ByteChat

ByteChat is a terminal-based (TUI) chat application. It features a client-server architecture where users connect over TCP/TLS, authenticate, and communicate in shared rooms or private DMs, with all of it being rendered inside the terminal with colorful animated ASCII art.

Demo

Demo.mp4

Features

• TUI Client — Four-pane layout (sidebar, messages, input, and anim area) with mouse support, focus cycling, and pulsing focus indicators
• Multi-Room Chat — Create, join, and leave rooms with /join or /leave; room membership persisted in PostgreSQL
• Private Messages — Direct message any user with /dm
• Image Sharing — Upload and display images inline with /image <path>
• Audio Notes — Record microphone input, upload audio, and play back with live FFT spectrum visualization by holding the grave accent-key, when focused on message area to record or typing /audio <path> to send an audio file
• Themes — 4 color themes (Amber, Matrix, Synthwave, Solarized) switchable with Ctrl+T
• Animations — 5 sidebar animations (3D Cube, Matrix Rain, Starfield, Torus, Sand Simulation) switchable with Ctrl+A
• Typing Indicators — Real-time "user is typing..." notifications via Redis
• Read Receipts — Track which messages you've seen across rooms
• Admin Commands — /mute, /unmute, /ban, /unban with audit logging
• TLS Support — Optional encryption with auto-generated self-signed certificates
• Docker Compose — One-command deployment with PostgreSQL and Redis

Why This Was Made

I'm still really new at Rust, and I want to learn, so I decided to challenge myself by making a cool project cause the only way to learn is by doing. I learned a lot of new concepts, and I'm enjoying the language so far.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust (edition 2024)
• Docker and Docker Compose (for PostgreSQL + Redis)

Setup

1. (Optional) Generate TLS certificates:

   cargo run --bin init-tls

2. Start the database services:

   docker compose up -d

3. In another terminal, start the client:

   cargo run --bin client <name>

Configuration

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	postgres://chat:chat@localhost:5432/chat	PostgreSQL connection
REDIS_URL	redis://127.0.0.1:6379	Redis connection
BIND_ADDR	0.0.0.0:8082	Chat server address
UPLOAD_BIND_ADDR	0.0.0.0:8083	Upload server address
UPLOAD_URL	http://localhost:8083	Public upload URL
NO_TLS	unset	Set to disable TLS
TLS_CERT	cert.pem	TLS certificate path
TLS_KEY	key.pem	TLS key path

License

This Project uses an MIT License.