⚡ BoltEx: High-Performance Order Matching Engine

BoltEx is a full-stack, real-time trading exchange platform built with a modular architecture. It features a high-throughput matching engine, a real-time WebSocket server for market updates, and a persistent database processor to ensure data integrity across the system.

---

🏗️ Architecture Overview

The project is designed as a distributed system, separated into four core microservices:

• Engine: The core logic written in TypeScript that manages the order book, processes limit/market orders, and executes matches.
• API Server: An Express-based gateway that handles user authentication, RESTful interactions, and order placement.
• WS Server: A high-concurrency WebSocket server that manages real-time subscriptions and broadcasts market data (tickers, depth, and trades).
• DB Processor: A dedicated background worker that pulls execution data from Redis queues and persists it to a PostgreSQL database via Prisma.

---

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Languages: TypeScript (Primary), JavaScript
• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Real-time: WebSockets (ws), Redis (Pub/Sub & Queues)
• Database: PostgreSQL, Redis
• DevOps: Docker, Docker Compose

---

🚀 Local Setup & Deployment

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop installed
• Node.js (v18+) and npm

---

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/VarunThisSide/boltex.git
cd boltex

2. Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory:

# Database (e.g., Neon, Supabase, or Local)
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/boltex"

# Redis Configuration
REDIS_HOST="localhost"
REDIS_PORT=6379
REDIS_PASSWORD=""

# Ports
API_PORT=3000
WS_PORT=3001

3. Run with Docker Compose

The most efficient way to run the entire stack (including the database and Redis) is via Docker Compose:

docker-compose up --build

This command builds the images for the Engine, API, WS Server, and DB Processor, while pulling the official images for PostgreSQL and Redis.

---

Manual Component Execution

If you prefer to run services individually for debugging purposes:

1. Start Infrastructure

docker run -p 6379:6379 -d redis
docker run --name boltex-db -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password -p 5432:5432 -d postgres

2. Run the Engine

cd engine
npm install
npm run dev

3. Run the API / WS Server

cd api  # or cd ws
npm install
npm run dev

---

📡 API & WebSocket Usage

REST API

• POST /api/v1/order — Place a Limit or Market order
• GET /api/v1/depth — Retrieve the current order book depth for a specific pair

---

WebSockets

Connect to receive live market updates:

ws://localhost:3001