Treep 🌴

Travel Eat Repeat. A social media web application built with Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and EJS.

Features

• User registration and authentication
• Create, edit, and delete posts
• Follow/unfollow users
• Real-time chat functionality
• Search posts
• User profiles with followers/following

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.0.0 or higher
• MongoDB (local or MongoDB Atlas)
• npm (comes with Node.js)

Quick Start

1. Clone the Repository

git clone git@github.com:jessechumo/Treep.git
cd Treep

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Create Environment File

Create a .env file in the root directory:

touch .env

Add the following environment variables to .env:

CONNECTIONSTRING=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/database?appName=Treep
PORT=3000
JWTSECRET=your_random_secret_string_here
SENDGRIDAPIKEY=your_sendgrid_api_key_here

Required:

• CONNECTIONSTRING - Your MongoDB connection string (get from MongoDB Atlas)
• JWTSECRET - Any random string for JWT token signing

Optional:

• PORT - Server port (defaults to 3000)
• SENDGRIDAPIKEY - For email notifications (leave empty if not using)

Example .env file:

CONNECTIONSTRING=mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster.mongodb.net/treep?appName=Treep
PORT=3000
JWTSECRET=mysupersecretkey123
SENDGRIDAPIKEY=

4. Build Frontend Assets

npm run build

5. Run the Application

Development mode (with auto-reload):

npm run dev

Development mode (with webpack watch):

npm run watch

Production mode:

npm start

6. Access the Application

Open your browser and navigate to: http://localhost:3000

Available Scripts

• npm start - Start the production server
• npm run dev - Start development server with nodemon
• npm run watch - Start dev server with webpack watch
• npm run build - Build frontend assets for production

MongoDB Setup

1. Create a free account at MongoDB Atlas
2. Create a new cluster
3. Create a database user
4. Get your connection string from "Connect" → "Connect your application"
5. Add the connection string to your .env file
6. In Network Access, add your server's IP to allow connections from it.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB
• Template Engine: EJS
• Real-time: Socket.io
• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript (bundled with Webpack)
• Authentication: Express Sessions, JWT
• Other: Bcrypt, Marked (Markdown), Sanitize HTML

Project Structure

treep/
├── controllers/     # Route controllers
├── models/         # Database models
├── views/          # EJS templates
├── frontend-js/    # Client-side JavaScript
├── public/         # Static assets
├── router.js       # Main routes
├── router-api.js   # API routes
├── app.js          # Express app configuration
├── db.js           # Database connection
└── webpack.config.js