Build a simple beginner friendly chat app (one big group message board) with a feed format using Flask: Complete Beginner's Guide

Introduction

In this tutorial, we'll build a real-time messaging application using Flask. You'll learn how to create user authentication, send and receive messages. By the end, you'll have a working chat application that multiple users can access at the same time or simultaneously. This is a perfect project for beginners who want to understand how messaging platforms work behind the scenes.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

Python 3.8 or higher installed

Basic knowledge of Python

pip (Python package manager)

A text editor or IDE (VS Code recommended)

Familiarity with command line basics

Project Setup

Let's start by creating a folder for our project:

mkdir flask-messenger cd flask-messenger python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate

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Now install the required packages:

pip install flask flask-sqlalchemy…