A modern real-time chat application built using React, Node.js, Express, Socket.IO, and MongoDB. Users can log in, send private messages, and experience real-time chat updates.

• 🔐 User authentication (JWT-based or simple for demo)
• 📡 Real-time messaging with Socket.IO
• 💌 Private 1-to-1 messaging (not broadcast)
• 💾 Messages stored in MongoDB
• ⚛️ React functional components with hooks
• 🧩 Scalable backend architecture

(Add UI screenshots or a demo video link here)

• React (Vite or CRA)
• Socket.IO Client
• Axios

• Node.js
• Express
• Socket.IO
• MongoDB + Mongoose

chat-app/
├── client/             # React frontend
│   ├── public/
│   └── src/
│       ├── components/
│       ├── pages/
│       └── App.js
├── server/             # Node.js backend
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── Message.js
│   └── index.js
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
└── package.json