MERN Stack Instagram Clone using mongo, express, react, node

Install the core packages for the project, including express, mongoose, JSON web token, bcrypt js, and nodemon for development. Explain dev dependencies versus production use.

Set up a MongoDB Atlas project and a free-tier cluster for the MERN Instagram clone, enable IP access, and generate a MongoDB URI for your env file.

Create a mongoose post schema with caption, image requirements, author as user reference, and arrays of object IDs for likes and comments, then export the post model.

Define the registration controller in backend/controllers, extract username, email, and password from the request body, validate inputs, hash password with bcrypt, and return 201 on success.

Implement logout controller to clear the jwt token cookie by setting its max age to zero, then respond with a success message and logged out status.

Edit the logged in user's profile by retrieving their id from an authentication middleware, updating bio, gender, and optional profile picture via cloudinary upload, and returning a success response.

Create the user api routes, including register, login, logout, and profile access with isAuthenticated. Add edit with multer for profile picture, plus suggested, follow, and unfollow routes, mounted at /api/v1/user.

Fetch all posts sorted by newest, populate author username and profile image, and include nested comments with their authors for the MERN instagram clone.

Create a get messages controller that fetches a conversation by sender id and receiver id and returns its messages; return an empty array if not found.

Create a login page for the MERN Instagram clone by converting signup to login, using email and password, and adding a loading state with a spinner.

Learn to build the posts page of a MERN instagram clone by creating feed and post components, with user details, actions, comments, and a right side bar.

Create a comment dialogue page for a post in a mern stack instagram clone, implementing a responsive dialog with open state, viewing comments, avatars, and a three-dots action menu.

Install Redux Toolkit and React-Redux, configure the store, create an auth slice with a set auth user reducer, and wire it in main.js to manage authentication state.

Learn to get and show post data from the api using redux in a mern stack instagram clone, wiring post and author data, images, captions, and likes.

Learn to implement like and dislike for posts in a MERN stack Instagram clone, including frontend state toggling, axios requests, and updating Redux post data to reflect changes.