CodeForge

CodeForge is a real-time collaborative code editor. Users can create or join a room and edit the same code together through Socket.IO.

Features

• Create a room with a generated UUID or join an existing room.
• Join as a guest with only a username, or optionally create an account and log in.
• Open login and sign-up from the top-right of the home page.
• Sync code changes and participant lists in real time.
• Restore the latest code saved for a room when joining again.
• Show join and leave notifications.
• Copy the Room ID to invite collaborators.
• Edit C++ with CodeMirror, Dracula theme, line numbers, autocomplete, bracket matching, and auto-close brackets.
• Use Socket.IO websocket transport with polling fallback for local development.

Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 19 and Vite
• React Router DOM
• CodeMirror via @uiw/react-codemirror
• Socket.IO client
• React Hot Toast, Bootstrap, React Avatar, and UUID

Backend

• Node.js and Express 5
• Socket.IO
• Node crypto for password hashing and signed authentication tokens
• JSON files for local user and room-code persistence

Project Structure

client/   React and Vite frontend
server/   Express and Socket.IO backend

Local Setup

Install dependencies:

cd server
npm install

cd ../client
npm install

Start the backend in one terminal:

cd server
npm start

Start the frontend in another terminal:

cd client
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173 in the browser. The frontend uses http://localhost:5000 by default. To use another backend, set this value in client/.env:

VITE_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:5000

Persistence

Room code is stored by Room ID in server/data/rooms.json. Local accounts are stored as salted password hashes in server/data/users.json. The server/data/ directory is ignored by Git because it contains local runtime data.

Authentication is optional for collaboration. Logged-in users receive a signed token and can still join the same rooms as guests.

For production, set a strong AUTH_SECRET environment variable and replace the local JSON stores with a shared database for multi-instance deployments.

Routes

• / - home page, room creation, and room joining
• /editor/:roomId - collaborative editor

License

ISC