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termchat

Minimal anonymous terminal chatrooms.

Open a terminal → paste one command → instantly chat.

Built for quick collaboration, debugging sessions, pair programming, temporary communities, and internet-native realtime chat.


Features

  • Anonymous ephemeral chat rooms
  • Zero account creation
  • Realtime WebSocket messaging
  • Modern terminal-native TUI
  • Sidebar user list
  • Mention highlighting (@user)
  • Cross-platform bootstrap installer
  • Linux / macOS / Windows / Android (Termux) support
  • Auto-generated room IDs
  • Nickname colors
  • Responsive terminal layout
  • GitHub Releases binary delivery
  • Dockerized deployment
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • GHCR container publishing
  • Lightweight single-binary CLI

UI Preview

The latest TUI includes:

  • Dedicated users sidebar
  • Better spacing and layout
  • Cleaner message rendering
  • Improved command hints
  • Status footer
  • Mention highlighting
  • Better input handling
  • Adaptive resizing
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [system] Alice joined the room                                             │
│ Alice: Hey @Bob                                                            │
│ Bob: sup                                                                   │
│                                                                            │
│ Commands: /help /clear /nick /color /quit                                  │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ > Type a message...                                                        │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Start

Linux / macOS

Create a room:

curl -fsSL https://termchat.sacred99.online | bash

Join a room:

curl -fsSL https://termchat.sacred99.online/7WHB | bash

Windows (PowerShell)

Create a room:

irm https://termchat.sacred99.online/win -OutFile termchat-bootstrap.ps1
.\termchat-bootstrap.ps1

Join a room:

irm https://termchat.sacred99.online/win/7WHB -OutFile termchat-bootstrap.ps1
.\termchat-bootstrap.ps1

If PowerShell blocks scripts:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process Bypass

Android / Termux

pkg install curl
curl -fsSL https://termchat.sacred99.online | bash

Supported Platforms

Platform Architectures
Linux amd64, arm64, 386 / i686
macOS amd64, arm64
Windows amd64, arm64
Android / Termux arm64

Commands

Command Description
/help Show available commands
/clear Clear chat history
/nick NAME Change nickname
/color #HEX Change nickname color
/quit Exit room

Notes:

  • The online users panel is built directly into the UI.
  • /users command has been removed.
  • Mentions highlight automatically when using @nickname.

Room System

termchat rooms are:

  • Temporary
  • Memory-only
  • Automatically created on join
  • Deleted when empty
  • Shareable via URL-style room codes

Example:

https://termchat.sacred99.online/7WHB

Security

Current protections include:

  • WebSocket keepalive
  • Buffered outbound queues
  • Graceful disconnect handling
  • Inactive connection cleanup
  • Cross-platform bootstrap detection
  • Automatic binary fetching
  • ANSI escape sanitization
  • Message length enforcement

Recommended future hardening:

  • Global + per-room rate limits
  • Join throttling
  • Room validation hardening
  • Profanity / spam filtering
  • Abuse detection

Roadmap

Planned ideas:

  • File transfer
  • Message reactions
  • Terminal notifications
  • Persistent optional identities
  • Invite-only rooms
  • End-to-end encryption experiments
  • Self-hosted one-command deployment
  • Rich markdown rendering
  • Multi-room support

Technologies

  • Go
  • Bubble Tea
  • Lip Gloss
  • Gorilla WebSocket
  • Chi
  • Docker
  • Caddy
  • GitHub Actions
  • GitHub Container Registry

Philosophy

termchat is designed to feel:

  • Instant
  • Disposable
  • Lightweight
  • Terminal-first
  • Frictionless

No signup. No browser tabs.


License

MIT

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