💬 Real-Time Chat Application (Spring Boot + WebSockets)

Table of Contents

• 1. ✨ Key Features
• 2. 📡 API Endpoints
  • 2.1. WebSocket Endpoints
  • 2.2. HTTP Endpoints
• 3. 🔧 Tech Stack
• 4. 🚀 Quick Start
  • 4.1. Prerequisites
  • 4.2. Build
  • 4.3. Run
• 5. 🐳 Docker
  • 5.1. Build
  • 5.2. Run
• 6. 📐 Architecture
• 7. 🧭 Roadmap
• 8. 🤝 Contributing
• 9. 📜 License

A feature-rich real-time chat application leveraging Spring Boot, WebSocket, and HTTP protocols for seamless communication. Includes public/private messaging, chat rooms, file uploads, and user presence indicators.

1. ✨ Key Features

• Real-Time Messaging → public chat, private chat, and room-based messaging

• User Authentication & Sessions → secure login/logout with session management

• Private Rooms → create, join, leave rooms; private queues for one-to-one messaging

• File Upload Support → share images/files with uploads stored in a dedicated directory

• Dynamic Avatars → auto-generated avatar URLs based on usernames

• Docker Deployment → containerized for reproducible deployments

2. 📡 API Endpoints

2.1. WebSocket Endpoints

Endpoint	Functionality
/chat.sendMessage	Broadcast public message, update user status, attach avatar
/chat.addUser	Add a user to session and notify public chat
/chat.sendPrivateMessage	Send private message between two users via dedicated queues
/chat.createPrivateRoom	Create private room and assign users
/chat.joinRoom	Join a user to a room and notify members
/chat.leaveRoom	Remove a user from a room and notify remaining members
/chat.sendRoomMessage	Broadcast message to all users in a private room

2.2. HTTP Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Functionality
/	GET	Render chat page if authenticated; else redirect to login
/login	GET	Display login page
/login	POST	Authenticate user and create session
/logout	GET	Invalidate session and redirect to login
/upload	POST	Handle file uploads (e.g., images) and return file URL

3. 🔧 Tech Stack

• Java 17+

• Spring Boot (WebSockets, REST)

• HTML, JavaScript, CSS

• Docker for containerized deployment

4. 🚀 Quick Start

4.1. Prerequisites

• Java 17+

• Maven 3.9+

4.2. Build

mvn clean package

4.3. Run

java -jar target/real-time-chat.jar --server.port=8081

Open: http://localhost:8081

5. 🐳 Docker

5.1. Build

docker build -t real-time-chat:latest .

5.2. Run

docker run -d -p 8081:8081 real-time-chat:latest

6. 📐 Architecture

• Frontend: HTML/JS + WebSockets client

• Backend: Spring Boot WebSocket/REST controllers

• Storage: Session-based authentication + local file uploads

• Deployment: Packaged in Docker for portability

Browser ↔ Spring Boot Server (WebSocket + REST) ↔ Session/File Store

7. 🧭 Roadmap

• ❏ Add persistent DB for messages

• ❏ Enable typing indicators

• ❏ Integrate Redis pub/sub for scaling across servers

• ❏ Enhance UI with React frontend

8. 🤝 Contributing

PRs welcome!

1. Fork repository

2. Create feature branch

3. Commit changes

4. Open a Pull Request

9. 📜 License

Licensed under the MIT License.