tinode/chat
Instant messaging platform. Backend in Go. Clients: Swift iOS, Java Android, JS webapp, scriptable command line; chatbots
Build with Backblaze B2
SDKs, agent skills, IDE extensions, and reference pipelines from Backblaze Labs. All open source.
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Where it stands
Rank, growth pace and release cadence relative to everything GStars tracks.
No releases in the last 90 days; the most recent was 126 days ago, with 60 contributors on GitHub.
Use Cases & Benefits
- Provides a full-stack instant messaging platform with a Go backend and native clients for iOS, Android, web, and command line.
- Offers a modern, federated, and extensible messaging system designed as an open alternative to XMPP with multi-language gRPC support.
- Use for building custom mobile and web chat applications with real-time messaging, voice, and video call features.
- Use for deploying a self-hosted, privacy-focused instant messaging server with granular access control and chatbot integration.
- Use for integrating messaging capabilities into existing systems via JSON or protobuf APIs supporting multiple programming languages.
Should you depend on it?
License terms, project hygiene and risks, from GitHub metadata and GStars' snapshots.
License
GPL 3.0
Copyleft: distributing software that includes it generally requires releasing your source under the same license.
Community files
- README: present
- Contributing guide: present
Watch-outs
- GPL-style copyleft: including it in distributed software generally requires releasing your source under the same license.
General guidance from repository metadata, not legal advice. How we score
From the README
Instant messaging full stack. Backend in pure Go (license GPL 3.0), clients for Android (Java), iOS (Swift), and web (ReactJS), as well as gRPC client support for C++, C#, Go, Java, Node, PHP, Python, Ruby, Objective-C, etc (all clients licensed under Apache 2.0). Wire transport is JSON over websocket (long polling is also available) or protobuf with gRPC.
This is beta-quality software: feature-complete and stable but probably with a few bugs or missing features. Follow instructions to install and run or use one of the cloud services below. Read API documentation.
Tinode is not XMPP/Jabber. It is not compatible with XMPP. It's meant as a replacement for XMPP. On the surface, it's a lot like open source WhatsApp or Telegram.
The promise of XMPP was to deliver federated instant messaging: anyone would be able to spin up an IM server capable of exchanging messages with any other XMPP server in the world. Unfortunately, XMPP never delivered on this promise. Instant messengers are still a bunch of incompatible walled gardens, similar to what AoL of the late 1990s was to the open Internet.
Daily snapshots
Stars gained per day, and how forks and open issues moved, from GStars' daily snapshots
Forks
2.1K+18
Open issues
42+2
Compared with peers in Messaging
Fastest-growing repositories GStars tracks in this cohort for the week of Nov 8, by 7-day star growth
| Repository | Stars | +7d | Health | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| macro-inc/macro | 6.2K | +116 | 75 | today |
| amir20/dozzle | 14.9K | — | 40 | today |
| tinode/chat | 13.6K | — | 53 | 126 days ago |
| plankanban/planka | 12.7K | — | 45 | today |
| nasa/fprime | 11.9K | — | 64 | 26 days ago |
| evolution-foundation/evolution-api | 10.1K | — | 51 | 173 days ago |
| Category median | 11.9K | — | 51 | — |
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