DS Chat Fresh-Clone Setup

This tutorial walks you through running the project from a new git clone.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• npm 9+

1) Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Lolner95/DS-COM
cd DS-COM

2) Install dependencies

This repo uses npm workspaces, so install once from the root:

npm install

3) Run in development

Starts both the client and the WebSocket server:

npm run dev

Open:

• Client: http://localhost:5173
• Server: ws://localhost:8080

4) Configure the WebSocket URL (optional)

To point the client at a different WS endpoint, set VITE_WS_URL:

VITE_WS_URL=ws://localhost:8080 npm run dev

Production example:

VITE_WS_URL=wss://your-domain.com/ws npm run dev

When unset in production, the client uses ws(s)://<host>/ws.

5) Build for production

npm run build

Outputs:

• Client build: client/dist
• Server build: server/dist

6) Start the production server

npm run start

7) Serve the client in production

Serve client/dist from a static host (Nginx, Caddy, etc.).

Reverse proxy /ws to the Node WS server (default localhost:8080) so https://<host> works for both domain and IP.

8) Data persistence

Server data is stored here:

server/data/db.json

Make sure the server can write to server/data/. Delete the file to reset data.

9) Common issues

• Port 8080 already in use: change PORT in server/src/index.ts, then rebuild.
• Client not connecting: verify VITE_WS_URL or your /ws reverse proxy.