chatp2p ☕

Experimentation with libp2p gossipsub, dht, and peer discovery with a simple chat application. This is a fully decentralized chat app whereby users can connect and chat with other users without the need for a central server. It is entirely possible to stand up an adhoc chat network anywhere.

Out of box, this dapp can be used on a local network without explicitely connecting out to bootstrap nodes, using mdns on a local network. When connected to other external nodes, peer discovery automatically connects all visible nodes to each other via a gossip protocol.

Building

In the builds directory, run the build_release.sh script to build macos, windows and linux binaries (in builds/release/).

% cd builds && build_release.sh
% ls release 
chatp2p-darwin-amd64			chatp2p-linux-amd64			chatp2p-windows-amd64.exe
chatp2p-darwin-amd64.checksum		chatp2p-linux-amd64.checksum		chatp2p-windows-amd64.exe.checksum

Help

./chat-p2p -help

% ./chat-p2p -help     
Usage of ./chat-p2p:
  -connect value
        Connect to target bootstrap node. This can be any chat node on the network.
  -host string
        The bootstrap node host listen address (default "0.0.0.0")
  -info
        Display node endpoint information before logging into the main chat room
  -nick string
        Nickname to use in chat, generated if empty
  -port int
        The node's listening port. This is useful if using this node as a bootstrapper.
  -room string
        Name of chat room to join (default "main")
  -use-key
        Use an ECSDS keypair as this node's identifier. The keypair is generated if it does not exist in the app's local config directory.

Bootstrap Nodes

Although not explicitely required, any distributed decentralized network works best with some static seed nodes to get things wired up. A static port and ECDSA key identifier can be used to defined a more consistent address for other users to connect to, if you are planning to run as a bootstrap node.

To use a defined port and locally generated key as your node's identity:

./chat-p2p -use-key -port 42 -daemon

🔐 Generated identity from key: [QmSPSTKS6BjAnVhiWRzdcRw9v94paU97A4MapFHrUAwKxo]
🔔 No bootstrappers defined for this node. []
👢 Available endpoints: 
        /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/42/p2p/QmSPSTKS6BjAnVhiWRzdcRw9v94paU97A4MapFHrUAwKxo
        /ip4/192.168.2.11/tcp/42/p2p/QmSPSTKS6BjAnVhiWRzdcRw9v94paU97A4MapFHrUAwKxo

This will allow you to inform other users that they can connect to your node using the option -connect /ip4/<public-ip>/tcp/42/p2p/QmSPSTKS6BjAnVhiWRzdcRw9v94paU97A4MapFHrUAwKxo. Having other nodes use the Available endpoints will initiate peer discovery with all known nodes on each side, propogating across the entire network.

Configuring the Boostrap Daemon on macos/linux/*nix

To run the bootstrap node as a background process:

Create/edit a script vi bootstrap_chatp2p.sh
Add the following contents:

#!/bin/bash

./chatp2p-linux -daemon -port 1984 -use-key > chatp2p-test.log 2>&1 &

Update the execute permissions: chmod +x bootstrap_chatp2p.sh
Run it: ./bootstrap_chatp2p.sh. This will start up the node as a background process.
To check that it is still up and running: ps aux | grep chatp2p
To check the logs: cat ~/.config/chatp2p/chatp2p.log

Connecting to bootstrap nodes

If we want to connect clients to our bootstrap node and another known node, we can issue the following command: ./chat-p2p -connect /ip4/35.224.203.143/tcp/4001/p2p/QmYmW8X9y16LyxpB82ossgw9h18xBu7dHR5wWHcB1hGA1p -connect /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/42/p2p/QmSKe3vVEA7wXGfCnpWsRnnWjY79giiQKKnnSsxhbK47XP

results in something like:

📞 Connected to bootstrap peer: QmYmW8X9y16LyxpB82ossgw9h18xBu7dHR5wWHcB1hGA1p
📞 Connected to bootstrap peer: QmSKe3vVEA7wXGfCnpWsRnnWjY79giiQKKnnSsxhbK47XP
👢 Available endpoints: 
        /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/62929/p2p/QmTJH13KMsiBHdHrLx21Fbxbhdx28BNo4NDehXFDu3BWXz
        /ip4/192.168.2.11/tcp/62929/p2p/QmTJH13KMsiBHdHrLx21Fbxbhdx28BNo4NDehXFDu3BWXz
        /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/62930/ws/p2p/QmTJH13KMsiBHdHrLx21Fbxbhdx28BNo4NDehXFDu3BWXz
        /ip4/192.168.2.11/tcp/62930/ws/p2p/QmTJH13KMsiBHdHrLx21Fbxbhdx28BNo4NDehXFDu3BWXz

Use a Handle

To update your nickname handle use the option: ./chat-p2p -nick 💊satoasti_notacrumbo💊

Join a specific room

To update your nickname handle use the option: ./chat-p2p -room 0xbitcoin-chatroom

jlogelin/chatp2p