Here is a brief description of your "Video Calling Realtime Chat App & Social App" project. This project is a full-stack MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) application that functions as a complete social platform. Its core features include secure user authentication, a friend request system, and user profile management with an onboarding process. The app's main feature is its powerful real-time communication, which is all handled by the Stream API. This allows users to engage in instant text chat with threads and reactions, and seamlessly launch 1-on-1 HD video calls directly from their chat window. The frontend is built with React and Tailwind CSS, and the backend uses Node.js/Express to manage users and generate API tokens.

1. Real Time Chat & social App
Sanjay

2. 1. Introduction
Here is a brief introduction to your "Video Calling Realtime Chat App & Social
App" project:
This project is a full-stack MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js)
application that functions as a complete social platform. It allows users to register,
log in, add friends, and manage their profiles through an onboarding process. The
core of the project is its real-time communication, powered by the Stream API,
which enables users to engage in seamless text chat (with reactions and threads) and
launch HD video calls directly from their conversations.
2. Requirement Analysis
Functional Requirements: These describe what the system must do. This includes
user authentication (signup, login, logout), user profile onboarding (adding bio,
languages), and the core social system (finding users, sending/accepting friend
requests). It also covers the real-time communication features, specifically text chat
(with reactions) and 1-on-1 video calling, both powered by the Stream API.
Non-Functional Requirements: These describe how the system must perform. The
key requirements are security (hashed passwords, protected API routes with JWT),
performance (a fast, low-latency experience using React and Stream), usability (a
responsive, mobile-friendly design using Tailwind CSS), and maintainability (clean,
modular code in both the React frontend and Node.js backend).
3. Working of Application
Here is a brief description of how your "Video Calling Realtime Chat App &
Social App" works:
The user's journey begins with authentication, where they must either Sign Up or
Log In. A new user is automatically redirected to an Onboarding Page to fill in their
profile details (like bio and languages).
Once logged in and onboarded, the user lands on the Homepage. This dashboard
displays their current Friends List and a list of Recommended Users. From here, the
user can send friend requests.
When another user receives and accepts a request (on their Notification Page), they
become friends. Friends can then click a button to start a real-time chat.
When the chat window opens, the React app requests a secure token from the Node.js
backend. The app uses this token to connect directly to the Stream API, which
powers the entire real-time messaging interface (including text, reactions, and
threads).

3. Inside the chat, either user can click the video call button. This action sends a unique
call link as a chat message. Both users then click this link to join the same video call
room, which is managed by the Stream Video SDK.
4. Why were Chat and video social app is created?
Chat and video social apps are created to solve the fundamental human need for
instant connection, regardless of physical distance.
They provide a richer, more personal alternative to traditional text messaging by
allowing users to see facial expressions and hear vocal tones, which builds stronger
social bonds. They also offer convenience, combining social networking (profiles,
friend lists) and communication (chat, video) into a single, easy-to-use platform.
5. Advantages
Here is the "Advantages" section, written to match your "Video Calling Realtime
Chat App & Social App" project.
 Unified Platform: It combines social networking (profiles, friends), real-time text
chat, and high-quality video calling into a single, cohesive application. This
eliminates the need for users to switch between different apps (e.g., one for social, one
for chat, one for video), providing a seamless user experience.
 High-Performance Real-Time Communication: By leveraging the Stream API, the
application delivers instant, low-latency chat (with reactions and threads) and HD
video calls. This is far superior to traditional, non-real-time websites and provides a
professional-grade communication experience.
 Scalable & Modern Architecture: The MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React,
Node.js) is highly scalable and perfectly suited for a modern social application. The
NoSQL (MongoDB) database is flexible, allowing for easy updates to user profiles
and handling the complex relationships of a social graph.
 Rapid Development & Maintainability: Using a third-party service like Stream
dramatically reduces development time. It abstracts the immense complexity of
building and maintaining a secure, scalable backend for WebSockets (chat) and
WebRTC (video). This allowed the project to focus on the user interface, business
logic, and social features.
 Responsive & Dynamic User Interface: The React frontend operates as a fast
Single Page Application (SPA). The use of Tailwind CSS and DaisyUI ensures the
entire application is responsive and mobile-friendly, while the Zustand-powered
Theme Selector offers a dynamic and personalized user experience.
6. Disadvantages

4.  Dependency on Third-Party APIs: The project's core functionality (all chat and
video) is entirely dependent on the external Stream API. If the Stream service has
an outage, all real-time communication in the app will stop working.
 Reliance on High-Quality Internet: As a real-time application, the user
experience is highly sensitive to network quality. A poor, unstable, or low-
bandwidth internet connection will lead to significant lag, low-quality video/audio,
and dropped calls, which can frustrate the user.
 Scalability Costs: While the MERN stack itself is scalable, both the server
hosting (for the Node.js backend) and the Stream API operate on usage-based
pricing models. As the number of active users and video call minutes increases, the
operational costs to run the application can become very high.
 Data Privacy & Control: Because all chat messages and video streams are
processed through Stream's servers, it requires trusting a third party with sensitive
user communications. This means less direct control over data privacy and security
compared to a fully self-hosted solution.
7. Features
 Authentication & Onboarding: Secure user signup, login, and a one-time profile
setup for new users.
 Social Friend System: The ability to find recommended users, send friend requests,
and manage a friend list.
 Real-Time Chat: A full-featured chat interface (powered by Stream) with instant
messaging, reactions, threads, and image sharing.
 HD Video Calling: A 1-on-1 video call room (powered by Stream Video SDK) that
can be launched directly from any chat window.
 Dynamic Theming: A theme selector that allows users to change the application's
entire color scheme.
8. Technology used
Here is a brief description of the technology used in your "Video Calling Realtime
Chat App & Social App" project.
The application is built using the MERN stack combined with the Stream API.
 Frontend: A React Single Page Application (SPA) is used to create a fast and
responsive user interface. Tailwind CSS and DaisyUI are used for all styling.
 Backend: A Node.js and Express.js server provides a RESTful API for handling user
authentication (with JWT), profiles, and friend requests.
 Database: MongoDB is the NoSQL database, used with Mongoose to store all user
and application data, like profiles and friend lists.
 Real-Time Communication: Stream's SDKs are the core technology for all real-
time features.
o Stream Chat is used for instant messaging, reactions, and threads.
o Stream Video is used to power the high-quality, 1-on-1 video calls.
 Data & State Management: React Query is used to fetch and cache data from the
backend API, while Zustand manages global UI state, like the theme.

5. 9. Problem
The problem this project addresses is application fragmentation. Today,
users are forced to switch between multiple, separate applications for
social networking (like finding friends and managing profiles), text
messaging, and video conferencing. This creates a disconnected and
inefficient user experience.
10.Solutions
The solution is a single, unified platform built on the MERN stack that
combines all these features.
 The React frontend and Node.js/Express backend provide the social
application framework (profiles, friend lists, authentication).
 The Stream API is integrated as the core real-time solution. It provides
the complete, pre-built infrastructure for both chat and video, allowing
the app to offer scalable, reliable, and feature-rich communication
without having to build these complex systems from scratch.
11.Future scope
The project provides a strong foundation that can be expanded in several
key areas. Future enhancements include upgrading the communication
from one-on-one to group chats and group video calls. A social feed
could be added where users can post status updates and images, making it
a more complete social platform. Additionally, real-time push
notifications for new messages or friend requests could be implemented,
and the entire application could be deployed as a native mobile app for
iOS and Android using React Native.
12.Conclusion
The project successfully achieved its goal of creating a modern, scalable
"Video Calling Realtime Chat App & Social App" using the MERN
stack. By integrating the Stream API, the app provides a unified
platform for social networking (profiles, friends) and complex, high-
performance communication (real-time chat and video calls). The final
application is reliable, maintainable, and demonstrates a practical solution
to the problem of fragmented digital communication.