Build a Real-Time Full Stack Chat App with ASP.NET Core, Angular, WebRTC, and SignalR

Author: Pushpa Raj Dangi

Pushpa Raj Dangi

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In today’s world, real-time communication apps have become indispensable — from casual messaging to professional collaboration tools. If you’ve ever wondered how to build a full-fledged chat application that supports instant messaging, video calls, and seamless user interaction, this tutorial video is your gateway.

In this article, we’ll explore the Full Stack Chat App tutorial that integrates ASP.NET Core, Angular, WebRTC, and SignalR to deliver a powerful, real-time chat experience.

Watch the full tutorial on YouTube

Why This Stack?
ASP.NET Core: A modern, high-performance, and cross-platform backend framework from Microsoft that’s perfect for building scalable APIs and real-time applications.

Angular: A robust front-end framework that facilitates building dynamic, single-page applications with ease.

SignalR: A real-time library for ASP.NET Core that simplifies adding real-time web functionality like chat messages, notifications, or live updates.

WebRTC: Enables peer-to-peer communication for real-time audio and video calls without requiring plugins or external software.

Combining these technologies creates a full-stack solution capable of handling both text and video communications with real-time responsiveness.

What You’ll Learn in This Tutorial
Setting up the ASP.NET Core Web API and SignalR Hub
Learn to develop a SignalR hub that manages client connections, sends out messages, and processes WebRTC video call signaling.

Creating the Angular Frontend
Develop an Angular app that interacts with the SignalR hub, manages chat UI, and handles user input like sending messages and initiating video calls.

Implementing Real-Time Messaging with SignalR
Discover how to send and receive real-time messages among many connected clients.

Integrating WebRTC for Video Calls
Immerse yourself in the foundation of WebRTC and see how signaling using SignalR is able to establish peer-to-peer video interaction.

Handling User Presence and Notifications
Switch online/offline status, typing, and call notification to make the user experience better.

Why Utilize SignalR for Real-Time?
HTTP requests are stateless and limited in real-time responsiveness. SignalR abstracts away the complexity of WebSocket connections, falling back to other methods when necessary, and allows you to:

Push messages from server to clients instantly

Keep clients connected at all times

Scale real-time apps easily in ASP.NET Core

This tutorial shows how to leverage SignalR effectively for chat and signaling.

WebRTC and Peer-to-Peer Video Calls
The real video chat magic is delivered by WebRTC, enabling:

Direct peer-to-peer media transfer (video/audio)

Low-latency video calls without going through media on your server

Secure, encrypted communication

This tutorial outlines how to accomplish WebRTC signaling through SignalR, managing offer/answer exchange and ICE candidate negotiation.

Who Should View This Tutorial?
Full stack developers that want to build chat or communication apps

ASP.NET Core developers that are interested in adding real-time functionality

Frontend engineers ready to add WebRTC video calls to Angular applications

Anyone wanting to build modern, scalable chat apps with rich real-time experiences

Final Thoughts
Building a chat application with live messaging and video calls looks complex, but by employing ASP.NET Core, Angular, SignalR, and WebRTC, you have a flexible, manageable, and high-performance solution.

This tutorial is a great resource to get some experience with these technologies and observe the end-to-end flow from back-end to front-end.

Don’t miss the chance to build your own full-stack chat application — check out the tutorial here:
???? Tutorial Full Stack Chat App