What is ghChat used for?

ghChat is an open-source instant messaging web app with GitHub login, private and group chats, and a PWA front end built on React and Koa. It is a good fit for community chat for open-source projects and self-hosted team messaging.

Is ghChat open source?

Yes. ghChat is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at aermin/ghChat and is written mainly in JavaScript.

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

Can I self-host ghChat?

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

What is ghChat an alternative to?

ghChat is an open-source alternative to Slack. Other open-source alternatives to Slack include VoceChat, Cinny and Sharkord.

Is ghChat actively maintained?

The most recent commit to ghChat was on 4 January 2023, and the latest release is v2.5, published on 19 February 2020. The project has 929 stars on GitHub.

ghChat: open-source alternative to Slack

About ghChat

ghChat is a chat application built around GitHub: users sign in with their GitHub account, their public GitHub profile information is shown, and they can create a group for their own project and link to it from a README for quick discussion. The name reflects the author's plan to integrate more GitHub features over time.

It supports private chats with contacts and group chats with creation, joining and editing of group details. Messages can include images, emoji and files, @mentions and pasted screenshots, and users get desktop notifications and unread counters. The layout is responsive for desktop and mobile, the app works as a PWA, and a chatbot can reply automatically.

The stack is React, Redux and a Node.js back end using Koa2 with some TypeScript, MySQL, Socket.IO and JWT. The README describes local development and production steps including Nginx, SSL and PM2, and image and file sending needs a Qiniu CDN configuration. It is released under the MIT license and suits teams that want a self-hosted community chat.

Key features

GitHub OAuth sign-in
Private chats and group chats
Project group chats linkable from READMEs
Image, emoji and file messages
Desktop notifications and unread counts
Progressive web app with responsive layout
Chatbot replies

Good fit for

→Community chat for open-source projects
→Self-hosted team messaging

Built with: JavaScript; React; MySQL; Node.js; TypeScript
Tags: chat; instant-messaging; github; react; koa; socket-io; pwa; mysql; typescript

ghChat: questions and answers

What is ghChat used for?: ghChat is an open-source instant messaging web app with GitHub login, private and group chats, and a PWA front end built on React and Koa. It is a good fit for community chat for open-source projects and self-hosted team messaging.
Is ghChat open source?: Yes. ghChat is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at aermin/ghChat and is written mainly in JavaScript.
Is ghChat free?: Yes. ghChat is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host ghChat?: Yes. ghChat can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is ghChat an alternative to?: ghChat is an open-source alternative to Slack. Other open-source alternatives to Slack include VoceChat, Cinny and Sharkord.
Is ghChat actively maintained?: The most recent commit to ghChat was on 4 January 2023, and the latest release is v2.5, published on 19 February 2020. The project has 929 stars on GitHub.