To that end, it is:
- Fully open source (licensed under GPL v2)
- Peer-to-peer whenever possible, otherwise Open Relay is used to ensure reliable peer connection
- Encrypted (via WebRTC)
- Serverless – Public WebTorrent servers are only used for initial peer handshake
- Ephemeral – message content is never persisted to disk
- Decentralized – there is no API server. All that’s required for Chitchatter to function is availability of GitHub for static assets and public WebTorrent and STUN/TURN relay servers for establishing communication.
Open the website and join a room to start chatting with anyone else who is in the room. By default, room names are random UUIDs that are generated client-side. To securely communicate with someone, it is recommended to join one of these randomly-generated rooms and share the URL (via the “link” button at the top of the page) to whoever you wish to communicate with via a secure medium of your choosing (such as Burner Note or Yopass). Your static user name will be presented to you, and it would be good share that with who you will be chatting with so they know they’re talking to you.
A problem with P2P is that there is a risk often of your IP address being exposed, as connections are made directly between peers. But if that is a worry then just start a VPN or a Tor session before connecting.
#technology #opensource #decentralised #P2P #Chitchatter