Netless

A local network chat app that runs on your LAN. Everything stays on your network - no internet needed, no data sent anywhere else.

What it does

• Text chat with everyone on the same network
• Send files and voice messages
• React to messages with emojis
• See who's online
• Admin controls for moderation
• HTTPS encryption (self-signed cert)

Setup

You need Node.js installed first. Get it from nodejs.org if you don't have it.

Then just:

npm install
node server.js

The server runs on port 3000. It'll show you the URLs to connect when it starts up.

Termux (Android)

pkg update && pkg upgrade
pkg install nodejs
npm install
node server.js

Using it

Open https://localhost:3000 or https://[your-ip]:3000 in your browser. Your browser will complain about the certificate being self-signed - that's expected. Just click through the warning.

Everyone on the same network can connect using your IP address.

Admin stuff

Type /admin netlessadmin in the chat to get admin powers. You can then edit or delete any message using the buttons that appear.

Details

• Built with Fastify and WebSockets
• Files are chunked for transfer (handles up to 100MB, but 15MB is more reliable)
• Automatically adjusts for mobile/low-resource devices
• Messages aren't saved to disk, only usernames are kept in users.json
• Uses backpressure handling so large transfers don't crash things