For EC530 Final Project. This application is a browser based chatting application that used a GraphQL backend server for WebRTC signalling and chat storage/user management etc. All chatting is still done directly through WebRTC peers.
Currently there is a bug in Firefox that makes connections fail between two firefox clients. Please try only with Chrome. Additionally, STUN/TURN is not properly configured, so all communication must be on a single private network. Please view the demo.mov for a quick demonstration
To install and run the P2P Chat Application, follow these steps:
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/nsearls-bu/p2p - Navigate to the project directory:
cd p2p - Ensure Docker is installed on your machine.
- Run Docker Compose to start the containers:
docker compose build && docker compose up -d
WebRTC does not define a way for how peers actually connect. This gives us a lot of flexibility in implementation. The WebRTC handshake has 3 parts. Client 1, the initiator, generates a SDP offer signal. Somehow, this signal is transferred to the intented recipient. Using the offer, they generate an answer SDP, which is sent to the initiator. Once client 1 uses the answer SDP signal - the connection is established.
I implemented this protocol using GraphQL subscriptions over websockets. When the user logs in, they are immediately subscribed to a GraphQL API that returns all other peers offers directed towards that user. If a user recieves an offer, they immediately return an answer to that same subscription, updating the initiating client, who can in turn establish a connection. I don't think this implementation would allow for more than one user to connect at the same time - I haven't tested that possibility.
Make sure a recent stable build NodeJS (I have node-21) is installed on your system. See package.json for available scripts in the server and client folders. To start server, navigate to server folder and run npm run start
To start client navigate to client folder and run npm run dev. Prior to either of commands you must install the required packages using npm install or your package manager of choice.
Once the application is running, you can access it via your web browser. Simply open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:5173 to start using the application. First you must create a user and then login. Once other users are logged in, you should be able to search for them and begin chatting.
Note that testing for the backend is done through Jest is contained in ".spec.ts" files. Namely the service.spec.ts files that test the database connections are used. There is a docker container for testing the backend. Run docker compose up test to run the unit tests.
- NestJS: A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, reliable, and scalable server-side applications.
- GraphQL: A query language for APIs that enables clients to request only the data they need.
- Vue.js: A JavaScript framework for building user interfaces.
- Vite: A fast web development build tool that serves your code via native ES module imports during development.
- SQLite: A C-language library that implements a small, fast, self-contained, high-reliability, full-featured, SQL database engine.
- Docker: A platform for building, shipping, and running applications in containers.
- Ned Searls ([email protected])