Fullstack Developer from Dnipro, Mykhailo Vobolis, developed the Real Time Chat application. It is a private chat for one-on-one communication in real time.
Fullstack Developer from Dnipro, Mykhailo Vobolis, developed the Real Time Chat application. It is a private chat for one-on-one communication in real time.
The idea for the application arose in August as part of a test assignment for a Ukrainian IT company for the position of Fullstack Developer.
The project seemed not only interesting to me, but also useful, as it covered all the key aspects of the profession: Frontend, Backend, and even DevOps. That's how this private chat was born, which allowed me not only to complete a test task, but also to create a real product.
Real Time Chat is an application that is a digital "bridge" between two people, providing privacy, speed, and control over the conversation.
"It is ideal for those who value personal communication in a convenient and safe environment. Its main function is to give people the opportunity to have personal conversations as quickly and conveniently as in a live dialogue," says Mykhailo.
The application offers the following functionality:
“Telegram, Messenger, and WhatsApp are giant universal tools “for everyone and everything.” However, for now, Real Time Chat is about something else, about demonstrating the simplicity of the application with a focus on privacy and adaptability,” the developer adds.
The developer spent 5 days creating the application. ChatGPT helped speed up the process.
"Since a deadline for execution was set together with the TOR, it was decided to focus primarily on the implementation of business logic and work with the database, and to "entrust" the front-end styling, which was not a criterion for the TOR, to ChatGPT. To do this, I wrote styling for several pages, which were provided in the form of a ChatGPT prompt as references, to understand the context during further styling of the components. Thanks to this decision, as planned, the work was completed exactly within the established deadline," the developer explains.
So far, the biggest investment in this project has been Mykhailo's own time and efforts: "This shows that even in a relatively short period of time and without large financial costs, you can create a working product if you have a clear vision and motivation.
The developer used React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS to create the client side. The server was built on Node.js and Express, the database was connected to PostgreSQL via Prisma, and SocketIO is responsible for real-time.
“To make everything convenient to run, I completely dockerized the project using Docker and docker-compose,” says the IT guy.
The project is currently in active development. The codebase is open to the developer community on GitHub, so anyone can download it, deploy the application locally, and test it.
“This gives you the opportunity not only to see how the chat works, but also to directly influence its development, leave feedback, share ideas, or even comments,” notes Mykhailo.
Regarding the project's development plans, the developer says they are simple and at the same time important: to get feedback from users and the developer community.
"It is this feedback that will help us understand which features should be improved or added first. After that, the project will gradually develop further, with an emphasis on convenience, security, and new opportunities for private communication."
