TUI-Chat

Pure terminal chat client with a Fastify + PostgreSQL backend.

CLI

Install from npm after publishing:

npm install -g tui-chat

Run without global install:

npx tui-chat

Local Development

Start PostgreSQL:

docker compose up -d db

Install dependencies and prepare the database:

pnpm install
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm db:seed

Run the backend:

pnpm dev:server

Run the terminal client:

pnpm dev:client

Terminal Usage

• ↑/↓ moves in menus
• Enter confirms menu items and sends chat messages
• Ctrl+B goes back
• Ctrl+G returns to the main menu
• Ctrl+P loads or scrolls to older chat messages
• Ctrl+N scrolls back toward newer chat messages
• Ctrl+C exits the program

Environment

Example local configuration is in .env.example.

Key backend variables:

• DATABASE_URL
• JWT_SECRET
• PORT
• HOST

Key client variables:

• API_BASE_URL
• WS_URL

npm Release

Before publishing:

pnpm install
pnpm release:check
npm login
npm publish

The package is configured for public npm publish.

Backend Deployment

Build and run with Docker Compose:

docker compose -f docker-compose.deploy.yml up --build -d

This starts:

• PostgreSQL on port 5432
• the API / WebSocket server on port 3000

Initialize the database once after the first deploy:

docker compose -f docker-compose.deploy.yml exec server pnpm db:migrate

Repository

• GitHub: GenSuiWo/tui-chat