EchoHub

No tracking. No subscriptions. No "enhanced AI features". Just chat.

What • Setup • Commands • Config • License

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What is this?

Chat apps used to be simple. You connected to a server, joined a channel, and talked to people. No one was mining your messages for ad targeting, no one was selling your "engagement metrics", and the app didn't need 2GB of RAM to display text.

EchoHub is a return to that. Self-hosted, IRC-inspired chat that runs in your terminal. You own the server, you own the data, and the client won't try to upsell you on a premium tier.

Each server is fully independent — no central authority, no account federation, no corporate overlord. Just spin one up and go.

graph TD
    subgraph Server["Server"]
        Hub["SignalR ChatHub"]
        Auth["JWT Auth"]
        DB["SQLite DB (EF Core)"]
        Files["File Storage"]
    end

    subgraph Client["Client"]
        TUI["Terminal GUI (TUI)"]
        Theme["Theme Engine"]
        API["API Client (auto-refresh)"]
    end

    API -- "WebSocket" --> Hub
    API -- "REST" --> Auth
    Hub --> DB
    Auth --> DB
    Files --> DB

What you get

Server

• Self-hostable — your server, your rules, your data
• Real-time messaging via SignalR WebSockets
• JWT auth with short-lived access tokens and 30-day refresh tokens
• Channels — create, set topics, delete (no 47-step permission wizard required)
• File & image uploads with actual validation (magic bytes, not just trusting the extension)
• Image-to-ASCII — because images in a terminal is objectively cool
• Presence tracking — online/away/DND/invisible with custom status messages
• Rate limiting — in case someone gets too excited
• Auto-restart on crash with exponential backoff — it picks itself back up
• Serilog logging — console + rolling file, because Console.WriteLine isn't a logging strategy
• Zero config first run — generates its own JWT secret and config on launch

Client

• Runs in your terminal — no browser, no Electron, no 500MB of bundled Chromium
• 6 built-in themes — including hacker for when you want to feel like you're in a movie
• Slash commands — /join, /send, /status, /theme, etc.
• Colored nicknames — pick your hex color, express yourself
• File/image sharing — local files or URLs
• Multi-server — save and switch between servers
• Auto-reconnect — drops happen, it rejoins your channels automatically
• Message history on join — you won't miss context

Getting Started

Download

Grab a self-contained binary from Releases — no runtime needed, just run it.

Prerequisites (for development)

• .NET 10 SDK

Run the Server

dotnet run --project src/EchoHub.Server

First run does everything for you:

1. Creates appsettings.json from the example config
2. Generates a secure JWT secret
3. Creates the database with a #general channel

Run the Client

dotnet run --project src/EchoHub.Client

Connect, register, chat. That's the whole onboarding flow.

Build from Source

dotnet build src/EchoHub.slnx

Client Commands

Command	Description
/join <channel>	Join a channel
/leave	Leave current channel
/topic <text>	Set channel topic (creator only)
/send <file or URL>	Upload a file or image
/status <online|away|dnd|invisible>	Set your status
/status <message>	Set a status message
/nick <name>	Set display name
/color <#hex>	Set nickname color
/theme <name>	Switch theme
/profile	Open profile editor
/users	List online users in channel
/servers	Manage saved servers
/help	Show help
/quit	Exit

Themes

/theme <name> to switch:

Theme	Vibe
default	Gray on black — clean and quiet
transparent	White on black — for fancy transparent terminals
classic	White on blue — IRC nostalgia
light	Black on white — for the brave
hacker	Green on black — I'm in
solarized	Cyan/yellow on dark gray — for the refined

Configuration

appsettings.json is auto-generated on first run. Tweak what you need:

Key	Default	Description
Urls	http://0.0.0.0:5000	Listen address and port
ConnectionStrings:DefaultConnection	(empty — app directory)	SQLite connection string
Jwt:Secret	(auto-generated)	JWT signing key
Server:Name	My EchoHub Server	Server display name
Server:Description	A self-hosted EchoHub chat server	Server description
Cors:AllowedOrigins	(all origins)	CORS whitelist

Logging uses Serilog — console + daily rolling files with 14-day retention. Configure it in the Serilog section of appsettings.

Project Structure

src/
├── EchoHub.Core/          # Shared models, DTOs, contracts, validation
│   ├── Constants/         # ValidationConstants, HubConstants
│   ├── Contracts/         # IEchoHubClient (SignalR interface)
│   ├── DTOs/              # Record DTOs
│   └── Models/            # Entity models
│
├── EchoHub.Server/        # ASP.NET Core server
│   ├── Auth/              # JWT token service
│   ├── Controllers/       # REST API endpoints
│   ├── Data/              # EF Core DbContext + migrations
│   ├── Hubs/              # SignalR ChatHub
│   ├── Services/          # Presence, file storage, image processing
│   └── Setup/             # First-run setup, DB initialization
│
├── EchoHub.Client/        # Terminal.Gui TUI client
│   ├── Config/            # Client configuration
│   ├── Services/          # API client, SignalR connection
│   ├── Themes/            # 6 built-in themes
│   └── UI/                # MainWindow, dialogs, chat renderer
│
└── EchoHub.slnx           # Solution file

License

MIT — do whatever you want with it.