AtomChatDB

a usenet-like chatting application. https://chat.atomtables.dev

Prerequisites:

• NodeJS 24+ and latest PNPM
• PostgreSQL server somewhere
• (developers) Docker Compose (to run the database locally)

Why?

I had a dream about dialup and internet in the 80s/90s and saw that usenet was kinda cool. When I saw that it costs way too much money to run a usenet server, I decided "screw it i can make my own clone." Also because having separate groups to text friends during school is fun.

support

only displays with a resolution or scale of 1600x900 or higher will have a good experience. people with low resolution laptops or no scaling DEs or phones should add responsive design in a PR (please) also the tablet experience has not been tested.

How to run (dev):

• clone the repo
• pnpm run db:start
• pnpm install
• pnpm run db:push
• pnpm run dev

How to run (prod):

• pnpm run build
• create an expressjs server and use the handler generated.
• mv .env.example .env
• buy a postgres server to run the database on (write that url into .env)
• also include a file storage service because images get stored in static/public (not implemented)
• if your reverse proxy does not support websockets over same origin, pipe the websockets server port into another domain (and put that into .env)
• mv runner.prod.example runner.prod
• modify runner.prod to include your config settings for your environment
• pnpm run production
• pray to the gods (whichever you believe in if you do) (that's what I did as well)

.env

DATABASE_URL and socket

people from hack club

go to news.groups.proposals, hackclub.demo.news, and hackclub.demo.chat to demo the application.

for instructions on how to use the app just check the question mark button on the main page