deltachat-cli

Delta Chat on the command line.

Experimental application built on top of the deltachat-node native addon. Bringing E2EE chat over email to the commmand line.

Install
Usage
Platform Support
Screenshots
Shortcuts and Keys
Commands
Configuration
Why?
Debug
Kudos and Inspiration
License

Install

npm i deltachat-cli -g

Usage

deltachat --email user@site.org --mail_pw foo

By default deltachat will use the $HOME/.deltachat_cli folder for storing data. This can be overriden by using the --home argument.

Run deltachat using current folder to store data:

deltachat --email user@site.org --mail_pw foo --home .

Platform Support

Currently deltachat-cli only works on Linux. This is completely dependent on the platform support of deltachat-node. If you're on a Debian based distro the following command should be enough to cover software and build dependencies.

sudo apt install libetpan-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev libsasl2-dev \
libbz2-dev zlib1g-dev meson ninja-build

Screenshots

TODO

Shortcuts and Keys

ctrl-n Switch to next window.
ctrl-p Switch to previous window.
alt-n or pagedown Scroll down.
alt-p or pageup Scroll up.
alt-<n> Switch to window <n> where n is between 1 and 9.
enter Accept input from the user.
tab Auto completes commands (starting with /) and nicks.

Commands

Commands can be executed from anywhere, but the output of all commands show up in the status window.

/archive-chat [<id>] Archive a chat. If <id> is omitted, defaults to current chat.
/block-contact <id> Block a contact.
/clear Clear the debug or status window.
/create-chat <contactId> Create a normal chat with a single user.
/create-contact [<name>] <address> Create a contact.
/delete-chat [<id>] Delete a chat. If <id> is omitted, defaults to current chat.
/delete-contact <id> Delete a contact (might fail if you have an open chat with that particular user).
/delete-message <id> Delete a message.
/get-chats List all chats.
/get-contacts List all contacts.
/help [<command>] Show all commands and their short syntax or help about a specific command.
/star-message <id> Star a message (starred messages show up in a virtual stars chat).
/unarchive-chat <id> Unarchive a chat.
/unblock-contact <id> Unblock a contact.

Configuration

You can use environment variables instead of command line arguments:

deltachat_cli_email=user@site.org deltachat_cli_mail_pw=foo deltachat

You can also write a custom configuration file in either .json or .ini format. Please see the rc documentation for more details.

Styles

It's possible to configure various styles in the application.

Text colors and background colors are taken from chalk.
Gradient types are taken from the gradient-string module.
Box styles (for chat messages) are taken from the boxen module.

Please consult rc.js for default values.

Why?

Why not just write a plugin for irssi or weechat and be done with it?

That's a great question. You should write one yourself!

The main goal is to implement something using deltachat-node to exercise the api, find stuff that doesn't work so well and make way for a coming desktop application. It's also an exploration into writing command line application based on the following node modules:

You should check them out. They're great!

Debug

Running deltachat with --debug will create a debug window where all events from deltachat-node can be seen.

Kudos and Inspiration

A lot of inspiration comes from irssi and the architecture has a lot in common with cabal.

License

Licensed under the GPLv3, see LICENSE file for details.

deltachat/deltachat-cli