GhostRoom

Ephemeral group chat. No login. No history. Messages burn 10 seconds after reading.

Architecture

ghostroom/
  frontend/    Next.js (App Router) + Tailwind + Framer Motion
  backend/     Express + Socket.io

• In-memory only — messages live in a Map() on the server. Server restart = everything gone.
• Per-user burn — each user gets an independent 10s countdown after reading a message.
• No database, no auth — just localStorage for display names.

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Install

cd backend && npm install
cd ../frontend && npm install

Run locally

Terminal 1 (backend):

cd backend
npm run dev

Terminal 2 (frontend):

cd frontend
npm run dev

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend: http://localhost:3001

Environment Variables

Frontend (frontend/.env.local):

NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3001

Backend (backend/.env):

PORT=3001
CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3000

Deployment

Frontend (Vercel)

1. Connect the frontend/ directory to Vercel.
2. Set NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL to your backend URL.

Backend (Fly.io / Railway)

1. Deploy the backend/ directory.
2. Set PORT and CORS_ORIGIN (your Vercel frontend URL).
3. Run npm run build && npm start.

Socket Events

Direction	Event	Description
C -> S	create_room	Create a new room
C -> S	join_room	Join with username
C -> S	send_message	Send a message
C -> S	message_read	Mark message as read
C -> S	typing_start/stop	Typing indicators
S -> C	new_message	Broadcast message
S -> C	message_read_ack	Updated readBy
S -> C	room_users	Online user list
S -> C	rate_limited	Rate limit warning