InstaPet
A social network for pet lovers to share photos, follow other owners, and discover animals through hashtags.
Tech Stack
Overview
InstaPet is a social network built for pet lovers, where users can share photos of their animals, follow other owners, and discover new pets through hashtags. It was the final project for Project I — Web Programming at ETIC_Algarve (2025/26), scoring 19/20.
The platform covers the full social experience: a chronological feed with filtering, posts with captions and hashtags, likes, saves, comments, and a follow system with optimistic UI updates. Real-time notifications keep users up to date on likes, comments, and new followers.
Built with a FastAPI backend and a vanilla JavaScript Web Components frontend, the whole app is containerised with Docker and Docker Compose, served through nginx, and secured with JWT authentication and bcrypt password hashing.
Key Responsibilities
- Designed and developed the full platform, from database models to frontend components
- Built the FastAPI backend with SQLModel, organised into auth, routers, schemas, and services
- Implemented JWT and bcrypt-based authentication and security hardening
- Developed the frontend with vanilla JavaScript Web Components, without any framework
- Containerised the full stack with Docker, Docker Compose, and nginx
- Handled Git workflow, integration testing, and final debugging independently
Key Features
- Chronological feed with filtering options
- Post creation with captions, hashtags, and required image uploads (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP up to 10MB)
- Like, save, and comment interactions
- Follow system with optimistic UI updates and follower/following counts
- Real-time notifications for likes, comments, and follows
- Hashtag search and trending tag filtering
- Terms and FAQ pages in Portuguese
