Social Express

Social Express is a social media web application built using the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js). This application allows users to create accounts, post updates, and interact with other users in a social network environment.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Technologies Used
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Running the Application
• Contributing

Features

• User authentication and authorization
• Create, read, update, and delete posts
• Follow and unfollow other users
• Real-time notifications and updates
• Responsive design for mobile and desktop

Technologies Used

Frontend

• React
• Redux Toolkit
• React Router
• Material UI
• Formik
• Yup
• React Dropzone

Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Mongoose
• JWT for authentication
• Bcrypt for password hashing
• Multer and GridFS for file uploads
• Helmet for security
• Morgan for logging

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed on your system:

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• npm (v6 or higher)
• MongoDB

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/social-express.git
cd social-express

2. Install dependencies for both client and server:

cd client
npm install
cd ../server
npm install

Running the Application

1. Create a .env file in the server directory and add the following environment variables:

MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_uri
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret

2. Start the server:

cd server
npm start

3. Start the client:

cd client
npm start

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request for any changes.