Open Source Real-Time Messaging Platform

Connect. Chat. Collaborate.

A free, open source messaging platform with voice notes, video, file sharing, AI assistant, typing indicators, read receipts, and an embeddable support widget — clone, deploy, and make it yours.

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100%

Open Source

50+

Features

3,000+

Automated Tests

120,000+

Lines of Code

Why Chatr

Everything you need, nothing you don't

Seven message types, real-time indicators, group management, an AI chatbot, and an embeddable support widget — all in one platform.

Rich Messaging

Text, voice notes, images, video, files, code blocks, and link previews. Reactions, replies, edits, and unsend.

Real-Time Everything

Typing indicators, ghost typing, presence dots, read receipts, and recording indicators — all within 200ms.

Groups & Roles

Create groups with Owner, Admin, and Member roles. Invite by search, manage permissions, all message types.

AI Assistant

Luna (GPT-4o-mini) appears as a regular contact. Typing indicators, conversation history, zero learning curve.

Support Widget

One line of JavaScript adds live chat to any website. White-label, zero-friction, replaces Intercom at £0/seat.

Enterprise Security

JWT + 2FA + SMS verification. Per-field privacy controls. Redis rate limiting. Server-side enforcement.

Quick Start

Running in under 60 seconds

Three commands. That’s it. Docker handles the databases, the dev script handles the rest.

1. Clone

git clone github.com/neofuture/chatr

2. Configure

cp .env.example .env

3. Launch

bash dev.sh

What dev.sh does: Starts Docker (PostgreSQL + Redis), runs database migrations, launches 5 development servers (frontend, backend, widget, CSS watcher, cache invalidator), and opens the app — all with hot reload. One command replaces 15 minutes of manual setup.

Artificial Intelligence

Meet Luna — your AI assistant

Luna is an AI chatbot powered by GPT-4o-mini that appears as a regular contact in your conversation list. No special UI, no learning curve — just message her like anyone else.

Streaming token-by-token responses
Typing indicators while “thinking”
Full conversation history & context
AI-generated conversation summaries
Code help, brainstorming, Q&A
Swap model via environment variable

Use Cases

Who is Chatr for?

Whether you’re a startup, agency, or enterprise — Chatr gives you a complete messaging platform you own, customise, and deploy on your terms.

SaaS Companies

Embed the support widget on your product. Replace Intercom at £0/seat and own every line of code. White-label it to match your brand.

Internal Teams

Deploy a private messaging platform behind your firewall. Full control over data residency, compliance, and access. No third-party dependencies.

Startups & MVPs

Skip 6 months of development. Clone the repo, customise, and launch with 50+ features on day one. Focus your team on what makes you unique.

Agencies & Freelancers

Offer live chat as a white-label service to your clients. Deploy unique instances per client with custom branding and domains.

Education & Learning

A complete full-stack reference implementation. TypeScript, React 19, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, WebSockets, AI — all production-grade.

Acquirers & Investors

A tested, documented, deployed product with 120,000+ lines of code and 3,000+ tests. Ready to integrate, resell, or build upon.

One Line of Code

Add live chat in 30 seconds

Paste a single <script> tag into any website. A floating chat bubble appears instantly. Visitors type a message; agents reply from the Chatr dashboard. No sign-up, no email capture — zero friction.

Works on any website
No visitor sign-up needed
White-label branding
Voice, files & link previews
24h persistent sessions
Replaces Intercom at £0

HTML

<!-- Add to any page -->
<script
  src="https://your-server.com/chatr.js"
  data-server="https://your-server.com"
  data-position="bottom-right"
  data-theme="dark"
  data-primary-color="#3b82f6"
  data-greeting="How can we help?"
></script>

Free code. Expert support from £15/hr.

Chatr is MIT-licensed — clone, deploy, and customise for free. Need a hand with setup, deployment, or customisation? Our paid support starts at just £15/hour.

Star on GitHub Support Plans

Embeddable Widget

Add live support to any website

Paste one line of JavaScript and your customers can chat with you in real time. No sign-up, no email, zero friction. Sessions persist for 24 hours.

A fully white-labelled Palette Designer lets you customise every colour, toggle dark mode, and copy the embed snippet with one click.

Learn More Talk to Us

Beautiful Design

Dark & light themes, mobile-first

Every pixel designed for mobile. Responsive layout adapts to desktop with a persistent sidebar. Switch themes with one tap — no reload, no flicker.

The Full Experience

Every screen, polished

Registration, conversations, groups, friends, profiles, settings, emoji picker, reactions, replies, code blocks, and more — every screen is designed and tested.

Production Ready & Open Source

Built on the stack trusted by Slack, Shopify & Netflix

Frontend

Next.js 16 + React 19

TypeScript strict mode, Framer Motion, Socket.IO

Backend

Node.js + Express

88 REST endpoints, 85+ WebSocket events

Database

PostgreSQL 16

Prisma ORM, 9 models, automatic migrations

Caching

Redis 7

Presence, rate limiting, pub/sub, token blacklisting

OpenAI GPT-4o-mini

Chatbot (Luna) + conversation summaries

Cloud

AWS

EC2, RDS, ElastiCache, S3, Nginx

Full Architecture →

Developer Intelligence

Real-time analytics dashboard

17+ live metrics, code health gauges, commit intelligence, security audit, and an embedded test runner.

View Live Dashboard

Head to Head

How Chatr stacks up

Feature-for-feature comparison with the biggest names in messaging and live chat.

Feature comparison between Chatr, Intercom, Zendesk, and Drift
Feature	Chatr	Intercom	Zendesk	Drift
Real-time messaging	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Voice messages	Yes	No	No	No
Video sharing	Yes	No	No	No
File sharing (50 MB)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Code blocks with syntax highlighting	Yes	No	No	No
Link previews (Open Graph)	Yes	Yes	No	No
Typing indicators	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ghost typing (live keystrokes)	Yes	No	No	No
Read receipts (3-state)	Yes	Yes	partial	No
AI chatbot (GPT-4o-mini)	Yes	paid	paid	paid
Conversation summaries (AI)	Yes	paid	No	No
Group chats with roles	Yes	No	No	No
Friend system & blocking	Yes	No	No	No
Embeddable support widget	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
White-label widget branding	Yes	paid	partial	partial
TOTP 2FA	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
SMS verification	Yes	No	No	No
Per-field privacy controls	Yes	No	No	No
Dark & light themes	Yes	No	partial	No
Offline message queue	Yes	No	No	No
Self-hosted / on-premise	Yes	No	No	No
Full source code access	Yes	No	No	No
No per-seat pricing	Yes	No	No	No
MIT license	Yes	No	No	No

Complete Platform

50+ features. All included. Day one.

No feature gating, no premium tiers, no “contact sales”. Every feature ships with the repo.

Text messaging
Voice messages with waveforms
Image sharing with lightbox
Video sharing with player
File attachments (50 MB)
Code blocks (40+ languages)
Link previews (Open Graph)
Emoji reactions
Message replies (quoted)
Edit messages
Unsend / delete for everyone
Full emoji picker with search
Typing indicators
Ghost typing (live keystrokes)
Online presence dots
Read receipts (3-state)
Recording indicator
AI conversation summaries
Group chats
Group roles (Owner/Admin/Member)
Group invitations
Group avatars & covers
Friend requests & search
User blocking
AI chatbot (Luna / GPT-4o-mini)
Streaming AI responses
Embeddable support widget
Widget palette designer
Guest sessions (24h TTL)
White-label branding
Dark theme (deep navy)
Light theme
One-tap theme toggle
Email verification
SMS verification
TOTP two-factor auth
Password recovery flow
JWT + refresh token auth
Token blacklisting
Redis rate limiting
Per-field privacy controls
Profile system (avatar, bio, cover)
Settings panel
Notification preferences
Date separators & grouping
Offline message queue
IndexedDB cache
Responsive mobile-first UI
Real-time dashboard
Code health gauges
Security audit panel
Embedded test runner
Commit intelligence
Swagger API docs

The Story

Built by one developer. In 30 days.

A complete, production-deployed messaging platform — with real-time WebSockets, AI integration, enterprise auth, an embeddable widget, and 3,000+ automated tests — designed, built, tested, documented, and deployed by a single developer in 30 days.

— The kind of output that demonstrates what focused, senior-level engineering looks like.

120,000+Lines of Code

3,000+Automated Tests

243Commits

432Source Files

88API Endpoints

85+Socket Events

Commercial Opportunity

What would this cost to build?

A messaging platform of this scope — real-time, AI-integrated, fully tested, and deployed — would typically require a funded team and 6–12 months of development.

£150k+

Build Cost

Estimated agency or team cost to build equivalent features from scratch.

£4,700

Annual Savings

vs. Intercom for a 10-person team at £39/seat/month. Scales linearly.

30 days

Time to Build

Entire platform built, tested, and deployed by a single developer.

£0

Recurring Cost

MIT-licensed. No per-seat fees, no usage caps, no vendor lock-in.

For acquirers: Chatr represents production-ready IP with immediate commercial value. The embeddable widget alone competes with Intercom (£39–99/seat/month), and the full platform includes AI integration, enterprise authentication, and a three-tier test suite — all documented, deployed, and ready to integrate or resell.

Ready to get started?

50+ features, 3,000+ tests, MIT-licensed. Clone the repo and deploy for free — or get expert help from £15/hour.

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