💬 Chat-System

Chat-System is a lightweight, full-stack real-time chat application built using Node.js, Express, EJS, and MongoDB.
It features a clean, responsive UI, full CRUD operations, RESTful architecture, and modular code structure.

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🏗️ Table of Contents

• Features
• Architecture & Tech Stack
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Running the App
• Usage
• Folder Structure
• Routes & APIs
• Database Schema
• Screenshots / Demo
• Future Enhancements
• Contributing
• License
• Acknowledgments

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✨ Features

• 🔄 Real-time chat messaging with full CRUD
• 🛠️ RESTful routing & modular controllers
• 🎨 Clean, minimal, and responsive UI
• 🔐 User sessions & basic authentication
• 💾 Message persistence in MongoDB
• 🖼️ EJS templating for SSR views
• ✅ Input validation & error handling

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🧱 Architecture & Tech Stack

Layer	Technology / Tool
Runtime	Node.js
Web Framework	Express
Templating	EJS
Database	MongoDB
ODM / ORM	Mongoose (or native)
Frontend (static)	CSS / JavaScript

📂 Organized into routes, controllers, models, and views for maintainability.

---

🚀 Getting Started

✅ Prerequisites

• Node.js (>= 14.x)
• npm or yarn
• MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)

⚡ Installation

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Jay-dodke/Chat-system.git
cd Chat-system

# Install dependencies
npm install
# 💬 Chat-System 🚀

**Chat-System** is a lightweight, full-stack real-time chat application built using **Node.js**, **Express**, **EJS**, and **MongoDB**.  
It features a clean, responsive UI, full CRUD operations, RESTful architecture, and modular code structure.

---

## 🏗️ Table of Contents
- [Features](#-features)  
- [Architecture & Tech Stack](#-architecture--tech-stack)  
- [Getting Started](#-getting-started)  
  - [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)  
  - [Installation](#installation)  
  - [Running the App](#running-the-app)  
- [Usage](#-usage)  
- [Folder Structure](#-folder-structure)  
- [Routes & APIs](#-routes--apis)  
- [Database Schema](#-database-schema)  
- [Screenshots / Demo](#-screenshots--demo)  
- [Future Enhancements](#-future-enhancements)  
- [Contributing](#-contributing)  
- [License](#-license)  
- [Acknowledgments](#-acknowledgments)  

---

## ✨ Features
- 🔄 Real-time chat messaging with full CRUD  
- 🛠️ RESTful routing & modular controllers  
- 🎨 Clean, minimal, and responsive UI  
- 🔐 User sessions & basic authentication  
- 💾 Message persistence in MongoDB  
- 🖼️ EJS templating for SSR views  
- ✅ Input validation & error handling  

---

## 🧱 Architecture & Tech Stack

| Layer                   | Technology / Tool        |
|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| **Runtime**              | Node.js                 |
| **Web Framework**        | Express                 |
| **Templating**           | EJS                     |
| **Database**             | MongoDB                 |
| **ODM / ORM**            | Mongoose (or native)    |
| **Frontend (static)**    | CSS / JavaScript        |

📂 Organized into **routes**, **controllers**, **models**, and **views** for maintainability.

---

## 🚀 Getting Started

### ✅ Prerequisites
- Node.js (>= 14.x)  
- npm or yarn  
- MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)  

### ⚡ Installation
```bash
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Jay-dodke/Chat-system.git
cd Chat-system

# Install dependencies
npm install