Decentralized Social Media

A minimal viable backend for a decentralized, Ethereum wallet-authenticated microblogging platform. Users can log in using their wallet, manage profiles, and create posts, likes, and comments — all secured with message signing and JWT-based authentication.

Backend

🛠 Tech Stack

• Framework: NestJS
• Language: TypeScript
• Database: PostgreSQL
• ORM: TypeORM
• Authentication: Ethereum wallet + message signing (via ethers.js) + JWT
• Package Manager: pnpm

⚙️ Project Setup

1. Clone & Install

git clone https://github.com/js313/decentralized-social.git
cd decentralized-social/backend
pnpm install

2. Configure Environment

Copy .env.example to .env and update the values:

cp .env.example .env

3. Start PostgreSQL (via Docker)

If PostgreSQL isn't already installed, run:

docker run --name social-db -p 5432:5432 \
-e POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password \
-e POSTGRES_DB=social \
-d postgres

4. Run the Backend

pnpm start:dev

App runs at: http://localhost:3000

🗃 SQL Schema Dump

Run this to generate:

pnpm typeorm migration:generate
pnpm typeorm migration:run

You can export a SQL dump with this command:
Copy the postgres DB configs to apps/backend/db/db-config.ts before seeding

pnpm run seed

📦 Available Endpoints

Auth

• POST /auth/verify – Verifies a signed message and returns a JWT.

Users

• GET /users/:wallet – Get user profile.
• POST /users – Create or update user (JWT required).

Posts

• GET /posts – Get all posts.
• GET /posts/:id – Get single post with comments and likes.
• POST /posts – Create new post (JWT required).
• POST /posts/:id/like – Like a post (JWT required).
• POST /posts/:id/comment – Comment on a post (JWT required).

Frontend

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 15 (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript
• Wallet Auth: RainbowKit + wagmi v2
• Web3: ethers.js
• CSS: Tailwind CSS
• Query Management: React Query
• Wallet Login: Message signing + JWT
• Package Manager: pnpm

⚙️ Project Setup

1. Install Dependencies

cd frontend
pnpm install

2. Configure Environment

cp .env.example .env.local

Make sure backend is running on port 3000
Get a free project ID from WalletConnect Cloud

3. Run the Frontend

pnpm dev

App runs at: http://localhost:3001

🔗 Authentication Flow

• User clicks "Connect Wallet" (RainbowKit modal appears)
• User signs a challenge message
• Backend verifies the signature and returns a JWT
• JWT is used for authenticated requests (e.g., posting, liking, commenting)

📦 API Endpoints

Auth

• POST /auth/verify – Verify wallet signature and issue JWT

Users

• GET /users/:wallet – Fetch profile
• POST /users – Create/update profile (JWT)

Posts

• GET /posts – All posts
• GET /posts/:id – Single post with comments and likes
• POST /posts – Create post (JWT)
• POST /posts/:id/like – Like post (JWT)
• POST /posts/:id/comment – Comment (JWT)