claude-p2p-chat

Peer-to-peer terminal chat for Claude Code users. No server. No signup. No cost. Just open a terminal and talk.

npx claude-p2p-chat

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  CLAUDE CHAT  │  #lobby  │  phil  │  58 online  │  /help               │
├──────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┤
│channels  │ #lobby                                       │ online (3)   │
│          │                                              │              │
│ # lobby  │ 18:42  *** Welcome to Claude Chat!           │  phil (you)  │
│ # dev    │ 18:42  *** Connected! You are in #lobby.     │  alice       │
│          │ 18:42  alice  hey everyone!                  │  bob         │
│          │ 18:43  bob    yo, anyone working on agents?  │              │
│          │ 18:43  you    just shipped a new MCP server  │              │
│          │ 18:44  alice  nice! what does it do?         │              │
│          │                                              │              │
├──────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┤
│ message #lobby                                                         │
│ > _                                                                    │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Why?

You're in your terminal. You're using Claude Code. Wouldn't it be cool to chat with other people doing the same thing? No browser tab, no Electron app, no account creation — just a terminal chat that connects you with other devs through the magic of distributed hash tables.

Features

• Zero infrastructure — Uses Hyperswarm DHT for peer discovery. No servers to run or pay for.
• Public lobby — Everyone lands in #lobby automatically
• Custom channels — /join anything to create/join topic channels
• Direct messages — /dm username hey there
• Local history — Chat history saved to ~/.claude-chat/
• Cross-platform — Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows (WSL)
• Beautiful TUI — Channels, user list, message area — all in your terminal

Install

Run without installing:

npx claude-p2p-chat

Install globally:

npm install -g claude-p2p-chat
claude-p2p-chat

Set your username:

claude-p2p-chat --name yourname

Or change it anytime in chat with /nick yourname.

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /join <channel> | Join or create a channel | | /leave <channel> | Leave a channel | | /dm <user> <msg> | Send a direct message | | /nick <name> | Change your username | | /who | List online users | | /channels | List your channels | | /share | Show install/invite links | | /invite | Generate shareable invite message | | /clear | Clear message area | | /quit | Exit chat | | /help | Show help |

Keyboard

• Tab — Cycle between channels, users, and input
• Esc — Refocus the input box
• Scroll — Mouse wheel in the message area
• Ctrl+C — Quit (when not typing)

How it works

Every user joins the same Hyperswarm topic (a SHA-256 hash of the channel name). The DHT handles NAT traversal and peer discovery — no signaling server, no relay, no middleman. Messages go directly between peers over encrypted connections.

You ←──encrypted──→ Peer A
 ↕                    ↕
Peer B ←──────────→ Peer C

Chat history is stored locally in ~/.claude-chat/history/. There's no cloud — if you weren't online when a message was sent, you won't see it (just like IRC).

Claude Code Integration

Add this as a Claude Code skill so you can launch it with /chat:

1. Create ~/.claude/skills/chat/SKILL.md:

---
name: chat
description: Open P2P Chat
---

Run via Bash: `npx claude-p2p-chat`

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• A terminal that supports Unicode and 256 colors

License

MIT