Shell Talk

A production-ready CLI chat application built with React Ink and Firebase Firestore.

Features

• Terminal-based chat interface with keyboard-only navigation
• User authentication with 4-digit passcode (bcrypt hashed)
• Direct messaging between users
• Real-time message updates via Firestore listeners
• Message pagination with cursor-based loading
• Persistent sessions with Zustand
• Local caching for offline-like experience
• Clean TUI design with zero clutter

Installation

npm install -g shell-talk

Or run without installing:

npx shell-talk

Usage

shell-talk

Navigation

| Key | Action | |-----|---------| | Up/Down | Navigate list | | Enter | Select/Submit | | Esc | Back | | Tab | Switch field | | / | Search chats | | c | Create new chat | | q | Quit/Logout |

First Time Setup

1. Create a Firebase project at https://console.firebase.google.com
2. Enable Firestore database
3. Copy your Firebase config to a .env file in your working directory:

FIREBASE_API_KEY=your-api-key
FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=your-project.firebaseapp.com
FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=your-project-id
FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=your-project.appspot.com
FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=your-sender-id
FIREBASE_APP_ID=your-app-id

Or set these as environment variables.

Default Test User

For testing, you can create a test user through the registration screen.

Configuration Storage

• Session: Stored in ~/.shell-talk/session/
• Cache: Stored in ~/.shell-talk/data/
• Firebase Config: Via env vars or .env file

Security

• Passcodes are hashed with bcrypt (never stored in plain text)
• Firebase Firestore security rules required for production
• Sessions expire after 7 days

Development

git clone <repo>
cd shell-talk
npm install
npm run build
npm link
shell-talk

License

MIT