/abaddon

An alternative Discord client with voice support made with C++ and GTK 3

Primary LanguageC++GNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

Abaddon

Alternative Discord client made in C++ with GTK

Current features:

  • Not Electron
  • Voice support
  • Handles most types of chat messages including embeds, images, and replies
  • Completely styleable/customizable
  • Identifies to Discord as the web client unlike other clients so less likely to be falsely flagged as spam1
  • Set status
  • Unread and mention indicators
  • Notifications (non-Windows)
  • Start new DMs and group DMs
  • View user profiles (notes, mutual servers, mutual friends)
  • Kick, ban, and unban members
  • Modify roles and modify members' roles
  • Manage invites
  • Manage emojis
  • View audit log
  • Emojis2
  • Thread support3
  • Animated avatars, server icons, emojis (can be turned off)

1 - Abaddon tries its best (though is not perfect) to make Discord think it's a legitimate web client. Some of the things done to do this include: using a browser user agent, sending the same IDENTIFY message that the official web client does, using API v9 endpoints in all cases, and not using endpoints the web client does not normally use. There are still a few smaller inconsistencies, however. For example the web client sends lots of telemetry via the /science endpoint (uBlock origin stops this) as well as in the headers of all requests.

See here for things you might want to avoid if you are worried about being caught in the spam filter.

2 - Unicode emojis are substituted manually as opposed to rendered by GTK on non-Windows platforms. This can be changed with the stock_emojis setting as shown at the bottom of this README. A CBDT-based font using Twemoji is provided to allow GTK to render emojis natively on Windows.

3 - There are some inconsistencies with thread state that might be encountered in some more uncommon cases, but they are the result of fundamental issues with Discord's thread implementation.

Building manually (recommended if not on Windows):

Windows (with MSYS2):

  1. Install following packages:
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-ninja
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-sqlite3
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-nlohmann-json
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-curl
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-zlib
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-gtkmm3
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-libhandy
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-opus
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-libsodium
    • mingw-w64-x86_64-spdlog
  2. git clone --recurse-submodules="subprojects" https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon && cd abaddon
  3. mkdir build && cd build
  4. cmake -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo ..
  5. ninja
  6. Copy resources

Mac:

  1. git clone https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon --recurse-submodules="subprojects" && cd abaddon
  2. brew install gtkmm3 nlohmann-json libhandy opus libsodium spdlog adwaita-icon-theme
  3. mkdir build && cd build
  4. cmake ..
  5. make
  6. Copy resources

Linux:

  1. Install dependencies
    • On Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) and newer: 
      $ sudo apt install g++ cmake libgtkmm-3.0-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libsqlite3-dev libssl-dev nlohmann-json3-dev libhandy-1-dev libsecret-1-dev libopus-dev libsodium-dev libspdlog-dev
    • On Arch Linux 
      $ sudo pacman -S gcc cmake gtkmm3 libcurl-gnutls lib32-sqlite lib32-openssl nlohmann-json libhandy opus libsodium spdlog
    • On Fedora Linux: 
      $ sudo dnf install g++ cmake gtkmm3.0-devel libcurl-devel sqlite-devel openssl-devel json-devel libsecret-devel libhandy-devel opus-devel libsodium-devel spdlog-devel

      Note: On older versions of fedora you might need to install gtkmm30-devel instead of gtkmm3.0-devel. Use dnf search gtkmm3 to see available packages.

  2. git clone https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon --recurse-submodules="subprojects" && cd abaddon
  3. mkdir build && cd build
  4. cmake ..
  5. make
  6. Copy resources

Downloads:

Latest release version: https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon/releases/latest

CI:

  • Windows: here
  • MacOS: here unsigned, unpackaged, requires gtkmm3 (e.g. from homebrew)
  • Linux: here unpackaged (for now), requires gtkmm3. built on Ubuntu 22.04 + gcc9

Warning: If you use Windows, make sure to start from the bin directory

Resources

The two folders within the res folder (res/res and res/css) are necessary. Windows also uses the fonts folder. You can put them directly next to the executable. On Linux, css and res can also be loaded from ~/.local/share/abaddon or /usr/share/abaddon

abaddon.ini will also be automatically used if located at ~/.config/abaddon/abaddon.ini and there is no abaddon.ini in the working directory

How do I get my token?

Follow these instructions.

The Spam Filter

Discord likes disabling accounts/forcing them to reset their passwords if they think the user is a spam bot or potentially had their account compromised. While the official client still often gets users caught in the spam filter, third party clients tend to upset the spam filter more often. If you get caught by it, you can usually appeal it and get it restored. Here are some things you might want to do with the official client instead if you are particularly afraid of evoking the spam filter's wrath:

  • Joining or leaving servers (usually main cause of getting caught)
  • Frequently disconnecting and reconnecting
  • Starting new DMs with people
  • Managing your friends list
  • Managing your user profile while connected to a third party client

Dependencies:

TODO:

  • User activities
  • More server management stuff
  • A bunch of other stuff probably

Styling

CSS selectors

Selector Description
.app-window Applied to all windows. This means the main window and all popups
.app-popup Additional class for .app-windows when the window is not the main window
.channel-list Container of the channel list
.messages Container of user messages
.message-container The container which holds a user's messages
.message-container-author The author label for a message container
.message-container-timestamp The timestamp label for a message container
.message-container-avatar Avatar for a user in a message
.message-container-extra Label containing BOT/Webhook
.message-text The text of a user message
.pending Extra class of .message-text for messages pending to be sent
.failed Extra class of .message-text for messages that failed to be sent
.message-attachment-box Contains attachment info
.message-reply Container for the replied-to message in a reply (these elements will also have .message-text set)
.message-input Applied to the chat input container
.replying Extra class for chat input container when a reply is currently being created
.reaction-box Contains a reaction image and the count
.reacted Additional class for reaction-box when the user has reacted with a particular reaction
.reaction-count Contains the count for reaction
.completer Container for the message completer
.completer-entry Container for a single entry in the completer
.completer-entry-label Contains the label for an entry in the completer
.completer-entry-image Contains the image for an entry in the completer
.embed Container for a message embed
.embed-author The author of an embed
.embed-title The title of an embed
.embed-description The description of an embed
.embed-field-title The title of an embed field
.embed-field-value The value of an embed field
.embed-footer The footer of an embed
.member-list Container of the member list
.typing-indicator The typing indicator (also used for replies)

Used in reorderable list implementation:

Selector
.drag-icon
.drag-hover-top
.drag-hover-bottom

Used in guild settings popup:

Selector Description
.guild-settings-window Container for list of members in the members pane
.guild-members-pane-list
.guild-members-pane-info Container for member info
.guild-roles-pane-list Container for list of roles in the roles pane

Used in profile popup:

Selector Description
.mutual-friend-item Applied to every item in the mutual friends list
.mutual-friend-item-name Name in mutual friend item
.mutual-friend-item-avatar Avatar in mutual friend item
.mutual-guild-item Applied to every item in the mutual guilds list
.mutual-guild-item-name Name in mutual guild item
.mutual-guild-item-icon Icon in mutual guild item
.mutual-guild-item-nick User nickname in mutual guild item
.profile-connection Applied to every item in the user connections list
.profile-connection-label Label in profile connection item
.profile-connection-check Checkmark in verified profile connection items
.profile-connections Container for profile connections
.profile-notes Container for notes in profile window
.profile-notes-label Label that says "NOTE"
.profile-notes-text Actual note text
.profile-info-pane Applied to container for info section of profile popup
.profile-info-created Label for creation date of profile
.user-profile-window
.profile-main-container Inner container for profile
.profile-avatar
.profile-username User's display name (username for backwards compatibility)
.profile-username-nondisplay User's actual username
.profile-switcher Buttons used to switch viewed section of profile
.profile-stack Container for profile info that can be switched between
.profile-badges Container for badges
.profile-badge

Settings

Settings are configured (for now) by editing abaddon.ini. The format is similar to the standard Windows ini format except:

  • # is used to begin comments as opposed to ;
  • Section and key names are case-sensitive

Warning: You should edit these while the client is closed, even though there's an option to reload while running.

This listing is organized by section. For example, memory_db would be set by adding memory_db = true under the line [discord]

discord

Setting Type Default Description
gateway string override url for Discord gateway. must be json format and use zlib stream compression
api_base string override base url for Discord API
memory_db boolean false if true, Discord data will be kept in memory as opposed to on disk
token string Discord token used to login, this can be set from the menu
prefetch boolean false if true, new messages will cause the avatar and image attachments to be automatically downloaded
autoconnect boolean false autoconnect to discord
keychain boolean true store token in system keychain (if compiled with support)

http

Setting Type Default Description
user_agent string sets the user-agent to use in HTTP requests to the Discord API (not including media/images)
concurrent int 20 how many images can be concurrently retrieved

gui

Setting Type Default Description
member_list_discriminator boolean true show user discriminators in the member list
stock_emojis boolean true allow abaddon to substitute unicode emojis with images from emojis.bin, must be false to allow GTK to render emojis itself
custom_emojis boolean true download and use custom Discord emojis
css string path to the main CSS file
animations boolean true use animated images where available (e.g. server icons, emojis, avatars). false means static images will be used
animated_guild_hover_only boolean true only animate guild icons when the guild is being hovered over
owner_crown boolean true show a crown next to the owner
unreads boolean true show unread indicators and mention badges
save_state boolean true save the state of the gui (active channels, tabs, expanded channels)
alt_menu boolean false keep the menu hidden unless revealed with alt key
hide_to_tray boolean false hide abaddon to the system tray on window close
show_deleted_indicator boolean true show [deleted] indicator next to deleted messages instead of actually deleting the message
font_scale double scale font rendering. 1 is unchanged
image_embed_clamp_width int 400 maximum width of image embeds
image_embed_clamp_height int 300 maximum height of image embeds
classic_channels boolean false use classic Discord-style interface for server/channel listing
classic_change_guild_on_open boolean true change displayed guild when selecting a channel (classic channel list)

style

Setting Type Description
expandercolor string color to use for the expander in the channel list
nsfwchannelcolor string color to use for NSFW channels in the channel list
mentionbadgecolor string background color for mention badges
mentionbadgetextcolor string color to use for number displayed on mention badges
unreadcolor string color to use for the unread indicator

notifications

Setting Type Default Description
enabled boolean true (if not on Windows) Enable desktop notifications
playsound boolean true Enable notification sounds. Requires ENABLE_NOTIFICATION_SOUNDS=TRUE in CMake

voice

Setting Type Default Description
vad string rnnoise if enabled, gate otherwise Method used for voice activity detection. Changeable in UI

windows

Setting Type Default Description
hideconsole boolean true Hide console on startup

Environment variables

variable Description
ABADDON_NO_FC (Windows only) don't use custom font config
ABADDON_CONFIG change path of configuration file to use. relative to cwd or can be absolute