mChat

Very fast and light chat application written in NodeJS and VueJS, using SocketIO for connection.

Features

• Channels / Group chat
• Private chat
• Search for online users & channels
• Native Web Notifications
• Commands (server & client)
• Animated Gifs (Giphy)
• Sending images (from device)
• Chatbot (assistant)
• Responsive design
• Progressive Web Application
• Emoji support
• Dark mode support

Server requirements

• Apache
• Node / NPM
• WebSockets enabled on server

Installation

You have to install both client and server in their directories:

• npm install

Setup

Before starting the server and client, you need to set up .env for both server and client directory.

Server & client start

Run these commands from project root:

• server directory: npm start
• client directory: npm run serve

Client build

• client directory: npm run build

Commands

The list of all available user commands that can do various things, as changing his nickname, status, or even channels topic.

Command	Description	Destination
/nick	Allows you to change your chat nickname	server
/whois	Returns all available information about the user	server
/away	Changes your status to away with the message. If {message} is omitted, the away status is removed	server
/me	Sends an action message to the current channel or private window	server
/hello	Sends notice with shake animation to the user. If {nick} is omitted, it will be sent to all users	server
/topic	Allows you to set the channel topic	server
/help	Returns usage and description about command. If {command} is omitted, return all available commands	server
/quit	Disconnects you from chat. Aliases: disconnect, offline, exit	server
/version	Returns information about server build number	server
/about	Returns short note about mChat	server
/giphy	Search for any gif animation by query term	client

Socket messages

The server and client communicate with socket messages and every message has its unique type.

Server ➡ Client

Type	Sent to	Description	On event
channel_join	Channel	Informs users that new user has joined channel	Join
channel_leave	Channel	Informs users that new user has left channel	Leave
channel_message	Channel	Sends a message to all users in selected channel	Message
channel_system	Channel	Sends system message to the Channel	System
channel_topic	Channel	Sends new channel topic information	System
private_message	User	Sends privately a message to selected user	Message
private_system	User	Sends privately a system message to selected user	Message
server_channels	User	Sends list of all channels	Connect
server_command	All/User	Sends specific command to user or all users	Command
server_join	All Users	Informs users that new user has joined mChat	Join
server_leave	All Users	Informs users that users has left mChat	Leave
server_users	User	Sends list of all online users	Connect
server_validation	User	Sends invalid nickname message	Connect
server_welcome	User	Welcomes new user with generated SocketID and chosen Nickname	Connect

Client ➡ Server

Type	Description
message	Sends a command or message to channel/user

More

For more information, visit server/README.md and client/README.md

Helpful links

• Chat demo
• Official webpage

Credits

Written by Nemanja Madžovski (nemanja at madza dot rs)