Chatter-Box

Ephemeral Real-Time Messaging Application

Chatter-Box is a privacy-focused, one-to-one messaging application built with modern web technologies. It enables users to communicate in real time through temporary chat rooms where messages automatically expire after a fixed duration.

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Features

• ⚡ Real-time messaging between two users
• ⏳ Ephemeral chat rooms with automatic message deletion (self-destruct after 10 minutes)
• 🔄 Consistent UI state using server-state synchronization
• 🧠 Schema validation for type-safe APIs
• 📱 Responsive UI for seamless experience across devices

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Tech Stack

Frontend

• Next.js 16
• TypeScript
• TanStack Query
• TailwindCSS

Backend

• Elysia (Bun runtime)
• Zod (schema validation)

Infrastructure

• Upstash Redis

  • Real-time communication
  • TTL-based data expiration

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How It Works

1. Chat Room Creation

• A unique chat room is created for two users.
• The room is assigned a Time-To-Live (TTL) of 10 minutes.

2. Messaging Flow

• Messages are stored in Redis (Upstash).
• Clients fetch and sync messages using TanStack Query.

3. Real-Time Updates

• Messages are propagated with low latency using Redis.
• UI stays in sync through efficient cache invalidation and refetching.

4. Self-Destruct Mechanism

• Each chat room and its messages automatically expire after 10 minutes.
• Redis handles cleanup using TTL, eliminating the need for manual deletion or background jobs.

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Design Philosophy

Chatter-Box is built around the idea of ephemeral communication:

• No long-term message storage
• Reduced data persistence
• Minimal backend cleanup overhead

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Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/PratyakshG/chatter_box.git

# Navigate to project
cd chatter_box

# Install dependencies
bun install or npm install

# Run development server
bun dev or npm run dev

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Environment Variables

Create a .env file and add:

UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL=your_url
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN=your_token

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Future Improvements

• Improve scalability of real-time connections for high concurrency
• Add delivery and read receipts using event acknowledgments
• Support for group chats
• End-to-end encryption
• Message status indicators (delivered/read)
• Custom expiration timers

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Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome!

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License

This project is completely open-source.

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Author

Pratyaksh Gupta

• GitHub: https://github.com/PratyakshG
• Portfolio: https://portfolio-pratyaksh.vercel.app/

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