open-chat-js

Open Chat JS — a lightweight client library for interacting with the Open-Chat HTTP API.

This package provides a small, dependency-free wrapper to authenticate, create chats and send/list messages against an Open-Chat server.

Status: Beta

Table of contents

• Overview: Brief description and goals.
• Installation: How to add the module to your project.
• Quick Start: Minimal example to get going.
• API Reference: Main methods and expected inputs/outputs.
• Configuration: Required server and environment hints.
• Database Compatibility: Notes about server-side expectations.
• Publishing: Tips for publishing the module to npm.
• Contributing & Tests: How to help and run tests.
• License & Contact

Overview

• Purpose: Provide a compact client for Open-Chat servers to speed integration in web and Node apps.
• Design: Promise-based, tiny surface area (auth + chat methods), no runtime frameworks required.

Installation

• From npm (when published): npm install open-chat-module or npm install github:proislampro/open-chat-js
• From local package: copy the module folder into your project or use npm pack then npm install ./open-chat-js-0.1.0.tgz.

Quick Start

1. Create a new file, install node 18+ or any environment that supports fetch.
2. Example usage:

import { OpenChat } from "open-chat-js"; // or path to local module

const client = new OpenChat();
await client.setApiUrl("http://localhost:3000");

// login
const { token, uid } = await client.auth.login("demo-user", "password123");
console.log("Logged in, token:", token, "uid:", uid);

// create or open a DM chat (server handles creation)
const createResp = await client.chat.create("other-username", { name: "Hello" }, "dm");
console.log("Create chat response:", createResp);

// send a JSON message
const msg = { text: "Hello!", meta: { mood: "curious" } };
const sendResult = await client.chat.messages.send(createResp.chatid ?? createResp.chat, msg);
console.log("Sent message:", sendResult);

// list recent messages
const list = await client.chat.messages.list(createResp.chatid ?? createResp.chat, 50, 0);
console.log(list);

API Reference

• Auth:
  • client.auth.login(username, password) -> { token } (throws on error)
  • client.auth.register(username, email, password) -> { token }
  • client.auth.setAuthToken(token) -> sets client.AuthToken and returns token metadata
• Chat:
  • client.chat.create(members, data, type)
    • members: string (for DM) or array (group/channel)
    • data: object with chat metadata
    • type: one of dm, group, channel
    • returns server response with chatid or created chat object
  • client.chat.messages.send(chat, message)
    • chat: chat id or username (DM)
    • message: JSON-serializable object or string. Returns inserted message row from server.
  • client.chat.messages.list(chat, limit = 50, offset = 0)
    • returns { messages: [...] } (paginated by fromMessageId / fromDate semantics)

Responses & Errors

• Methods throw Error on non-2xx responses. The Error object includes .code for API error codes where available.
• Successful responses return the parsed JSON payload from the server.

Configuration / Requirements

• Server: You must point client.setApiUrl(url) at a running Open-Chat server (default API endpoints: /api/login, /api/register, /api/gettokendata, /api/chat/create, /api/chat/messages/send, /api/chat/messages/list).
• Transport: The client uses fetch. In Node.js use Node 18+ or a global fetch polyfill.
• Auth token: The client stores client.AuthToken in-memory; treat it like a bearer token.

Database Compatibility (server-side)

• The client expects the server to store messages with fields similar to: id, chat_id, sender, data (or content), status, created_at, edited.
• For robust server-side queries, prefer a normalized chat-members schema (text[] or join table). If the server stores members as JSON, server-side code may filter in JS for compatibility.

Publishing to npm

• Ensure package.json fields (name, version, main, type, license) are correct.
• Remove local .git in node_modules before pack/publish. Instead, publish from the module folder as a standalone git repo or run from a clean directory.
• Commands:
  • npm pack — create a tarball locally for testing
  • npm publish --access public — publish to npm (requires npm account and proper name scope if needed)

Security & Production Notes

• Always use HTTPS in production when calling servers.
• Tokens should be short-lived and rotated; server should store only token hashes.
• Validate / sanitize user-supplied content before sending to the server if you display it in a UI.

Contributing & Tests

• Tests: Add unit tests for the client wrappers. Example test runners: vitest, jest.
• Contributing: Fork, implement features or fixes in topic branches, open a pull request with a short description and tests.

License

• This project currently includes a LICENSE file. Verify license compatibility before publishing.

Need help?

• Open an issue or contact the maintainer via the repository metadata.

This README provides everything you need to start integrating the Open Chat client into your app. If you want, I can also:

• add a package.json tweak for npm (version bump, repository fields),
• add example tests and GitHub Actions workflow for publishing,
• or update the client examples to show file-based usage for browsers vs Node.