Full Stack Instagram Flutter App

This repository contains a photo-focused Instagram clone built with a Flutter frontend and a NestJS backend. It is structured as both a working full-stack app and a beginner-friendly learning project, with supporting guides in docs/.

Core Features

• User signup, login, and current-user auth flow with JWT
• Photo uploads with optional captions
• Feed retrieval with author, likes, comments, and liked-state
• Like and unlike posts
• Add update delete post/comments
• Native share flow on the Flutter side

Stack

• Frontend: Flutter, Riverpod, GoRouter, Dio
• Backend: NestJS, JWT auth, Prisma
• Database: PostgreSQL
• File storage: local uploads in backend/uploads

Project Structure

backend/                         NestJS API, Prisma schema, uploads
frontend/instagramflutterapp/    Flutter application
docs/                            Setup guides, architecture notes, lesson plan

Quick Start

Requirements

• Flutter SDK
• Node.js 20+
• PostgreSQL

1. Start the backend

cd backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env
npm run prisma:migrate
npm run seed
npm run start:dev

Optional database browser:

cd backend
npm run prisma:studio

Backend endpoints:

• Health: http://localhost:3000/health
• API base: http://localhost:3000/api
• Uploaded files: http://localhost:3000/uploads/<filename>

2. Start the Flutter app

cd frontend/instagramflutterapp
flutter pub get
flutter run

Set API_BASE_URL in the Flutter .env file to:

• http://localhost:3000/api for macOS or iOS simulator
• http://10.0.2.2:3000/api for Android emulator

3. Use the seeded account

After running the backend seed:

• Email: student@example.com
• Password: password123

Docs Guide

Read these in this order if you are learning or onboarding:

1. docs/01_LESSON_PLAN.md
2. docs/02_SETUP.md
3. docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
4. docs/API.md
5. docs/BACKEND.md
6. docs/FRONTEND.md
7. docs/FRONTEND_SETUP.md
8. docs/FRONTEND_ARCHITECTURE.md

Notes

• Uploads are stored locally first to keep the learning flow simple.
• The current upload approach can later be replaced with S3, Cloudinary, Supabase Storage, or Firebase Storage while keeping the database imageUrl pattern.