School Friends Chat + AI

A neon-themed school chat app to talk to friends, teachers, and their AI assistants — an alternative to WhatsApp for your school life.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• npm

Quick start

npm install
cp apps/api/.env.example apps/api/.env
npm run dev

Edit apps/api/.env before chatting with AI:

Variable	Required	Notes
JWT_SECRET	Yes	Any non-empty value for local dev
OPENAI_API_KEY	For AI chat	See LLM_* vars in .env.example

• Web: http://localhost:5173
• API: http://localhost:3001

Run API and web separately if needed: npm run dev:api / npm run dev:web.

Features

• Invite-only accounts — register with a code (SCHOOL01 for first use); username + password
• 1:1 friend chat — text and images, read receipts, unread counts; syncs across devices via the API
• Friend requests — add by username, accept or decline
• Invite codes — generate and share from Settings
• Teacher AI Twins — Chat with AI Twins of your teachers
• AI chat for fun — chat with AI for entertainment
• Neon WhatsApp-like UI — dark theme, WhatsApp-familiar layout, full-width chat pages

Tests

npm test

Docs

Document	Contents
CONTRIBUTING.md	Full local setup, env reference, contribution workflow
docs/DEPLOYMENT.md	Production VPS deployment
docs/AI_TWINS.md	Adding and editing Teacher AI Twins
REQUIREMENTS.md	Product requirements and feature checklist
TECHNICAL_DESIGN.md	Architecture, API, and data model