DevBuddy

A social media platform built for developers — share code snippets, connect with other devs, chat in real time, and stay updated with a personalized feed.

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Live Demo

Service	URL
Frontend	https://the-intellecta.netlify.app/
Backend	https://devbuddyserver.onrender.com

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Features

• Authentication — Email/password signup & login, Google OAuth
• Developer Feed — Algorithm-driven feed with cursor-based infinite scrolling
• Posts — Create posts with captions, images, code snippets (multi-language), and tags
• Code Highlighting — Syntax-highlighted code blocks in posts and chat
• Likes & Comments — Like and comment on posts
• Save Posts — Bookmark posts to revisit later
• Friend System — Send/accept/decline friend requests, remove friends
• Friend Suggestions — Discover new developers to connect with
• Trending Tags — See what topics are hot right now
• Real-time Chat — One-on-one messaging powered by Socket.io
• Group Chat — Create groups and chat with multiple friends
• Chat Features — Image sharing, code snippets, typing indicators, online status
• Notifications — Real-time in-app notifications
• User Profiles — View and edit profile, profile picture upload via Cloudinary
• Search — Search for users by name or username

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Tech Stack

Frontend

Tech	Purpose
React 19	UI framework
Vite	Build tool
Tailwind CSS	Styling
Framer Motion	Animations
Radix UI	Accessible UI primitives
React Router DOM	Client-side routing
Socket.io Client	Real-time communication
React Syntax Highlighter	Code block rendering
Lucide React	Icons

Backend

Tech	Purpose
Node.js + Express	Server framework
MongoDB + Mongoose	Database
Socket.io	Real-time WebSocket server
JWT	Authentication tokens
bcrypt	Password hashing
Cloudinary	Image storage
Multer	File upload handling
Google Auth Library	Google OAuth

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Project Structure

devbuddy/
├── backend/
│   ├── server.js              # Express app, Socket.io, all routes
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   └── authenticate.js    # JWT & Google auth middleware
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── User.js
│   │   ├── Post.js
│   │   ├── Comment.js
│   │   ├── Like.js
│   │   ├── Message.js
│   │   ├── Notification.js
│   │   ├── Group.js
│   │   └── TagStats.js
│   └── services/
│       ├── register.js
│       ├── addPost.js
│       ├── addlike.js
│       ├── handleComment.js
│       ├── handleFeed.js
│       ├── handleMessage.js
│       ├── addFriend.js
│       ├── addNotification.js
│       ├── editDatabase.js
│       └── cloudinary.js
└── frontend/
    └── src/
        ├── App.jsx
        ├── pages/
        │   ├── home.jsx
        │   ├── login.jsx
        │   ├── signup.jsx
        │   ├── AskForUsername.jsx
        │   ├── Profile.jsx
        │   ├── UpdateProfile.jsx
        │   ├── User.jsx
        │   ├── Chat.jsx
        │   ├── Notifications.jsx
        │   └── SavedPosts.jsx
        ├── components/
        │   ├── Navbar.jsx
        │   ├── Sidebar.jsx
        │   ├── PostCard.jsx
        │   ├── CodeBlock.jsx
        │   ├── NotificationCard.jsx
        │   └── ui/
        └── providers/
            └── getUser.jsx

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• MongoDB instance (local or Atlas)
• Cloudinary account
• Google OAuth credentials

Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install

Create a .env file in the backend/ directory:

MONG_URL=your_mongodb_connection_string
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_google_client_id

Start the server:

node server.js

The backend runs on http://localhost:3000.

Frontend Setup

cd frontend
npm install

Create a .env file in the frontend/ directory:

VITE_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:3000

Start the dev server:

npm run dev

The frontend runs on http://localhost:5173.

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API Overview

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/register	Register new user
POST	/login	Login with email/password
POST	/google-login	Login with Google
POST	/logout	Logout
GET	/me	Get current user
GET	/	Get personalized feed
POST	/add-post	Create a post
POST	/delete-post	Delete a post
GET	/get-posts	Get posts
POST	/like-post	Like a post
POST	/unlike-post	Unlike a post
POST	/add-comment	Add a comment
GET	/get-comments	Get comments
POST	/save-post	Save a post
GET	/get-saved-posts	Get saved posts
POST	/send-friend-request	Send friend request
POST	/add-friend	Accept friend request
POST	/decline-friend	Decline friend request
POST	/remove-friend	Remove a friend
GET	/get-suggestion	Get friend suggestions
GET	/search	Search users
GET	/get-user	Get user by username
PATCH	/edit-profile	Update profile
GET	/notifications	Get notifications
GET	/get-chats	Get chat list
GET	/get-messages	Get messages in a room
POST	/create-group	Create a group chat
GET	/get-group-members	Get group members
GET	/get-online-friends	Get online friends
GET	/get-trending-tags	Get trending tags

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Socket.io Events

Event	Direction	Description
connection	Server	User connects, marked online
joinRoom	Client → Server	Join a chat room
sendMessage	Client → Server	Send a message
receiveMessage	Server → Client	Receive a message
typing	Client → Server	User is typing
userTyping	Server → Client	Notify others of typing
stopTyping	Client → Server	User stopped typing
userStoppedTyping	Server → Client	Notify others stopped typing
disconnect	Server	User goes offline