive layouts, Touch-friendly, Cross-browser

☁️ Infrastructure & Deployment

Technology	Purpose	Features
🚀 Render	Hosting Platform	Free tier, Auto-deploy, HTTPS, Global CDN
🌍 Neon	Database Hosting	Serverless PostgreSQL, Branching, Auto-scaling
🔄 Git	Version Control	Distributed, Branching, Collaboration
🐙 GitHub	Code Repository	CI/CD integration, Issue tracking, Pull requests

🛡️ Security & Performance

Feature	Implementation	Benefit
🔒 CORS Protection	FastAPI Middleware	Cross-origin security
🛡️ SQL Injection Prevention	SQLAlchemy ORM	Parameterized queries
🔐 Environment Variables	python-dotenv	Secure configuration
⚡ Async Architecture	FastAPI + Uvicorn	High concurrency
🚀 Static File Serving	FastAPI StaticFiles	Optimized delivery

🏗️ Architecture Overview

graph TB
    A[👤 User Browser] --> B[🌐 Frontend HTML/CSS/JS]
    B --> C[⚡ WebSocket Connection]
    B --> D[🔗 REST API Calls]
    C --> E[🖥️ FastAPI Backend]
    D --> E
    E --> F[🗄️ SQLAlchemy ORM]
    F --> G[🐘 PostgreSQL Database]
    E --> H[🔐 JWT Authentication]
    E --> I[🛡️ Security Middleware]

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📁 Project Structure

SwiftChat/
├── app/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── main.py           # FastAPI app with static serving
│   ├── config.py         # Environment configuration
│   ├── database.py       # Database connection
│   ├── models.py         # SQLAlchemy models
│   ├── schemas.py        # Pydantic schemas
│   ├── websocket.py      # WebSocket handling
│   └── routes/
│       ├── auth.py       # Authentication endpoints
│       └── chat.py       # Chat endpoints
├── frontend/
│   ├── login.html        # Login page
│   ├── register.html     # Registration page
│   ├── chat.html         # Chat interface
│   └── styles.css        # Shared styles
├── requirements.txt      # Python dependencies
├── .env                  # Environment variables
└── README.md

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• PostgreSQL database (or Neon account)

Local Development

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <your-repo-url>
   cd SwiftChat

2. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set up environment variables

   cp .env.example .env
   # Edit .env with your database credentials

4. Run the application

   uvicorn app.main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

5. Access the application

   • Open your browser to http://localhost:8000
   • Register a new account or login
   • Start chatting!

🌐 Deployment (Render)

Backend + Frontend (Single Service)

1. Push to GitHub

   git add .
   git commit -m "Ready for deployment"
   git push origin main

2. Create Render Web Service

   • Connect your GitHub repository
   • Build Command: pip install -r requirements.txt
   • Start Command: uvicorn app.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT

3. Environment Variables

   DATABASE_URL=postgresql://your-neon-db-url
   JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key
   ENVIRONMENT=production
   DEBUG=False
   

4. Access your deployed app

   • Frontend: https://your-app.onrender.com/
   • API Docs: https://your-app.onrender.com/docs

🔧 API Endpoints

Authentication

• POST /auth/register - Register new user
• POST /auth/login - User login

Chat

• GET /chat/messages/{room_id} - Get chat history
• POST /chat/messages/ - Send message
• WS /ws/chat/{room_id} - WebSocket connection

System

• GET /health - Health check
• GET /docs - API documentation

🎮 Usage

1. Register a new account with username, email, and password
2. Login with your credentials
3. Enter a room ID (any number) to join a chat room
4. Start messaging - messages are delivered in real-time
5. View history - previous messages are loaded automatically

🔒 Security Features

• Password Hashing with bcrypt
• JWT Token Authentication
• CORS Protection
• SQL Injection Prevention with SQLAlchemy ORM
• Environment Variable Security

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

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

🙏 Acknowledgments

• FastAPI for the excellent web framework
• Neon for managed PostgreSQL hosting
• Render for easy deployment platform

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Built with ❤️ by [Sudipta Sarkar]

Live Demo: SwiftChat on Render