Roomble is a real-time chat application built with Flask and Flask-SocketIO that allows users to create or join chat rooms and interact with others instantly. This app allows users to create or join rooms, send messages, and interact in a live chat environment.

Features

• Real-time messaging using Flask-SocketIO
• Room creation and joining with unique room codes
• User sessions to persist room and user data

Requirements

• Python 3.7 or higher
• Flask
• Flask-SocketIO
• python-dotenv (for loading environment variables)

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/EmileGreyling/Roomble.git
   cd Roomble

2. Create a virtual environment (optional but recommended):

   python -m venv venv

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   • On Windows:

     venv\Scripts\activate

   • On macOS/Linux:

     source venv/bin/activate

4. Install the required dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

5. Set up environment variables:

   Create a .env file in the root directory of the project and add the following line:

   SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key_here

   Make sure to replace your_secret_key_here with a securely generated key (you can use this tool to generate a strong key).

6. Run the app:

   python app.py

7. Open your browser and go to http://localhost:5000 to start using the app!

Acknowledgments

This project was inspired by a Flask chat app tutorial by Tech With Tim, but I have made several custom modifications and improvements.