Z-Chat

A real-time chat application built with Go, WebSockets, and a PostgreSQL backend.

Features

• Real-time messaging via WebSockets
• User Authentication with JWT
• REST API for registration, login, and message history
• PostgreSQL Integration for data persistence
• Database Migrations managed by Atlas and GORM
• Hub Pattern for concurrent client management
• Configuration Management using environment variables
• Containerized development environment with Docker

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Go (version 1.23 or newer)
• Docker and Docker Compose
• Task for running project tasks
• Atlas for database migrations

Quick Start

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/codaxa/z-chat
   cd z-chat

2. Configure your environment: Create a .env file in the root directory. You can use the following template, replacing the placeholder values with your local configuration.

   # PostgreSQL Settings
   DB_USER=admin
   DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
   DB_NAME=z-chat
   DB_HOST=localhost
   DB_PORT=5432
   
   # For Docker Compose
   POSTGRES_USER=${DB_USER}
   POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
   POSTGRES_DB=${DB_NAME}
   
   # JWT Settings
   JWT_SECRET=your_strong_jwt_secret

3. Start the database:

   docker-compose up -d

4. Set up the database schema: This command will create the database, run migrations, and get everything ready.

   task setup

5. Run the application:

   task run

   The server will start on localhost:8080.

Development

This project uses Taskfile as a command runner.

• Run tests:

  task test

• Run with hot-reloading (requires Air):

  go install github.com/cosmtrek/air@latest
  task dev-air

• Run code quality checks:

  task lint

• Create a new database migration: After making changes to GORM models in internal/domain/models/, run:

  task migrate-new

• See all available tasks:

  task --list

Architecture

cmd/chatserver/     # Application entry point
internal/
├── config/         # Configuration management
├── context/        # Context keys for request-scoped values
├── domain/         # Core domain models and repository interfaces
├── handlers/       # HTTP and WebSocket handlers
├── hub/            # WebSocket hub & client management
├── middleware/     # HTTP middleware (e.g., authentication)
├── services/       # Business logic (e.g., authentication service)
├── storage/        # Database implementation (PostgreSQL)
└── transport/http/ # HTTP routing and server setup
migrations/         # Database migration files

Dependencies

• go-chi/chi - HTTP router & middleware
• gorilla/websocket - WebSocket implementation
• pgx - PostgreSQL driver and toolkit
• golang-jwt/jwt - JWT implementation
• go-playground/validator - Struct validation
• GORM - ORM for schema generation
• Atlas - Database schema migration tool