QuickText

QuickText is a full-stack real-time chat application that supports user authentication, persistent message history, and live bidirectional messaging via WebSockets (Socket.IO).

Users register and log in with JWT-based authentication. Each session is scoped to the authenticated user, and messages are stored in MongoDB for persistence across sessions. The React frontend maintains a live socket connection, updating the UI instantly when new messages arrive without any polling.

The architecture separates concerns cleanly: the Express REST API handles auth and history retrieval, while the Socket.IO layer handles real-time events. This keeps the real-time channel lightweight and the REST layer stateless.