Creating a Real-Time Slack Clone Using Next.js, React, Tailwind, and Auth.js | Part 1/2 (2024)

Welcome to this two-part tutorial on how to build a real-time Slack clone using Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS, and Auth.js. In this tutorial, we will cover setting up the project, creating the user authentication system, and building the main features of the Slack clone.

Part 1: Setting up the project and user authentication

Step 1: Set up your project

First, make sure you have Node.js installed on your machine. If you don’t have it installed, you can download it from the official Node.js website.

Next, create a new directory for your project and navigate into it using the terminal. Run the following command to initialize a new Next.js project:

npx create-next-app my-slack-clone

Once the project is created, navigate into the project directory:

cd my-slack-clone

Step 2: Install dependencies

Next, we need to install the necessary dependencies for our project. Run the following commands in the terminal:

npm install @chakra-ui/react @emotion/react @emotion/styled framer-motion
npm install @auth0/auth-js

These dependencies will be used for styling the project using Chakra UI, handling animations with Framer Motion, and implementing authentication with Auth.js.

Step 3: Set up Auth.js

To use Auth.js for authentication, you will need to sign up for an Auth0 account and create a new application. Once you have created your application, you will be provided with a domain and client ID.

Create a new file in the project root directory called auth.js and add the following code:

import createAuth0Client from "@auth0/auth-js";

const auth0 = await createAuth0Client({
  domain: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_DOMAIN,
  client_id: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_CLIENT_ID,
});

export default auth0;

Make sure to replace process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_DOMAIN and process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_CLIENT_ID with your Auth0 domain and client ID.

Step 4: Create the authentication component

Next, create a new folder called components in the src directory of your project. Inside the components folder, create a new file called Auth.js and add the following code:

import { useEffect } from "react";
import auth0 from "../auth";

const Auth = () => {
  useEffect(() => {
    const initAuth = async () => {
      await auth0.init();
    };

    initAuth();
  }, []);

  return null;
};

export default Auth;

This component will initialize Auth0 when the component mounts. We will use this component to handle authentication throughout the project.

Step 5: Set up Tailwind CSS

To add Tailwind CSS to your project, run the following command in the terminal:

npm install tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer

Next, create a new file called tailwind.config.js in the project root directory and add the following code:

module.exports = {
  mode: "jit",
  purge: ["./pages/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}", "./components/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}"],
  darkMode: false,
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  variants: {
    extend: {},
  },
  plugins: [],
};

Create a new file called styles/globals.css in the src directory of your project and import Tailwind CSS:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

Import the global styles in the pages/_app.js file:

import '../styles/globals.css'

With these steps, you have set up the project and the user authentication system for the real-time Slack clone. In the next part of the tutorial, we will build the main features of the Slack clone, including creating channels, sending messages, and implementing real-time updates. Stay tuned for Part 2!