💬 Codeial – Social Media Web Application

A full-stack social networking web app built using modern web technologies like Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. This project represents my journey through backend development — from setting up authentication manually to implementing advanced tools like Passport.js, JWT, Google OAuth, and Kue for background jobs.

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🧰 Tech Stack & Libraries Used

Category	Technologies / Libraries
Backend	🟩 Node.js • ⚙️ Express.js
Database	🗄️ MongoDB • 🧩 Mongoose
Authentication	🔐 Passport.js (Local & Google OAuth) • 🔑 JWT
Utilities	🍪 Cookie-Parser • 🔒 Crypto • 🧂 Bcrypt
Styling & Frontend	🎨 EJS • 💅 SCSS/SASS • ⚡ Noty.js • ⚙️ AJAX
Email & Jobs	📬 Nodemailer • 🧵 Kue • 🧱 Redis
File Uploads	🗂️ Multer
Architecture	🧠 MVC Pattern

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✨ Key Features

✅ User Authentication & Authorization

• Manual sign up / login using sessions
• Authentication via Passport.js (Local + Google OAuth)
• Token-based APIs using JWT

✅ Profile Management

• Update profile details and upload avatar with Multer
• Flash messages using Noty.js

✅ Post & Comment System

• Users can create, delete, and comment on posts
• Asynchronous operations using AJAX, Promises, and async/await

✅ Email Service & Password Reset

• Forgot Password feature using Nodemailer
• Secure password reset and update mechanism using Crypto and Bcrypt

✅ Background Jobs

• Used Kue and Redis to manage email jobs in background threads

✅ API Integration

• Created REST APIs for posts, comments, and user authentication with JWT

✅ Styling

• Beautiful UI built with modular SASS/SCSS

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🧠 What I Learned

• Node.js + Express.js fundamentals
• Working with MongoDB using Mongoose ODM
• Authentication (Manual + Passport.js + JWT + Google OAuth 2.0)
• File upload with Multer
• Sending mails with Nodemailer
• Implementing background jobs using Kue & Redis
• Flash messages and alerts with Noty.js
• Securing data using Crypto and Bcrypt
• Building dynamic frontends with AJAX, Promises, and async/await
• Organizing and compiling SASS/SCSS files
• Following the MVC architectural pattern

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📂 Folder Structure

codeial/
│
├── assets/             # SCSS, JS, images
├── config/             # Passport, Mongoose, Kue, etc.
├── controllers/        # App logic
├── mailers/            # Nodemailer templates
├── models/             # Mongoose schemas
├── routes/             # Express routes
├── views/              # EJS templates
├── index.js            # Main server file
└── package.json

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/codeial.git
cd codeial

2️⃣ Install all dependencies

npm install

3️⃣ Setup environment variables

Create a .env file in the root folder and add the following:

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_url
SESSION_SECRET=your_secret_key
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL=http://localhost:8000/users/auth/google/callback
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
REDIS_URL=redis://127.0.0.1:6379

4️⃣ Start Redis (for Kue jobs)

If using WSL or Linux:

redis-server

5️⃣ Run the application

npm start

The app will run at 👉 http://localhost:8000

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📨 Email Configuration

This project uses Nodemailer to send password reset and other notification emails. Configure your email credentials in /config/nodemailer.js for sending real emails.

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🔒 Authentication Flow

1. Users can sign up or log in manually
2. Authentication handled with Passport.js
3. Social login with Google OAuth 2.0
4. JWT-based authentication for APIs
5. Forgot password → Generates token via Crypto → Sends mail via Nodemailer
6. User clicks link → Updates password securely (hashed with Bcrypt)

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⚡ Running Background Jobs

Used Kue with Redis to handle asynchronous jobs (like sending mails). Each job runs in a background worker thread to improve performance.

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💾 Scripts in package.json

"scripts": {
  "start": "node index.js",
  "dev": "nodemon index.js"
}

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🧪 Testing the Application

• Create a user manually or log in using Google
• Create, delete, and comment on posts
• Check live flash messages using Noty.js
• Click “Forgot Password” to receive an email
• Reset password via secure tokenized link
• Try asynchronous post deletion via AJAX

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🧑‍💻 Author

Ansh Gupta 📍 India 🔗 LinkedIn • GitHub

💡 “Still learning, building, and exploring full-stack technologies every day.”

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🌟 Project Status

🚧 This is not the complete project — I’m still building it and adding more crazy features soon! Stay tuned for updates like real-time chat, notifications, and more! 🚀