💬 Distributed Chat System with Vector Clock Ordering

A real-time distributed chat system built using Node.js, Express, and Socket.IO, featuring vector clocks and FIFO buffering for message ordering. It includes a modern chat interface with support for text, emojis, image uploads, typing indicators, and dark mode.

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🚀 Features

• ✅ Real-time bi-directional chat via Socket.IO
• ✅ Vector Clock and FIFO buffering for logical message ordering
• ✅ Fully responsive web UI (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
• ✅ Send text messages, emoji stickers, and images(file upload route exists but frontend upload not enabled)
• ✅ Typing indicator
• ✅ Clear Chat feature
• ✅ Light/Dark theme toggle
• ✅ Random delay to simulate message reordering
• 📎 File upload API exists but UI doesn't yet support selecting or uploading files

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Backend	Node.js, Express, Socket.IO
Uploads	Multer for image upload
Ordering	Vector Clock & FIFO buffer (custom)

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📁 Project Structure

distributed-chat/
│
├── client/                  # Frontend files
│   ├── index.html
│   └── script.js
│
├── server/                  # Backend files
│   ├── index.js
│   └── vectorClock.js
│
├── uploads/                 # Image uploads folder (auto-created)
│
├── package.json             # Project dependencies
└── package-lock.json        # Dependency versions lock

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⚙️ Setup & Run Locally

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/distributed-chat.git
cd distributed-chat

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Create uploads/ folder (for storing image messages)

mkdir uploads

4. Start the server

node server/index.js

The server will start on:

http://localhost:3000

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🌐 Access the Chat Interface

• Open your browser and go to:
  http://localhost:3000

• Enter a username to join the chat.

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👥 Test Multi-User Messaging

• Open the same URL in two different browser windows or two devices.
• Try sending messages, images, stickers, and watch message ordering with Vector Clock and FIFO buffer logic in action.

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📤 Deployment (Future)

You can deploy this app using platforms like:

• Render
• Railway
• Vercel + API proxy setup
• Or use dev tunnels / ngrok for sharing your localhost.

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📌 Notes

• Make sure uploads/ is included in .gitignore — don't commit user-uploaded images.
• package-lock.json ensures consistent installs — keep it committed.
• Fully compatible with future enhancements like Vector Clock Visualization, Message Logging, or Database Integration.

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👨‍💻 Authors

• Kasinadhan S
  GitHub Profile
• Pranav P
  GitHub Profile
• Adithya Krishna
  GitHub Profile
• Bharadwaj Kesav
  GitHub Profile

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📄 License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.