Chatapp/README.md

Docker Setup

Run the full stack with:

docker compose up --build

Services:

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• Backend: http://localhost:4000
• MongoDB: mongodb://localhost:27017/chatapp

The Compose file starts all required services together:

• frontend as a Vite container
• backend as a Node/Express container
• mongo with a persistent mongo-data volume

Stop everything with:

docker compose down

Remove containers and database volume with:

docker compose down -v

Local Development Without Docker

1. Copy the backend environment file:

   cp Backend/.env.example Backend/.env
   

2. Start MongoDB locally or with Docker.

3. Start the backend:

   cd Backend && npm run dev
   

The backend tries MongoDB at mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/chatapp first and falls back to Backend/data/db.json only if MongoDB is unavailable. Use DATA_STORE=mongo to fail fast on MongoDB errors, or DATA_STORE=json to force the JSON store.