ClearComm

A feature-rich Discord-like chat application implemented in Rust, featuring real-time messaging, voice chat, file sharing, and user authentication.

Foreword

Discord is banned in our country 🇹🇷, so I require a custom application to serve as an in-house solution for tracking logs, managing notes, sharing files and more. Feel free to use, contribute, and enhance the application to fit your needs!

Features

Core Functionality

• 💬 Real-time text messaging
• 🔒 User authentication with JWT
• 📁 File sharing capabilities
• 🎤 Voice chat support
• 📱 Direct messaging
• 🔐 Secure password hashing
• 📦 Database persistence

Technical Highlights

• Asynchronous runtime with Tokio
• TCP-based networking
• Opus codec for voice compression
• PostgreSQL database backend
• Chunk-based file transfer
• Argon2 password hashing

Prerequisites

• Rust (latest stable version)
• PostgreSQL (14.0 or higher)
• libopus development files
• pkg-config
• Build essentials

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
    build-essential \
    pkg-config \
    libssl-dev \
    postgresql \
    postgresql-contrib \
    libopus-dev \
    libasound2-dev

macOS

brew install \
    pkg-config \
    opus \
    postgresql

Windows

• Install PostgreSQL
• Install Opus
• Install Visual Studio Build Tools

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/makalin/clearcomm
cd clearcomm

2. Set up the database:

# Connect to PostgreSQL
psql postgres

# Create the database
CREATE DATABASE clearcommdb;
\c clearcommdb

# Create required tables
CREATE TABLE users (
    id UUID PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(255) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    password_hash VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);

CREATE TABLE messages (
    id UUID PRIMARY KEY,
    from_user VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    to_user VARCHAR(255),
    content TEXT NOT NULL,
    created_at TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE NOT NULL
);

3. Create a .env file:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://username:password@localhost/clearcomm
SERVER_SECRET=your_secret_key_here

4. Build the project:

cargo build --release

Usage

1. Start the server:

cargo run --release --bin server

2. In a separate terminal, start the client:

cargo run --release --bin client

3. Follow the authentication prompts to create an account or log in.

Available Commands

Once connected, the following commands are available:

• Regular chat: Just type your message and press Enter
• /dm <username> <message> - Send a direct message
• /file <path> - Share a file
• /voice - Join voice chat
• /quit - Exit the application

Architecture

graph TD
    A[Client] -- TCP --> B[Server]
    B -- Authentication --> C[Auth Handler]
    B -- File Transfer --> D[File Handler]
    B -- Voice Data --> E[Voice Handler]
    B -- Messages --> F[Message Handler]
    C -- Verify --> G[JWT]
    C -- Store --> H[(Database)]
    F -- Store --> H

Loading

Components

• Server: Handles client connections and routes messages
• Auth Handler: Manages user authentication and session tokens
• File Handler: Manages file uploads and downloads
• Voice Handler: Processes voice chat data
• Message Handler: Handles text message routing and storage
• Database: Stores user data and message history

Development

Project Structure

clearcomm/
├── src/
│   ├── auth.rs        # Authentication logic
│   ├── client.rs      # Client implementation
│   ├── common.rs      # Shared types and utilities
│   ├── db.rs          # Database operations
│   ├── file_handler.rs # File transfer logic
│   ├── server.rs      # Server implementation
│   └── voice.rs       # Voice chat implementation
├── Cargo.toml
├── .env
└── README.md

Running Tests

cargo test

Building Documentation

cargo doc --no-deps --open

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Security Considerations

• All passwords are hashed using Argon2
• Authentication uses JWT tokens
• File transfers are chunked for reliability
• Voice data is compressed using Opus codec
• Database credentials are stored in environment variables

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• The Rust community for excellent crates and documentation
• Discord for inspiration
• Contributors and testers