🧠 MindFul — AI Mental Health Chatbot

An empathetic AI-powered chatbot for supportive conversation, mental wellness guidance, and emotional well-being.

Live Demo · Report Bug · Request Feature

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📸 Screenshots

(Coming soon — UI in active development)

Chat Interface	Wellness Dashboard	Mood Tracker

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📖 About The Project

MindFul is an AI-powered mental health chatbot designed to provide a safe, judgment-free space for users to express their feelings, receive supportive responses, and access wellness resources.

Unlike generic chatbots, MindFul is built with mental health context in mind — detecting emotional intent, responding empathetically, and escalating to professional resources when needed.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This chatbot is not a replacement for professional mental health care. If you are in crisis, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional or a crisis helpline.

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✨ Features

Feature	Status
💬 AI-based empathetic conversation	✅ Done
🎯 Intent detection & response generation	✅ Done
🗂️ RESTful API backend (Node.js + Express)	✅ Done
🧘 Mental wellness support responses	🔄 In Progress
📊 Mood tracking over time	🔜 Planned
🔐 User authentication (JWT)	🔜 Planned
🎤 Voice chatbot integration	🔜 Planned
📈 Wellness insights dashboard	🔜 Planned
🤖 RAG-based knowledge retrieval	🔜 Planned

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

Technology	Purpose
Node.js	Runtime environment
Express.js	REST API framework
MongoDB	Database (planned)
Mongoose	ODM for MongoDB
JWT	Authentication (planned)
dotenv	Environment config

AI / ML

Technology	Purpose
RAG Pipeline	Context-aware responses (planned)
Intent Detection	Classifying user emotions/needs
NLP Model	Natural language understanding

Frontend (Planned)

Technology	Purpose
React.js	UI framework
Tailwind CSS	Styling
Socket.io	Real-time chat

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🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        CLIENT                           │
│              React Frontend / REST Client               │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘
                       │ HTTP / WebSocket
┌──────────────────────▼──────────────────────────────────┐
│                    API GATEWAY                          │
│              Express.js (Node.js)                       │
│         Auth Middleware │ Rate Limiting                  │
└──────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘
       │               │
┌──────▼──────┐  ┌──────▼──────────────────────────────┐
│   MongoDB   │  │           AI Service Layer          │
│  (Users,    │  │  Intent Detection → RAG Pipeline    │
│   Sessions, │  │  → Response Generation              │
│   Moods)    │  └─────────────────────────────────────┘
└─────────────┘

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📁 Folder Structure

mental-health-chatbot/
│
├── Backend/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js                  # MongoDB connection
│   │
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── chatController.js      # Chat logic
│   │   ├── userController.js      # User management
│   │   └── moodController.js      # Mood tracking
│   │
│   ├── middlewares/
│   │   ├── authMiddleware.js      # JWT verification
│   │   └── errorHandler.js        # Global error handling
│   │
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── User.js                # User schema
│   │   ├── Session.js             # Chat session schema
│   │   └── Mood.js                # Mood entry schema
│   │
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── chatRoutes.js          # /api/chat
│   │   ├── userRoutes.js          # /api/user
│   │   └── moodRoutes.js          # /api/mood
│   │
│   ├── services/
│   │   ├── aiService.js           # AI model integration
│   │   └── intentService.js       # Intent classification
│   │
│   ├── .env.example               # Environment variable template
│   ├── server.js                  # App entry point
│   └── package.json
│
├── Frontend/                      # (Planned)
│   └── ...
│
├── .gitignore
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• npm v9+
• MongoDB (local or MongoDB Atlas)

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/mental-health-chatbot.git
cd mental-health-chatbot

2. Install dependencies

cd Backend
npm install

3. Configure environment variables

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and fill in your values:

# Server
PORT=5000
NODE_ENV=development

# Database
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/mindful

# Authentication
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_key_here
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d

# AI Service
AI_API_KEY=your_ai_api_key_here
AI_MODEL=your_model_name

4. Start the server

# Development (with auto-reload)
npm run dev

# Production
npm start

Server runs at http://localhost:5000

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🔌 API Routes

Chat

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	/api/chat/message	Send a message, get AI response	✅
GET	/api/chat/history/:sessionId	Get chat history	✅
DELETE	/api/chat/session/:sessionId	Delete a session	✅

User

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	/api/user/register	Register a new user	❌
POST	/api/user/login	Login and get JWT	❌
GET	/api/user/profile	Get user profile	✅

Mood Tracker (Planned)

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	/api/mood/log	Log a mood entry	✅
GET	/api/mood/history	Get mood history	✅

Example Request:

POST /api/chat/message
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <your_token>

{
  "message": "I've been feeling anxious lately",
  "sessionId": "abc123"
}

Example Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "reply": "I'm sorry to hear that. Anxiety can feel overwhelming. Would you like to talk about what's been on your mind?",
  "intent": "anxiety_support",
  "resources": []
}

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🗺️ Future Roadmap

• v1.0 — Core chat with intent detection + MongoDB integration
• v1.1 — User authentication (register/login with JWT)
• v1.2 — React frontend with real-time chat (Socket.io)
• v1.3 — Mood tracker with daily check-ins
• v2.0 — RAG-based AI for accurate, knowledge-grounded responses
• v2.1 — Voice chatbot integration
• v2.2 — Wellness insights dashboard with charts
• v3.0 — Mobile app (React Native)

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are what make the open-source community great. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

1. Fork the project
2. Create your feature branch: git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/AmazingFeature
5. Open a Pull Request

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for our code of conduct and contribution guidelines.

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📄 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

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👤 Author

Your Name

• GitHub: @your-username
• LinkedIn: your-linkedin
• Email: mahi967232@gmail.com

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🙏 Acknowledgements

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Shields.io — for the badges
• Mental health resources: NIMH, iCall (India)

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_{Built with ❤️ to make mental wellness more accessible.}