nerampokku (TimePass)

An ephemeral, real-time public thought pool web application. Open it when you're bored, anonymously throw a short thought (max 200 characters) into the void, and watch it fade away.

No signups, no database, no logs, and no persistence. Thoughts reside only in server RAM, are capped at a maximum of 100 messages total, and automatically expire for all active participants after 2 minutes.

Read our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and License. Contributions are welcome; please see Contributing Guidelines.

Project Structure

• /client — React + Vite frontend styled with minimalist, atmospheric dark-mode CSS.
• /server — Express + Socket.IO Node.js server.

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Local Development Setup

1. Prerequisities

• Node.js (v18+) and npm installed.

2. Backend Setup

1. Navigate to the server folder:

   cd server

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create .env file (copied from .env.example):

   PORT=5000
   CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173

4. Start the development server (uses nodemon):

   npm run dev

   The API health endpoint is available at http://localhost:5000/health.

3. Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to the client folder:

   cd ../client

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create .env file (copied from .env.example):

   VITE_WS_URL=http://localhost:5000

4. Start the frontend:

   npm run dev

   Open the browser at http://localhost:5173.

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Production Deployment

Frontend (Static Hosting - e.g. Vercel, Netlify, Render Static)

1. Build the production assets inside /client:

   cd client
   npm run build

2. This generates a production-ready /client/dist directory. Set your hosting provider to build using npm run build and publish the dist directory.
3. Configure the environment variable VITE_WS_URL to point to your live backend domain (e.g. https://nerampokku-api.onrender.com).

Backend (Node.js Service - e.g. Render, Railway, Fly.io)

1. Set the root build command to build your backend if required, or simply start the node service by executing:

   cd server && npm install && npm start

2. Define the following environment variables in your server hosting settings:
   • PORT: Supplied automatically by Render/Railway (e.g. 8080 or 10000).
   • CORS_ORIGIN: The URL of your live frontend application (e.g., https://nerampokku.vercel.app or https://nerampokku.netlify.app).

Concept & Architectural Details

• Anonymous Identity: Generated client-side using adjective-noun combinations (e.g., quiet_fox, cosmic_pulse). Stored in sessionStorage to persist across pages refreshes during the session.
• RAM-Only Messages: Cleaned up via a server-side timer every second. When messages hit a lifetime of 120 seconds, they are swept, and deletion commands are broadcast to all socket connections.
• Visual Lifeline: Each card shows a thin active bar shrinking visually over 2 minutes, fading out of the UI cleanly 2 seconds before server removal.