ashwin-athappan/chat-e2ee

Create end-to-end encrypted disposable chat sessions. You don't need to identify yourself on the internet and can chat anonymously. The end-users are not traceable and data is not owned by anyone.

chat-e2ee

The project is still in development phase.

Working prototype:
https://chat-e2ee.herokuapp.com

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Disposable chat session: this app will allow two mutually agreed users to have a chat in end-to-end encrypted environment. The app itself doesn't track you or ask any infromation from you. Data is owned by only you and only while chatting. Your private key is generated on your device and never leaves your device. This is not a replacement of your usual chat application.

Features

1. No login/signp - the end users don't identify themselves .
2. Data is not stored on any remote server, encrypted data is just relayed to other users, the data can't be decrypted by any man in the middle.
3. Secure image sharing - IMPORTANT: The image sharing feature is imcomplete!! Images are stored to imagebb server. (27/08/2020)
4. No history i.e. once chat is closed the data is not recoverable, however encrypted data can be found on memory trace. Read More

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Contribute:

• Frontend issues
• Backend issues
• 
• 

For installation instruction, go to developer section.

How to initiate chat

1. Generate unique link.
2. Share the link or PIN with the person you want to chat with.
3. Start chatting.
4. The messages are end-to-end encrypted hence, no one can decrypt your message other than you.

How the encryption works

1. Alice and Bob generate a public and private key pair.
2. Alice and Bob share their public keys with each other.
3. Alice encrypts her message with her private key and Bob's public key and sends it to Bob.
4. Bob receives the encrypted message and decrypts it with his private key and Alice's public key.

In this way, no one else can decrypt the message because your private key is never exposed to the internet. More detailed explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSIDS_lvRv4&t=1s

We are using NaCL & TweetNaCL.js library for asymmetric encryption. The NaCL project is being lead by Daniel J.Bernstein, one of the most prominent Computer Scientists of our era.

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Flow

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For developers

FE: This project includes a light weight frontend UI - bootstrapped with create-react-app. The FE client is located in ./client folder.
BE: The backend runs on express/nodejs. In production mode, express server exposes the API endpoints and serve the static frontend from ./client/build.

Installation

1. Fork this repository by clicking on the fork button on the top of this page. This will create a copy of this repository in your account.
2. Now clone the forked repository to your machine.
3. Run npm install in root dir i.e. inside cloned repo.
4. Run npm run dev to spin up your client/server. This will run your react app in dev mode and server in watch mode by nodemon.

NOTE: by default create-react-app runs webpack-dev-server on port 3000. The server is configured to run on 3001 port. So make sure that these ports are not blocked on your system.

Important: Check .env.sample to configure your .env file.

To start with docker read the instructions.
For native build read the instructions.

Folder structure

• The FE client is located in ./client which is coupled with the backend
• All the backend controllers goes to ./backend folder
• Express instance is on ./app.js
• Entry point is ./index.js

APIs

endpoint: https://chate2ee.fun/api/<path>

url	method	payload	filename	description
/chat-link	POST	{token}	/api/index.js	to generate unique link to start chat session
/chat-link/status/:channel	GET		/api/index.js	to check if a channel is valid
/chat/message	POST	{ channel, sender, message }	/api/messaging/index.js	to send a message to a specific channel
/chat-link/:channel	DELETE		/api/index.js	to delete a channel

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Please follow the convention for commit message.
https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint/#what-is-commitlint

Example:
git commit -m"feat: some relevant message"

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Contributors ✨

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Cryptographic notice
This distribution includes cryptographic software. The country in which you currently reside may have restrictions on the import, possession, use, and/or re-export to another country, of encryption software. BEFORE using any encryption software, please check your country's laws, regulations and policies concerning the import, possession, or use, and re-export of encryption software, to see if this is permitted. See http://www.wassenaar.org/ for more information.

The U.S. Government Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), has classified this software as Export Commodity Control Number (ECCN) 5D002.C.1, which includes information security software using or performing cryptographic functions with asymmetric algorithms. The form and manner of this distribution makes it eligible for export under the License Exception ENC Technology Software Unrestricted (TSU) exception (see the BIS Export Administration Regulations, Section 740.13) for both object code and source code.