Voxium

A free, open-source real-time communication platform built for privacy.

Try it now: https://voxium.app

Tired of handing over your phone number, ID, and personal data just to chat with friends? Voxium is built for people who believe privacy isn't a premium feature — it's a right. No phone verification, no identity checks, no data harvesting. Just real-time voice and text chat that works.

Self-host it, audit the code, and own your conversations. No corporation sitting between you and your community.

Why Voxium?

Zero personal data required — No phone number, no ID verification, no tracking
Fully open source — Audit every line, self-host on your own infrastructure
Production-ready voice — WebRTC peer-to-peer with AI noise suppression (RNNoise ML)
Cross-platform — Native desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux via Tauri 2
Modern stack — React 19, TypeScript, Zustand, Tailwind CSS, real-time WebSockets

Features

Servers & Channels — Create servers, organize them with categories, text and voice channels, drag-and-drop reordering, invite others via single-use invite links
Real-Time Messaging — Instant message delivery, typing indicators, cursor-based pagination, unread badges per channel and server
Message Replies — Reply to any message with a compact preview of the original; click to scroll to the referenced message; graceful handling of deleted parents
Message Editing & Deletion — Edit your own messages inline, delete with confirmation; admins can delete any message
Reactions — Emoji reactions on messages with grouped display and toggle support (channels and DMs)
Direct Messages — 1-on-1 text conversations with real-time delivery, typing indicators, reactions, persistent unread tracking, and conversation deletion
DM Voice Calls — 1-on-1 WebRTC P2P audio calls with incoming call modal, ringtone, speaking indicators, and call history as system messages
Server Voice Chat — WebRTC peer-to-peer voice (mesh, up to ~8 users per channel), speaking indicators, latency display
Screen Sharing — Share your screen in voice channels with real-time video and system audio
AI Noise Suppression — ML-powered noise filter (RNNoise WASM) removes keyboard, mouse, and background noise in real time via AudioWorklet
Opus Codec Optimization — DTX for bandwidth savings, in-band FEC for packet loss recovery, optimized bitrate for voice
Push-to-Talk & Voice Activity — Configurable input mode with key binding picker; noise gate sensitivity slider for voice activity mode
Audio Settings — Input/output device selection, live mic level meter, noise suppression toggle, persisted preferences
Mute/Deaf Controls — Always-visible controls that persist across channel switches, server switches, and app restarts
Friend System — Send, accept, decline, and remove friend requests with real-time notifications
Role & Permission Management — Owner/Admin/Member hierarchy; role changes, member kicks, ownership transfer
User Profiles — Avatars with online/offline status indicators, display names, bios with real-time sync across all clients
File Uploads — S3-compatible storage for user avatars and server icons with client-side image processing
Presence — Real-time online/offline status for all server members and DM participants
Notifications — In-app toast notifications, notification sounds for voice join/leave and new messages, native desktop notifications
Authentication — JWT with refresh tokens, remember me, forgot/reset password via email, token version-based session invalidation
Security — Per-endpoint and per-socket rate limiting, input sanitization, CORS protection
Cross-Platform Desktop — Tauri 2 native apps (Windows, macOS, Linux) with a sleek dark UI
Landing Page — Public-facing landing page for browser visitors with animated illustrations

Tech Stack

Layer	Technologies
Backend	Node.js, Express, Socket.IO, Prisma, PostgreSQL, Redis
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Zustand, Tailwind CSS
Desktop	Tauri 2 (Rust)
Voice	WebRTC (mesh P2P), RNNoise WASM, Web Audio API
Infrastructure	S3-compatible storage, Nodemailer (SMTP)

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Tool	Version	Purpose
Node.js	>= 20.x	JavaScript runtime
pnpm	>= 9.x	Package manager
PostgreSQL	>= 15.x	Database (local installation)
Docker & Docker Compose	Latest	Redis container
Rust	Latest stable	Required by Tauri for desktop builds
Git	Latest	Version control

Platform-Specific Requirements

Windows:

Microsoft Visual Studio C++ Build Tools
WebView2 (included in Windows 11, install manually on Windows 10)

macOS:

Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file \
  libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

Install pnpm (if not installed)

npm install -g pnpm

Install Rust (if not installed)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd Voxium

2. Install Dependencies

pnpm install

3. Set Up PostgreSQL

psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE voxium;"

4. Start Redis

docker compose up -d

5. Configure Environment

cp apps/server/.env.example apps/server/.env

Edit apps/server/.env and set DATABASE_URL with your local PostgreSQL password:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:YOUR_PASSWORD@localhost:5432/voxium?schema=public"

6. Set Up the Database

# Generate Prisma client
pnpm --filter @voxium/server db:generate

# Run database migrations
pnpm --filter @voxium/server db:migrate

# (Optional) Seed with demo data
pnpm --filter @voxium/server db:seed

7. Build Shared Package

pnpm run build:shared

8. Start Development Servers

Option A: Start everything together

pnpm run dev

Option B: Start individually (recommended)

Terminal 1 — Backend:

pnpm run dev:server

Terminal 2 — Frontend:

pnpm run dev:desktop

The backend runs on http://localhost:3001 and the frontend on http://localhost:8080.

Running as Desktop App (Tauri)

cd apps/desktop
pnpm tauri:dev

This compiles the Rust backend, starts the Vite dev server, and opens the native window.

Building for Production

Build the Backend

pnpm run build:server

Run in production:

cd apps/server
NODE_ENV=production node dist/index.js

Build the Desktop App

cd apps/desktop
pnpm tauri:build

This creates platform-specific installers in apps/desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/:

Windows: .msi and .exe installers
macOS: .dmg and .app bundle
Linux: .deb, .AppImage, and .rpm packages

Database Management

# Open Prisma Studio (visual database browser)
pnpm run db:studio

# Create a new migration
cd apps/server
npx prisma migrate dev --name your_migration_name

# Reset database (deletes all data)
npx prisma migrate reset

# Seed demo data
pnpm run db:seed

Demo seed creates:

Users: alice, bob, charlie (password: password123)
Server: "Voxium Community" with text and voice channels
Messages: Sample messages in #general

Testing the API

Health Check

curl http://localhost:3001/health

Register a User

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/v1/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username":"testuser","email":"test@example.com","password":"password123"}'

Login

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/v1/auth/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"test@example.com","password":"password123"}'

Use the Token

# Replace <TOKEN> with the accessToken from login response
curl http://localhost:3001/api/v1/servers \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>"

Configuration Reference

Server Environment Variables (`apps/server/.env`)

Variable	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	—	Required. PostgreSQL connection string
`REDIS_URL`	`redis://localhost:6379`	Redis connection string
`JWT_SECRET`	—	Required. Secret for signing access tokens
`JWT_REFRESH_SECRET`	—	Required. Secret for signing refresh tokens
`JWT_EXPIRES_IN`	`15m`	Access token expiry
`JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRES_IN`	`7d`	Refresh token expiry
`PORT`	`3001`	HTTP server port
`NODE_ENV`	`development`	Environment mode
`CORS_ORIGIN`	`http://localhost:8080`	Allowed CORS origin(s)
`S3_ASSETS_ENDPOINT`	—	S3-compatible storage endpoint
`S3_ASSETS_REGION`	—	S3 bucket region
`S3_ACCESS_KEY`	—	S3 access key
`S3_SECRET_KEY`	—	S3 secret key
`S3_ASSETS_BUCKET`	—	S3 bucket name
`SMTP_HOST`	`localhost`	SMTP server host
`SMTP_PORT`	`1025`	SMTP server port
`SMTP_USER`	—	SMTP auth username
`SMTP_PASS`	—	SMTP auth password
`SMTP_FROM`	`noreply@voxium.app`	Sender email address
`CLIENT_URL`	`http://localhost:8080`	Frontend URL (used in emails)

Frontend Environment Variables (`apps/desktop/.env`)

Variable	Default	Description
`VITE_API_URL`	`http://localhost:3001/api/v1`	Backend API base URL
`VITE_WS_URL`	`http://localhost:3001`	WebSocket server URL

Troubleshooting

"Cannot find module '@voxium/shared'"

pnpm run build:shared

Database connection refused

# Check PostgreSQL is running
psql -U postgres -c "SELECT 1;"

# Create database if it doesn't exist
psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE voxium;"

# Check Redis is running
docker compose ps
docker compose up -d

Prisma client not generated

pnpm --filter @voxium/server db:generate

Port already in use

Change the port in .env (server) or vite.config.ts (frontend).

Tauri build fails

rustup update

On Linux, ensure all system dependencies are installed (see Prerequisites).

WebSocket connection fails

Check that the backend server is running
Verify CORS_ORIGIN matches the frontend URL
Verify VITE_WS_URL points to the correct backend

Scripts Reference

Script	Description
`pnpm dev`	Start backend and frontend in parallel
`pnpm dev:server`	Start backend with hot reload
`pnpm dev:desktop`	Start frontend Vite dev server
`pnpm build`	Build all packages for production
`pnpm build:shared`	Build shared types package
`pnpm build:server`	Build backend TypeScript
`pnpm build:desktop`	Build frontend for production
`pnpm typecheck`	Run TypeScript type checking across all packages
`pnpm lint`	Run ESLint across all packages
`pnpm db:migrate`	Run Prisma migrations
`pnpm db:seed`	Seed database with demo data
`pnpm db:studio`	Open Prisma Studio

License

This project is open source. See the repository for license details.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 48 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
apps		apps
packages/shared		packages/shared
.gitignore		.gitignore
.npmrc		.npmrc
Architecture.md		Architecture.md
CONTEXT.md		CONTEXT.md
LICENSE.md		LICENSE.md
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
pnpm-workspace.yaml		pnpm-workspace.yaml

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Voxium

Why Voxium?

Features

Tech Stack

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Platform-Specific Requirements

Install pnpm (if not installed)

Install Rust (if not installed)

1. Clone the Repository

2. Install Dependencies

3. Set Up PostgreSQL

4. Start Redis

5. Configure Environment

6. Set Up the Database

7. Build Shared Package

8. Start Development Servers

Running as Desktop App (Tauri)

Building for Production

Build the Backend

Build the Desktop App

Database Management

Testing the API

Health Check

Register a User

Login

Use the Token

Configuration Reference

Server Environment Variables (apps/server/.env)

Frontend Environment Variables (apps/desktop/.env)

Troubleshooting

"Cannot find module '@voxium/shared'"

Database connection refused

Prisma client not generated

Port already in use

Tauri build fails

WebSocket connection fails

Scripts Reference

License

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Server Environment Variables (`apps/server/.env`)

Frontend Environment Variables (`apps/desktop/.env`)

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