Personal Social Network Messaging Build

I’m putting together a small-scale social networking platform for personal use and want to start with one core feature: the Messaging system.

Here’s what I need:
• A working, real-time Messaging system where users can send, receive, and view messages in a clean interface.
• Basic account creation and login so people can access their inbox.
• Simple, responsive front-end styling that looks good on mobile and desktop.
• Clear setup instructions so I can deploy the project on my own hosting.

Future additions such as User profiles or an Activity feed may come later, so please structure the code in a way that leaves room for expansion. Feel free to suggest the best tech stack for a lightweight, personal project—whether that’s Node.js with Socket.io, Firebase, Laravel, or another solution you’re comfortable with.

Clean, well-commented code and a brief read-me will complete the job.