clientServerSocketChat

A client-server chat application built with Python sockets and Tkinter. Supports multiple clients, TLS encryption, private chats, message persistence, and heartbeat keep-alive.

Project Structure

clientServerSocketChat/
├── app/
│   ├── common/
│   │   ├── constants.py      # Shared constants (serverPort, heartbeatInterval, ...)
│   │   └── protocol.py       # Length-prefixed sendMsg / recvMsg helpers
│   ├── database/
│   │   └── databaseManager.py
│   ├── server/
│   │   └── chatServer.py
│   └── client/
│       └── chatClient.py
├── tests/
│   └── test_e2e.py
├── data/                     # SQLite database (created at runtime)
├── certs/                   # TLS certificates (auto-generated)
├── server.py                # Server entry point
├── client.py                # Client entry point
└── requirements.txt

Setup

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run

Start the server (GUI dashboard):

python server.py

Start a client (repeat for multiple users):

python client.py

Commands

Command	Description
/list	Show online users
@username message	Request a private chat
yes / no	Accept or reject a private chat invitation
exit / quit	Leave a private chat session
disconnect / bye	Disconnect from the server

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
USE_TLS	1	Enable TLS encryption
REQUIRE_TLS	0	Reject non-TLS connections
TLS_CERT	certs/server.crt	Certificate path
TLS_KEY	certs/server.key	Private key path

Tests

USE_TLS=0 python -m pytest tests/ -v