OpenChat

A free, open-source communications platform. Built to be modified.
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Overview

This is a project that seeks to provide a communication service akin to discord or teamspeak completely built in the javascript stack to increase accessibility and ease of use. It features an MCU which means that clients use a more consistent amount of bandwidth compared to peer-to-peer.

This project is currently in its infancy and is functional, however can have issues with stability, especially in terms of signalling. The current signalling system utilises peer.js and socket.io, however in the future should move to a fully socket.io based negotiation system with native WebRTC implementation.

Install/ Usage

I hope to have server binaries potentially in the future to make things easier but in the meantime you will have to install node.

Local

1. Install the latest version of Node/ NPM https://nodejs.org/en/download/
2. Download and unzip the server.zip from the latest release
3. In the unzipped folder, install the prequisite packages with npm.

npm i

4. Start the server

npm start

5. Connect to the server and authenticate yourself, either using the client or with email/password, as the first user to connect will be given administrative control over the server.
6. Port forward the port 443 in your router software to allow users to connect from outside the local network (guide)

If you already have a SSL key and certificate, you can place them in the /ssl directory, naming them server.key and server.cert respectively, otherwise they will be created automatically for you.

Using Docker

The current docker install is slightly 'hacky' however to maintain quick development, I do not want to have to make too many severe changes to the core functionality to facilitate it.

Premade Images

These are created with every release which should be reasonably stable.

1. Pull the docker image https://hub.docker.com/r/reesvarney02/openchat/

docker pull reesvarney02/openchat:latest

2. Run the image

docker run --detach -p [port to expose on]:443 --name [container name] reesvarney02/openchat:latest

3. Start a bash terminal in the container

docker exec -it [container name] /bin/bash

4. Continue to follow steps 5-6 from the local method above.

Build your own image

You can build OpenChat straight from the repository however it could take several minutes (depending on hardware) as some packages require building (such as sqlite3).

1. Clone/Download the repository
2. Go to the directory that you installed it and build the image

docker build -t [tag] .

Implementing letsencrypt SSL keys

I recommend using certbot to auto renew ssl keys (https://certbot.eff.org/)

Change the docker run command to:

docker run -v /etc/letsencrypt/live/[URL_HERE]/:/etc/letsencrypt/live/[URL_HERE]/ -v /etc/letsencrypt/archive/[URL_HERE]/:/etc/letsencrypt/archive/[URL_HERE]/ -env sslkey=/etc/letsencrypt/live/[URL_HERE]/privkey.pem -env sslcert=sslkey=/etc/letsencrypt/live/[URL_HERE]/fullchain.pem --detach -p [port to expose on]:443 --name [container name] reesvarney02/openchat:latest

Further configuration

• If you'd like to use a different port, change the PORT environment variable. To do this you can use the .env file by simply setting PORT=x.

Plans for the future:

• Add ability to upload and view files/ media.
• Markdown support
• Combine signalling into single system with native WebRTC implementation
• Create a repository-based extension system to allow for easy server-level customisation for even those with little technical knowledge. This would also provide the benefit of providing a less disjointed product as there would be less need for individual versions/forks. It may feature things such as:
  • Bots
  • Front-end appearance modification
  • Completely additional functionality

Bugs

If you encounter any issues with OpenChat, please raise an issue so that it can be fixed as quickly as possible.

Development/ Contribution

Due to the current state of the application in terms of stability, changes will quickly be applied directly to the master branch. However, once stability improves and updates become more incremental, new features/ fixes will be added into their own branches with more extensive testing before being merged into the master branch.

If you would like to contribute please use the following guide: https://github.com/firstcontributions/first-contributions/blob/master/README.md