Real-Time Chat Application

Welcome to the Real-Time Chat Application! This project showcases a real-time chat system implemented using Go, WebSockets, and Redis. It is designed to demonstrate scalable and efficient real-time messaging and chat history management.

Overview

This application consists of three main components:

1. WebSocket Service: Handles real-time messaging between users. It also fetches chat history when a new user joins.
2. History Storage Service: Stores chat messages in Redis and provides an endpoint to fetch chat history.
3. Redis: Acts as a message broker and storage backend for chat messages.

Features

• Real-Time Messaging: Enables instant communication between users using WebSockets.
• Chat History Management: Stores and retrieves chat messages in chronological order.
• Dockerized Services: Each component runs in its own Docker container for easy deployment and scalability.

Architecture

1. WebSocket Service:

   • Handles WebSocket connections.
   • Publishes new messages to the Redis chat_channel.
   • Fetches chat history from the History Storage Service and sends it to clients on connection.

2. History Storage Service:

   • Subscribes to Redis chat_channel.
   • Saves incoming messages to the chat_history list in Redis.
   • Provides an HTTP endpoint to fetch chat history.

3. Redis:

   • Acts as a message broker with Pub/Sub functionality.
   • Stores chat history with no expiration.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed on your machine.
• Basic understanding of Go, WebSockets, and Redis.

Setup

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mahdi-eth/real-time-chat-app.git
   cd real-time-chat-app

2. Build and Start Services:

   docker-compose up --build

   This command will build Docker images for the WebSocket and History Storage services, and start all services defined in the docker-compose.yml file.

3. Testing the Application:

• Open your WebSocket client (such as WebSocket King Client or postman) and connect to ws://localhost:8080/ws.

• Send messages and see real-time communication in action.

• New connections will receive chat history automatically.

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Thank you for checking out the Real-Time Chat Application. We hope you find it useful and informative!

Happy coding!