The latest articles on DEV Community by Harsh S (@prgrmr). https://dev.to/prgrmr https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3874406%2Fe30188b4-c5d8-48bc-a63e-431a950ca5e7.png https://dev.to/prgrmr en Harsh S Mon, 25 May 2026 01:47:05 +0000 https://dev.to/prgrmr/engineering-decisions-for-my-video-call-tool-1167 https://dev.to/prgrmr/engineering-decisions-for-my-video-call-tool-1167 <p><strong>WebChat</strong><br> A PeerJS-based browser-to-browser video conferencing app with low-latency, high-performance real-time communication.</p> <p>This project pushed me deep into the internals of infrastructure optimization.</p> <p><strong>Key Engineering Decisions:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Engineered a combined signaling server: integrating Express.js, Socket.IO and PeerJS into a single-process, single-port architecture that runs with a single command. This design avoids typical multi-service deployment constraints and runs smoothly on a single (free-tier as of now) instance.</li> <li>Solved a tricky issue of duplicate video streams using PeerJS ID deduplication logic.</li> <li>Enabled dynamic participation via URL-based session joins, with full leave/rejoin support for participants.</li> <li>Focused on ultra-low latency media exchange and snappy UI responsiveness.</li> <li>Used ngrok to tunnel the local development server, enabling testing across different devices and network environments by exposing the localhost port via a secure public URL.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Stack:</strong><br> PeerJS • Socket.IO • Express.js • EJS • Node.js</p> <p><strong>Live link:</strong> <a href="https://webchat-fa0u.onrender.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://webchat-fa0u.onrender.com</a></p> programming architecture