DarkWave

A native desktop chat application written in Go. TCP-based server, end-to-end encrypted DMs, peer-to-peer voice channels with noise suppression, and real-time presence — packaged in a lightweight native UI.

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Architecture
• Download
• Self-Hosting
• Client Setup
• Commands
• Encryption
• Voice System
• Presence System
• Roadmap
• Tech Stack
• License

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Features

• Real-time text messaging with persistent rooms
• Voice channels with peer-to-peer audio via WebRTC
• Noise suppression (RNNoise) and voice activity detection
• Speaking indicators — real-time visual feedback for who is talking
• Per-peer volume control with right-click popup slider
• End-to-end encrypted DMs — AES-256-GCM, server never sees plaintext
• Friend system with real-time online/offline status
• Room member list showing all members with live presence indicators (● online / ○ offline)
• Password-protected accounts using Argon2id
• Message history persistence via PostgreSQL
• Custom accent color themes (Red, Blue, Green, Purple)
• GitHub Actions CI builds for Windows, Linux, and macOS

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Architecture

┌─────────────┐        TCP :3000        ┌──────────────────┐
│  Client A   │ ──────────────────────▶ │                  │
│  (Fyne UI)  │ ◀────────────────────── │   Go TCP Server  │──── PostgreSQL
└─────────────┘                         │                  │
                                        └──────────────────┘
┌─────────────┐        TCP :3000              │  WS :3001
│  Client B   │ ──────────────────────▶       │
│  (Fyne UI)  │ ◀──────────────────────  ┌───▼───────────────┐
└─────────────┘                          │  Signal Server    │
                                         │  (WebSocket/HTTP) │
                     WebRTC P2P          └───────────────────┘
 Client A ◀─────────────────────────────────────▶ Client B

Server (cmd/server) — TCP server handling auth, rooms, commands, message dispatch, presence, and friend state. Stores messages and membership in PostgreSQL.

Signal Server — WebSocket server on :3001 used for WebRTC signalling (offer/answer/ICE). Also exposes an HTTP /members endpoint polled by clients to display who is in each voice channel.

Client (cmd/app) — Fyne-based desktop UI. Maintains a single TCP connection to the server and a separate WebSocket connection per voice channel join.

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Download

Grab the latest release from Releases.

Platform	File
Windows	DarkWave-windows.zip — extract and run DarkWave.exe
Linux	DarkWave-linux — chmod +x and run
macOS	DarkWave-mac — chmod +x and run

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Connecting

On the login screen enter:

• Server address — provided by your host (e.g. 85.130.x.x:3000)
• Nickname — your username
• Password — created on first login

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Self-hosting

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21+
• PostgreSQL 14+

Database Setup

createdb darkwave

2. Create .env in the project root:

   DB_URL=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/darkwave?sslmode=disable
   APP_PORT=:3000
   WS_PORT=:3001
   

Running the Server

cd cmd/server
go run .

Port-forward :3000 (TCP chat) and :3001 (WebSocket signalling) on your router for external access.

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Client Setup

Download the release zip from Releases, extract, and run. All native libraries (PortAudio, Opus, RNNoise) are bundled — nothing else to install.

On the login screen provide:

• Server address — e.g. 85.130.x.x:3000
• Nickname — your username
• Password — set on first login, verified with Argon2id on subsequent logins

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Commands

All commands are typed in the message input box.

Command	Description
/nick <name>	Set nickname and log in (prompts for password)
/join <room>	Join or create a room
/leave	Leave current room
/dm <nick>	Open an encrypted DM session with a friend
/createvoice <name>	Create a voice channel in the current room (room creator only)
/voicechannels	List voice channels in the current room
/rooms	List your rooms
/friends	List your friends
/addfriend <nick>	Send a friend request
/friendreqs	View pending friend requests
/acceptfriend <nick>	Accept a friend request
/declinefriend <nick>	Decline a friend request
/online	Refresh online status of friends
/help	Show help
/quit	Disconnect

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Encryption

DM Encryption

Messages are encrypted client-side before being sent. The server only ever forwards ciphertext.

Alice types "hey"
→ key = SHA-256("alice:bob")   ← nicks sorted alphabetically, both sides derive independently
→ plaintext encrypted with AES-256-GCM (random nonce per message)
→ ciphertext sent to server
→ server forwards ciphertext to Bob
→ Bob derives same key independently
→ AES-256-GCM decrypt → "hey"

The server has no access to the key and cannot read DM content.

Room Messages

Room messages are currently plaintext on the wire (TCP). End-to-end encryption for rooms is on the roadmap.

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Voice System

Voice channels use a hybrid WebRTC + signalling server approach:

1. Client connects to the signal server over WebSocket at ws://<host>:3001
2. Signal server brokers WebRTC offer/answer/ICE candidate exchange between peers
3. Once ICE completes, audio flows directly peer-to-peer (no server relay for audio data)
4. Audio pipeline per peer: PortAudio capture → RNNoise (noise suppression) → Opus encode → WebRTC send
5. Receive pipeline: WebRTC receive → Opus decode → RNNoise VAD → PortAudio playback
6. VAD (voice activity detection) drives the speaking indicators in the UI
7. Per-peer volume is adjustable via right-click on a member in the voice panel

Audio device preferences (input/output) are saved per-user via fyne.Preferences.

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Presence System

The member panel shows all users who have access to a room, not just those currently in it.

• On room join the server queries room_members for all DB members and sends ** members: ...
• It then sends ** online: ... listing those currently connected to the server
• When any user connects or disconnects, the server pushes ** presence: <nick> online/offline to every client currently sitting in a room that user has access to
• ** joined: <nick> / ** left: <nick> events track movement between rooms in real time

This means ● / ○ reflects server-wide connectivity, not just presence in the current room — matching the behaviour of Discord's member sidebar.

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Roadmap

• TCP chat server with multiple rooms
• Password-protected accounts (Argon2id)
• Friend system with real-time online/offline status
• Persistent room membership (PostgreSQL)
• Message history persistence
• Room member list with live presence indicators
• Native desktop UI (Fyne)
• Encrypted DMs (AES-256-GCM)
• Custom accent color theming
• Voice channels (WebRTC peer-to-peer)
• Noise suppression (RNNoise) + VAD
• Speaking indicators
• Per-peer volume control
• Audio device selection
• GitHub Actions CI (Windows, Linux, macOS)
• End-to-end encryption for rooms
• Screen sharing (1080p60, hardware encoding)
• Message reactions
• File transfers

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Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Language	Go
UI framework	Fyne
Voice transport	Pion WebRTC
Audio I/O	PortAudio
Audio codec	Opus
Noise suppression	RNNoise
Database	PostgreSQL + pgx
Password hashing	Argon2id
DM encryption	AES-256-GCM
WebSocket signalling	gorilla/websocket

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License

MIT