chat-app

.env Setup

MONGO_URI

• Create a MongoDB account.
• Create a new cluster.
• Click Connect.
• Create a database user and copy the password into a note temporarily.
• Click Choose a connection method.
• Click Drivers.
• Select Node.js for the Driver.
• Copy the URL given in step/part 3.
• Paste the copied URL into the MONGO_URI variable.
• Copy and paste the password you saved earlier into the URL as directed in step/part 3.

JWT_SECRET

• Output of running node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

SERVER_ID

• Output of running node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomUUID())"

SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY_B64URL & SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY_B64URL

• From the root of the project, run each of the following (WSL/Linux/macOS, not Windows):
  • openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_bits:4096 -out temp/server_private.pem
  • openssl rsa -pubout -in temp/server_private.pem -out temp/server_public.pem
  • node -e "const fs=require('fs');const s=fs.readFileSync('temp/server_private.pem','utf8');const b=Buffer.from(s,'utf8').toString('base64').replace(/\+/g,'-').replace(/\//g,'_').replace(/=+$/,'');fs.writeFileSync('temp/SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY_B64URL.txt',b)"
  • node -e "const fs=require('fs');const s=fs.readFileSync('temp/server_public.pem','utf8');const b=Buffer.from(s,'utf8').toString('base64').replace(/\+/g,'-').replace(/\//g,'_').replace(/=+$/,'');fs.writeFileSync('temp/SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY_B64URL.txt',b)"
• Paste the contents of SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY_B64URL.txt and SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY_B64URL.txt in the temp folder into their respective fields in the .env file.

Additional Backend Setup

• From /ChatGeek (not in /backend), run ./backend/scripts/slc-certs/generate.sh

Starting The Backend/Server

• Run cd backend
• Run npm start
  • May need to install npm if not done so already.
  • May need to run sudo npm install -g nodemon if you receive the error: "nodemon: Permission denied".