Squigl v2

Squigl v2 is the next evolution of my Twitter/X clone, rebuilt from the ground up with a modern tech stack. This time, I’ve split it into two parts: a Django REST Framework back-end for a robust API and a React front-end for a seamless user experience. Built on the foundation of my Banana repository.

Squigl v1

Features

On top of everything in Banana, Squigl v2 includes:

• Post creation (image and/or text)
• Automatic hashtag, user profile links, and URL generation in posts
• Post editing and deletion
• Post liking
• Replying, editing, and deleting replies
• Reply liking
• Individual post pages with replies
• User profile pages
• User following and unfollowing
• Private user-to-user messaging
• Message read/unread status
• Message deletion
• Trending hashtags calculated from posts
• Listing unfollowed users
• Post and user searching
• User profile customisation

Upcoming Features

To make v2 have feature parity with v1 I still need to add the following:

• Post reporting
• Moderation dashboard
• Optimised views for mobile and tablet

Deployment

Instructions are for macOS.

Requirements

• Node.js
• Python

Backend Setup

1. Open the backend directory in your terminal.
2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip3 install -r requirements.txt

4. Apply database migrations:

   python3 manage.py makemigrations dm posts accounts
   python3 manage.py migrate

5. (Optional) Create an admin user:

   python3 manage.py createsuperuser

6. Start the server:

   python3 manage.py runserver

Frontend Setup

1. Open the frontend directory in your terminal.
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start the server:

   npm run dev