srisivac / chatter

A simple Chat App for Django based on channels and websockets

Chatter

The master repository contains source for the reusable version of Chatter. If you want to test out what it looks like as a standalone app, switch to the development branch.

Django-based Chat app that supports group chat and real-time updates.

This app makes use of Django Channels 2 and uses Redis as the message broker.

This app is still in its alpha phase. We plan to improve it so it can be used as a package in other Django-based web apps.

Community support and ideas for improvement most welcome!

Python dependency: Python 3.5

The app needs Redis server to be running in the background to function properly.

Since Redis is natively available only for Unix systems, we can't support Windows.

Installation and first use

• Clone this repository: git clone https://github.com/dibs-devs/chatter.git
• Install required packages: pip install -r requirements.txt
• Install Redis: [https://redis.io]
• Run migrations: python manage.py makemigrations chat && python manage.py migrate
• Create superuser for initial setup: python manage.py createsuperuser
• Fire up Redis server: redis-server (this app is configured to communicate at 6379, the default port for Redis) important
• Run the development server: python manage.py runserver
• Go to localhost:8000/admin in a browser
• Log in using the newly created superuser
• Create as many more users as you want
• Create rooms in which users can chat
• Go to localhost:8000
• Start chatting!

Unit tests haven't been setup for this package yet. Tests welcome!

Running list of features to add

• Add a "Create Group" option
• Notifications using django-notifications
• Improve 'Seen by user x' functionality