Entwined

A social platform built for book lovers — discover books, track your reading journey, connect with readers, share thoughts, create reading goals, and build meaningful conversations around literature.

---

Live Demo

🔗 https://entwined-web.vercel.app/ For reference while testing friend-related features, search for users like:

• becca

Features

---

Authentication

• JWT Authentication
• Google OAuth Login
• Secure Refresh Tokens
• Protected Routes

Social Features

• Create and share posts
• Like and comment system
• Friend requests and connections
• Real-time messaging with Socket.IO
• Share posts in chats
• User profiles and activity tracking

Reading Experience

• Personal library management
• Reading progress tracker
• Journal entries and reflections
• Book reviews and ratings
• Group reading goals
• Upload PDFs and EPUBs

Media Uploads

• Image uploads
• Firebase Storage integration
• Cloudinary integration
• File sharing in chats

UI/UX

• Responsive design
• Dark and light themes
• Mobile-friendly layout
• Modern aesthetic interface

---

Tech Stack

Frontend

• React.js
• Vite
• CSS3
• Axios
• Socket.IO Client
• React Router DOM

Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB
• Mongoose
• Socket.IO
• Firebase Admin SDK
• JWT Authentication
• Multer
• Cloudinary

---

Folder Structure

TeaAndBooks/
│
├── entwined-web/
│   ├── public/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── .env
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── vite.config.js
│   └── eslint.config.js
│
├── entwined-server/
│   ├── config/
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── middleware/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── socket/
│   ├── uploads/
│   ├── utils/
│   ├── .env
│   ├── firebaseKey.json
│   ├── package.json
│   └── server.js
│
├── AUTH_AND_FILE_SHARING.md
├── CHAT_IMPLEMENTATION.md
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

---

Installation

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/TeaAndBooks.git
cd TeaAndBooks

---

Backend Setup

cd entwined-server
npm install

Create a .env file inside the entwined-server directory.

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_uri
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=your_refresh_secret
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_google_client_id

EMAIL_USER=your_email
EMAIL_PASS=your_email_password

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_secret

Place your firebaseKey.json file inside the entwined-server root directory.

Start the backend:

npm run dev

---

Frontend Setup

cd ../entwined-web
npm install

Create a .env file inside the entwined-web directory.

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000

Start the frontend:

npm run dev

---

Deployment

Frontend

Deploy using:

• Vercel
• Netlify

Backend

Deploy using:

• Render
• Railway

---

API Routes

Method	Route	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Register user
POST	/api/auth/login	Login user
GET	/api/profile/:id	Get profile
POST	/api/posts/create	Create post
GET	/api/posts	Fetch posts
POST	/api/chat/message	Send message
GET	/api/library	Get library

---

Environment Variables

Backend

Variable	Description
MONGO_URI	MongoDB connection string
JWT_SECRET	JWT access token secret
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET	JWT refresh token secret
CLIENT_URL	Frontend URL
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth Client ID
EMAIL_USER	Email service username
EMAIL_PASS	Email service password
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME	Cloudinary cloud name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY	Cloudinary API key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET	Cloudinary API secret
FIREBASE_KEY	Firebase service account JSON

Frontend

Variable	Description
VITE_API_URL	Backend API URL

---

Security

• Helmet for HTTP security headers
• Express rate limiting
• Secure JWT authentication
• Protected API routes
• CORS protection
• File validation and upload limits

---

Future Improvements

• Improve responsiveness and mobile UI consistency across all pages and components
• Eliminate horizontal overflow issues on smaller screen devices
• Enhance chat UI and dashboard layouts for better mobile experience
• Make shared posts clickable and navigable to the original post
• Make usernames and profile images clickable throughout the platform
• Add direct profile navigation from posts, comments, chats, and friend lists
• Enable local device upload for profile pictures instead of URL-only uploads
• Add image preview support before profile upload
• Implement real-time unread message notifications
• Add notification badges and live message indicators using Socket.IO
• Improve overall UI polish and interaction feedback
• Add browser push notifications for messages and friend activity
• Introduce advanced search and filtering for users and books
• Add AI-powered book recommendations and reading insights
• Improve accessibility and performance optimization

---

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to your branch
5. Open a Pull Request

---

Open Source Guidelines

Before contributing:

• Follow clean coding practices
• Use meaningful commit messages
• Test features before creating PRs
• Keep UI responsive across devices

---

License

You may choose to add an MIT License if you want to make the project fully open source.

---

Author

Mannat Berry

• GitHub: https://github.com/vie-nyx
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mannat-berry-416878266

---

Support

If you like this project, consider giving it a star on GitHub.