Universal Chat 🚀

A high-performance, real-time chat application demonstrating a Hybrid Backend Architecture.

This project combines the rapid development of Django with the high concurrency of Go (Golang), unified by a shared PostgreSQL database and a modern Next.js frontend.

🏗 System Architecture

The system uses a "Best Tool for the Job" approach:

1. Django (Python): Handles User Authentication (JWT), Admin Panel, and Database Schema Migrations.
2. Go (Golang): Handles the WebSocket Hub, managing real-time connections and broadcasting messages with low latency.
3. PostgreSQL: The shared source of truth. Django creates the tables; Go writes directly to them for speed.
4. Next.js (React): A modern, type-safe frontend that connects to Django for Login and Go for Chatting.

🛠 Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js 14 (App Router), TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Axios.
• Auth Backend: Django Rest Framework, SimpleJWT.
• Real-Time Backend: Go (Gorilla WebSockets), lib/pq driver.
• Database: PostgreSQL.
• DevOps: Monorepo structure.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20+)
• Python (v3.10+)
• Go (v1.21+)
• PostgreSQL

1. Database Setup

Create a PostgreSQL database and user:

CREATE DATABASE database_name;
CREATE USER user_name WITH PASSWORD 'user_password'; 
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE database_name TO user_name;

2. Django Setup (Auth & Schema)

cd backend-django
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Create Tables in Postgres
python manage.py migrate
# Create Admin User
python manage.py createsuperuser
# Run Server
python manage.py runserver

3. Go Setup (WebSockets)

cd backend-golang
# Create .env file with: DB_CONN_STRING=postgres://postgres:postgres@127.0.0.1:5432/chat_db?sslmode=disable
go run .

4. Frontend Setup (UI)

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

🔄 How It Works

1. Login: User logs in via Next.js → Django returns a JWT Access Token.
2. Connect: Next.js opens a WebSocket connection to Go, passing the Token.
3. Verify: Go verifies the JWT signature using the shared Secret Key.
4. Chat:

• User sends a message.
• Go inserts the message directly into PostgreSQL.
• Go broadcasts the message to all connected clients.

5. History: Django Admin Interface allows viewing and managing all chat history.

📂 Project Structure

universal-chat/
├── backend-django/   # Auth, Models, Admin Panel
├── backend-golang/   # WebSocket Hub, High-perf networking
└── frontend/         # Next.js App, Chat UI