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Socketchat is open source under your choice of the MIT or Apache-2.0 license, and contributions are welcome: code, testing on new machines, documentation and bug reports.

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Ways to help

  • Report a bug or ask a question in GitHub issues. For security problems, use private reporting instead.
  • Measure it on your hardware. scripts/idle-memory.sh measures the server’s idle memory on any machine; share your results in an issue, especially from a Raspberry Pi.
  • Pick up roadmap work. Open an issue first so you and the maintainers can agree on the approach.

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On the roadmap

  • A phone app, beside the terminal app. The client engine, socketchat-core, has no screen code, so a graphical app can sit on top of it.
  • An MCP server, so AI assistants can use Socketchat without a shell. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the standard way AI assistants connect to tools.
  • One identity on more than one device.
  • Room membership hidden from the server, once a reviewed standard for it exists.
  • The final post-quantum MLS suite, once the IETF publishes it.
ROADMAP.md explains each item and how to help.

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Build and test

You need Rust 1.91 or newer from rustup.rs. On Linux, also install the OpenSSL headers:
Then clone the repository and run every test:
The tests start real servers on free ports with several apps talking to them, so no other setup is needed. The first build takes several minutes.

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How changes get in

  • Keep pull requests small: one change, one reason.
  • Write tests first. A bug fix starts with a test that fails because of the bug.
  • Use reviewed libraries and published standards for all cryptography. A change that adds home-made cryptography will be declined.
  • New dependencies must be at least 30 days old, widely used and actively maintained.
CONTRIBUTING.md has the full guide, and everyone who takes part follows the code of conduct.