Yepcord - Community Chat App

This project is a collaborative chat app designed specifically for community and grassroots organizations, helping them make a positive impact through effective communication and coordination.

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Inspiration

We were inspired to make this project as a spin-off on Discord and Slack directly related to grassroots and community organizations. Seeing how Slack and Discord generally gatekeep important team-oriented tools behind paywalls that most non-profits and community organizations cannot afford, we were inspired to build a simple chat app interface that helps provide the core needs of community organizations.

What it does

This is a simple chat app, with team channels and direct messaging services. Users can send messages, emojis, and files, and they can choose to receive SMS notifications of unread messages.

How we built it

We built the app using React and Express. We used the Streamchat API to build the actual chatting interface, and we used Twilio for SMS phone notifications.

Challenges we ran into

One of the major challenges we ran into was the authentication functionalities. Ensuring that all of the log-in features worked smoothly took a surprisingly long time. We decided to use Stream to securely authenticate users and fix our login-in issues. We used user tokens that represented individual identifiers for each person. By securely storing and validating these tokens, we could ensure that only authorized users could interact with our chat application.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the many achievements we've made throughout the project's development. One significant accomplishment was successfully putting the entire project together within a tight timeframe. It required great coordination, dedication, and efficient task management. Furthermore, we are proud of implementing a bold, user-friendly interface that will meet the needs of community organizations.

What we learned

We learned both front-end and back-end related development, how to interact with an API service, and successfully established seamless client-server communication to ensure proper authentication for each user.

What's next for Community Chat App

In the future, we're planning to add community news features to the Community Chat App. This means users will be able to access news directly within the app through dedicated channels. We want to make sure organizations can stay updated on news that's important to them by using targeted keyword searches. This way, they can stay informed, plan ahead, and take action to protect their communities. Our goal is to provide timely and relevant news updates that give organizations the information they need to effectively support and advocate for their communities.

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