Socket Programming Project

Modern full-stack chat playground that combines a Go (Gin + Socket.IO) backend with a React + TypeScript client.
The server persists rooms, users, and group/private messages in SQLite, while the client offers a split UI for room conversations and direct messages.

Features

• 🔌 Socket.IO realtime bridge between Go and React (long‑polling compatible for Windows without CGO)
• 💾 SQLite persistence for rooms, users, and chat history
• 👥 Online user presence broadcast to all clients
• 💬 Group chat with room history REST endpoints
• 📩 Private messaging tab with per-user threads and history fetch
• 🛡️ Configurable CORS and environment overrides for local/dev deployments

Project Structure

.
├── server/        # Go backend (Gin, Socket.IO, GORM + SQLite)
├── client/        # React + Vite front-end
└── README.md

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23+
• Node.js 20+ (or latest LTS) and npm
• SQLite (bundled through github.com/glebarez/sqlite, no CGO needed)

Getting Started

1. Install dependencies

# From project root
cd server && go mod download
cd ../client && npm install

2. Configure environment

server/config/config.yaml ships with sane defaults:

server:
  port: 8080
database:
  sqlite_path: "chat.db"
socket:
  cors_allowed: "http://127.0.0.1:5173,http://127.0.0.1:6001"

Client-side overrides live in client/.env (ignored by git). For local dev:

VITE_SOCKET_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8080
VITE_DEV_PORT=5173

3. Run the backend

cd server
go run ./cmd

The server logs when it loads config, applies migrations, and binds to :8080.

4. Run the client

cd client
npm run dev

Open the URL printed by Vite (default http://127.0.0.1:6000).
Enter a display name, join the #general room, and start chatting.
Use the Online list to open the Private Messages tab for a DM thread.

REST & Socket Highlights

Route	Description
GET /groups / POST /groups	List/create rooms
GET /rooms/:room/messages	Group history (public messages)
GET /dm/:peer/messages?me=<id>	Private history for a pair of users
GET /socket.io/* POST /socket.io/*	Socket.IO transport endpoints

Socket events (namespace /):

Event	Payload	Notes
join	{ room, name }	Registers display name & joins room
chat	{ room, content }	Broadcast to room, stored in DB
private	{ to, content }	Direct message; echoed to sender & recipient
users	user[]	Server push of online users
joined	{ room, name, userId }	Confirmation of login/join

Testing / Production Builds

# Backend
cd server && go build ./...

# Frontend
cd client && npm run build

Deployments can run the compiled Go binary and npm run build output (client/dist) behind any static host or proxy.

Troubleshooting

• Port conflicts or EACCES: adjust VITE_DEV_PORT / PORT or run with elevated privileges.
• CORS errors: update socket.cors_allowed in config.yaml to include your frontend origin(s).
• Stale SQLite file: delete server/chat.db (ignored by git) to reset the database; migrations will recreate tables.

Happy hacking!