MovieMate is a full-featured social media platform for movie lovers. Create a profile, connect with friends, review films, and explore trending movies — all in one place.

Explore the full MovieMate experience:

🌐 Live App | 🎬 Demo Video

• ✨ Features
• 🛠 Technologies Used
• 🗺️ Architecture
• 📦 Installation
• ⚙️ Configuration
• 🔑 API Keys
• 🗃 Database Setup
• 🚀 Running the Application
• 📁 Project Structure
• 📡 API Overview
• 👨‍💼 Contributors

• Register & Authenticate: Sign up with a username, password, and profile info.
• Edit Profiles: Update bios, profile images, and account details.
• Follow System: Send/receive follow requests and build your movie circle.

• Explore Movies: Browse popular, trending, and new movie releases.
• Smart Search: Filter by title, genre, cast, or director.
• Detailed View: Dive into cast, plot, ratings, and trailers.
• Watchlist: Keep track of movies you plan to watch.
• Reviews & Ratings: Share personal takes and see what others thought.

• News Feed: See what your friends are watching and reviewing.
• Comments & Likes: Interact on movie posts.
• Notifications: Stay updated on social activity.
• Real-time Chat: Talk movies with friends instantly via built-in messaging.

• Handlebars (HBS)
• JavaScript
• Bootstrap 5
• CSS
• Socket.IO (client)

• Node.js
• Express.js
• PostgreSQL (via pg-promise)
• Socket.IO (server)
• bcryptjs (secure password hashing)
• express-session (authentication session handling)

• OMDb API – for movie metadata
• YouTube Data API – for trailers

• Node.js (v14+)
• PostgreSQL
• Docker + Docker Compose (optional but recommended)

1. Clone the Repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/moviemate.git
   cd moviemate

2. Install Node.js Dependencies

   npm install

Create a .env file at the root with the following content:

# PostgreSQL Config
POSTGRES_USER=your_postgres_user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_postgres_password
POSTGRES_DB=moviemate_db
HOST=db

# Session Config
SESSION_SECRET=your_session_secret

# External API Keys
OMDB_API_KEY=your_omdb_api_key
YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_youtube_api_key

1. Visit OMDb API Key Request
2. Add your key to .env under OMDB_API_KEY

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Enable YouTube Data API v3
3. Generate an API key and add to .env under YOUTUBE_API_KEY

The schema and initial data are located in:

• src/init_data/create.sql
• src/init_data/insert.sql

If using Docker Compose, these scripts will be executed automatically.

docker-compose up

Then visit: http://localhost:3000

1. Start PostgreSQL and ensure credentials match .env
2. Start the app:

   npm start

3. App will run at http://localhost:3000

moviemate/
├── docker-compose.yaml         # Docker config
├── package.json                # App metadata and scripts
├── src/
│   ├── api/                    # External API integrations (OMDb, YouTube)
│   ├── config/                 # Configuration files
│   ├── controllers/            # Route handlers and logic
│   ├── init_data/              # SQL schema and seed data
│   ├── resources/              # Static assets (JS, CSS, images)
│   ├── views/                  # Handlebars templates
│   │   ├── layouts/            # HTML layout templates
│   │   ├── pages/              # Page-specific HBS templates
│   │   └── partials/           # Reusable UI components
│   └── index.js                # Entry point for server

MovieMate includes a robust set of RESTful API routes that power features like user authentication, movie discovery, reviews, and messaging.

Key API groups:

• /api/movies/ – Search, details, watchlists, reviews, and trailers
• /api/users/ – Register, login, logout, profile management
• /api/social/ – Follow users, post reviews, and real-time messaging