HTMLChat 💬

A retro-styled, browser-only chat client.
Version: v0.2.0-beta

What this is

HTMLChat is a super simple chat system I hacked together:

• Frontend is plain HTML/CSS/JS built with Vite (retro style, scrollbars included).
• Backend is a tiny API (yes, it’s alive, and yes, it works).
• LocalStorage keeps your name + cached messages.
• No cookies. No nonsense. Just chat.

Features

• Multiple rooms (#general, #random, #offtopic, #computers)
• Nicknames + color-coding
• Connection status + heartbeat (so you look online)
• Export chat logs as JSON (plus a handy Reload button next to Export)
• File uploads (images/docs) with previews
• Replies (click to reply, threaded context)
• Search (fast, non-blocking)
• Moderator tools (delete/ban)
• Settings modal (desktop notifications + sounds toggles)
• Lucide icons via npm (no CDN, crisp SVGs)
• Mobile-friendly (user list hides on small screens)
• Retro scrollbars (obviously)

Roadmap

This is beta, so expect bugs and jank. Stuff I might add:

• Dark mode
• /commands (like /me or /shrug)
• Typing indicators
• WebSocket support (currently polling)
• Emojis, maybe (but only if they don’t ruin the retro feel)

Running it

• Frontend lives in Build/ and uses Vite.
  • Dev: cd Build && npm install && npm run dev
  • Build: cd Build && npm install && npm run build
• Backend is currently deployed at:

https://htmlchat.neeljaiswal23.workers.dev

The source for it is at Worker/! You can swap baseURL in the JS if you want to host your own.

License

MIT, because why not.

Contributing

ET-Tha-Dev 📣 📓 🤔

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!

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