A real-time messaging application based entirely inside your terminal.
As a developer primarily experienced in backend and web development, I've often found myself within the comfort zone of building graphical user interfaces and traditional server-side applications. Terminal Chat is a project aimed at pushing my boundaries by delving into the world of terminal user interfaces (TUIs). This project not only challenges me to implement real-time communication using WebSockets and Go's concurrency features but also helps me grow by exploring the intricacies of building effective and user-friendly TUIs.
The primary goal of Terminal Chat is to create a seamless and responsive real-time chat application that runs entirely in the terminal. Key objectives include:
- Real-Time Messaging: Enable instant messaging between users with minimal latency.
- Concurrency: Utilize Go's goroutines to handle multiple users and messages efficiently.
- WebSocket Integration: Implement WebSocket protocol for persistent, low-latency communication.
- User-Friendly Interface: Design a simple, intuitive command-line interface that is easy to navigate and use.
- Scalability: Build a robust server capable of handling a large number of concurrent connections.
- Extensibility: Lay the foundation for future enhancements such as private messaging, data encryption, and possibly even AI integration.
- Go 1.22+ installed
- If you do not yet have a working Go environment of at least v1.22, you can install it here
go install github.com/Abi-Liu/TextTunnel/cmd/chat_client/texttunnel@latest
After installing the application, navigate to your favorite terminal and run texttunnel. The TUI application will launch and you will automatically connect to the hosted server. Simply create an account and you can immediately begin chatting!
- Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Abi-Liu/TextTunnel.git - Replace the env variables inside of
.env.examplewith your own values NOTE: This project expects you to use Postgres as the database. If you do not have it installed you can download here- At the end of your Postgres connection string, make sure to include this snippet:
?sslmode=disable
- At the end of your Postgres connection string, make sure to include this snippet:
- Migrate your database by running
./scripts/migrateup.sh - You can now run
make run-both. Alternatively, you can also runmake run-serverandmake run-clientin separate terminal windows to achieve the same effect. - And there you go. You have your own local version up and running!
I would love your help! Contribute by forking the repo and opening pull requests. All pull requests should be submitted to the main branch.
Feel free to submit an issue if you find a bug or just to request a feature you think should be included!