DevTinder
A Tinder-style networking app for developers — swipe to connect, match with peers, and get real-time notifications via WebSockets.
About This Project
DevTinder is a full-stack MERN application that brings the Tinder swipe experience to developer networking. Users create profiles showcasing their tech stack and interests, then swipe right to connect or left to skip other developers. When two users mutually swipe right, a match is created. The app uses WebSockets to deliver real-time connection requests and match notifications without page refresh. JWT handles secure authentication and session management throughout.
Key Features
- Developer profile creation with tech stack and interest tags
- Swipe-based match mechanism — mutual right swipes create a connection
- Real-time connection requests and notifications via WebSockets
- JWT-based authentication with protected routes
- Match feed showing all active connections
- REST API backend with MongoDB storing user profiles and match data
Challenges & Solutions
Implementing bi-directional real-time communication with WebSockets alongside a REST API
Ran Socket.io on the same Express server as the REST API by attaching it to the Node.js HTTP server instance, sharing JWT authentication middleware across both transports so a single token validated REST and WebSocket connections
Designing an efficient matching algorithm to avoid duplicate match records in MongoDB
Stored match intent as a directional document {from, to, status} and used a compound unique index on [from, to]; a match was only created when a reciprocal document existed, eliminating duplicates at the database layer