BoxChat is discontinued and archived. consider using https://github.com/combox/ComBox instead

BoxChat is a simple, self-hosted messenger application.

• Backend: Python, Flask, Socket.IO, JavaScript
• Frontend: Vite, React, MaterialUI

• D7TUN6: Founder, leader, full stack developer
• Nekto: Tester, frontend fixer
• Toffo: Future redesign and UI/UX designer
• Sophron: Added some new reactions
• Ernela: Frontend rewrite, much small new functions and fixes

This project is maintained on a best-effort basis. Contributions are welcome!

v3.0 is the last python version! in the next version backend will be rewritten from python to go

• Python 3.10 or higher

• BOXCHAT_SECRET_KEY: overrides SECRET_KEY (don’t keep a default/weak key in config.json).
• BOXCHAT_ADMIN_PASSWORD: creates a bootstrap admin user on first run (only if admin does not exist).
• BOXCHAT_SOCKETIO_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS: Socket.IO CORS (default is same-origin). Use * or a comma-separated list for dev.
• BOXCHAT_MAX_CONTENT_LENGTH: max upload size in bytes (default: 5368709120 = 5 GiB).
• BOXCHAT_TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS: if 1, trusts X-Forwarded-For/X-Real-IP for IP-based bans/lockouts (only enable behind a trusted proxy).
• BOXCHAT_BANNED_IP_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS: cache TTL for banned IP set (default: 30).

FastAPI is mounted under GET /api/async when fastapi + a2wsgi are installed.

• Docs: GET /api/async/docs
• Health: GET /api/async/health
• Session user: GET /api/async/v1/whoami
• Stats (parallelized counts): GET /api/async/v1/statistics

python -m venv boxchat-venv

# Activate virtual environment
# On Windows:
boxchat-venv\Scripts\activate

# On Linux/macOS:
source boxchat-venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies and build frontend
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
cd frontend && npm install && npm run build

# Run migrations
cd ..
python tools/migration.py

# Start the server
python run.py

# Activate nix shell
nix-shell
python tools/migration.py

# Start the server
python run.py