RishiBuild – A Scalable Chat Application Using Docker and AWS ElastiCache

Abstract: Real-time communication has become a fundamental requirement in modern cloud-based applications. This project presents RishiBuild, a scalable chat application designed and implemented using WebSocket-based communication, Docker containerization, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure. The backend server, built with Node.js and Express.js, is deployed inside a Docker container hosted on an AWS EC2 instance. AWS ElastiCache (Redis) is integrated as a distributed in-memory caching layer, enabling fast message synchronization across multiple server instances through a Publish/Subscribe (Pub/Sub) mechanism. The system supports horizontal scalability, environment consistency, and secure cloud deployment through controlled AWS Security Group configuration. Testing results confirm that the application successfully handles concurrent WebSocket connections with low latency and stable performance. The project demonstrates practical implementation of modern DevOps practices, distributed caching, and cloud-native architecture suitable for real-world deployment scenarios.

Keywords: WebSocket, Docker, AWS ElastiCache, Redis, Node.js, Real-Time Communication, Cloud Deployment, Distributed Caching, Scalability.