svelte-messenger

A real-time one-to-one chat app built with Svelte, Express, and Socket.io, now with persisted user accounts and admin user management.

Features

• Account registration and login with bcrypt password hashing
• JWT-based authentication and role-based admin access
• Admin panel for listing users, granting/revoking admin role, and deleting users
• Private one-to-one messaging over Socket.io namespaces
• Online buddy list and typing/keyboard activity indicators
• Local SQLite persistence via Drizzle ORM

Tech Stack

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• npm

Setup

git clone <repo-url>
cd svelte-messenger
npm install

Copy environment defaults:

cp .env.example .env

On Windows PowerShell:

Copy-Item .env.example .env

Environment Variables

See .env.example for all options.

• PORT: backend port (default 4000)
• JWT_SECRET: JWT signing key (required in production)
• ALLOWED_ORIGINS: comma-separated CORS origins for frontend URLs
• DATABASE_URL: SQLite file path (default ./messenger.db)

Running the App

Run frontend and backend in separate terminals.

Terminal 1 (frontend Vite dev server):

npm run dev

Terminal 2 (backend API + Socket.io server):

npm run start

By default:

• Frontend: http://localhost:5000
• Backend/API: http://localhost:4000

Database Commands

npm run db:generate
npm run db:push
npm run db:migrate
npm run db:studio

Testing

npm test

Project Structure

├── server.ts                # Express API + Socket.io backend
├── drizzle.config.ts        # Drizzle Kit config
├── src/
│   ├── db/
│   │   ├── index.ts         # Drizzle database client
│   │   └── schema.ts        # Database schema
│   ├── App.svelte           # Root app shell
│   ├── types.ts             # Shared frontend types
│   └── components/
│       ├── Auth.svelte
│       ├── ChatBuddies*.svelte
│       └── AdminPanel.svelte
└── tests/                   # Playwright tests