What is Chat.io used for?

Chat.io is a free, MIT-licensed, open-source real-time chat application built with Node.js, Express, Mongoose, Socket.io, Passport and Redis, including social login. It is a good fit for reference implementation for a Node.js chat app, and learning Socket.io and Passport integration.

Is Chat.io open source?

Yes. Chat.io is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OmarElgabry/chat.io and is written mainly in JavaScript.

Yes. Chat.io is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Chat.io?

Yes. Chat.io can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What are some alternatives to Chat.io?

Similar open-source tools in the Team Chat category include hack.chat, Fiora and The Lounge. SaaS products in the same category include Kik, Telegram and Tencent QQ.

Is Chat.io actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Chat.io was on 2 July 2019, and the latest release is v1.0, published on 31 August 2016. The project has 1.4k stars on GitHub.

Chat.io: open-source team chat

About Chat.io

Chat.io is a real-time chat application demonstrating a full Node.js-based messaging stack. It is aimed at developers learning or referencing how to combine real-time communication, authentication and session management into one working chat app, rather than a polished product for end users.

It uses Express as its web framework, express-session for session management with sessions stored in MongoDB via connect-mongo, Passport for username-and-password authentication as well as social login through Facebook and Twitter, bcrypt-nodejs for password hashing, Socket.io for real-time client-server communication with Redis as its backing adapter, and Winston for logging errors and exceptions.

Chat.io can be run locally with Node.js, npm and a local Redis server after configuring credentials, or deployed to Heroku with Redis added as an add-on and configuration variables set through Heroku's dashboard. It is written in JavaScript and released under the MIT license.

Key features

Real-time messaging via Socket.io
Username/password and social login (Facebook, Twitter)
Redis-backed Socket.io adapter
MongoDB-based session storage
Error logging with Winston

Good fit for

→Reference implementation for a Node.js chat app
→Learning Socket.io and Passport integration

Built with: JavaScript; Node.js; Redis
Tags: chat; nodejs; socketio; real-time; passport; redis; javascript

Chat.io: questions and answers

What is Chat.io used for?: Chat.io is a free, MIT-licensed, open-source real-time chat application built with Node.js, Express, Mongoose, Socket.io, Passport and Redis, including social login. It is a good fit for reference implementation for a Node.js chat app, and learning Socket.io and Passport integration.
Is Chat.io open source?: Yes. Chat.io is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OmarElgabry/chat.io and is written mainly in JavaScript.
Is Chat.io free?: Yes. Chat.io is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Chat.io?: Yes. Chat.io can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What are some alternatives to Chat.io?: Similar open-source tools in the Team Chat category include hack.chat, Fiora and The Lounge. SaaS products in the same category include Kik, Telegram and Tencent QQ.
Is Chat.io actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Chat.io was on 2 July 2019, and the latest release is v1.0, published on 31 August 2016. The project has 1.4k stars on GitHub.