Firebase Chat Feature

I've always been fascinated with chat applications and the technology behind them. When I investigated building a chat app in the past, I kept seeing Socket.IO. I thought I would need to learn that technology if I wanted to build a chat app. I was hesitant to learn it because I didn't have another use for it outside of building the chat app.

I was excited when I saw a video on YouTube by Tyler Potts on how to build a chat app using Google Firebase and Vue 3's Composition API. Since I'd already used Firebase before - and it's pretty easy to work with - and my portfolio website was built using Vue, I thought I would give it a try. The Composition API is a little bit different than what I was used to with the Options API, but it wasn't that hard to figure out - especially considering Tyler showed step-by-step how to build the chat. I was really happy with how it turned out.

I haven't added any of my own enhancements to the chat app yet. I definitely would like to enhance it in the future. The only thing that I've done so far with it, is I set up a Zap using Zapier which watches for entries to my Firebase Realtime Database, then sends me an SMS message to my phone, so that I know that someone has send me a chat message on my website.