A feature-rich terminal-based chat application built with Python, supporting multiple concurrent users, colored messages, and various chat commands. The application uses socket programming for real-time communication and SQLite for message persistence.
- 🌈 Colored Messages: Each user gets a random color for their messages
- 👥 Multiple Users: Support for concurrent chat sessions
- 📝 Message History: Recent messages are stored and loaded for new users
- 🔒 Private Messaging: Send direct messages to specific users
- 🚫 Message Exclusion: Send messages visible to all except specific users
- 💾 Persistent Storage: Chat history stored in SQLite database
- 🔄 Chunked Messages: Large messages are sent in chunks for better performance
- ⚡ Non-blocking I/O: Messages don't interrupt typing
sqlite3
readline
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/terminal-chat.git
cd terminal-chat- Install the required packages:
pip install -r requirements.txt- Run the server script:
python chat_server.pyThe server will start listening on localhost:8080 by default.
- Run the client script:
python chat_client.py- Enter your username when prompted.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/help |
Shows all available commands |
/quit |
Leave the chat |
/users |
Display all active users |
/clear |
Clear the screen |
/color |
Change your message color randomly |
/dm <user> <message> |
Send a direct message |
/exclude <user> <message> |
Send a message excluding specific user |
@username <message>: Send a direct message to a specific user!username <message>: Send a message that excludes a specific user
- Thread-safe client handling
- SQLite database for message persistence
- Graceful shutdown handling
- Message history management
- Broadcast and targeted message support
- Non-blocking message reception
- Username auto-completion
- Typing status indicators
- Message acknowledgment system
- Color-coded output
- Input line preservation during incoming messages
The application follows a client-server architecture:
- Server manages multiple client connections using threading
- Each client connection is handled in a separate thread
- Messages are sent with length prefixing for proper framing
- SQLite database maintains message history
- Mutex locks ensure thread-safe operations
- Connection failures
- Disconnection handling
- Invalid message format handling
- Database transaction management
- Thread cleanup on exit
- Server runs on localhost by default
- Maximum message size is 1MB
- Stores last 20 messages in history
- No end-to-end encryption
- No file transfer support
Feel free to submit issues and enhancement requests!