home-email

home-email is a simple Flask web app for creating local email-style accounts, private groups, invitations, chat messages, and file uploads.

Each user registers with an email address as their username and enters a display name that other people can see. Email addresses can be used to invite people into private group chats. The app works like a lightweight local inbox where members can send messages, upload files, download attachments, and manage group invitations.

If an invited address already belongs to a user, they are added to the group immediately. If it does not exist yet, the invite is saved and can be accepted when someone registers with that email address.

Features

• Create local accounts with email addresses as usernames
• Log in and out with password-protected accounts
• Create private groups
• Invite people by email address
• Send messages in a group chat interface
• Upload and download files
• Store app data locally with SQLite
• Use a responsive custom-styled interface

Tech stack

• Python
• Flask
• SQLite
• Jinja templates
• HTML and CSS

Project structure

home-email/
├── app.py
├── requirements.txt
├── README.md
├── static/
│   └── styles.css
├── templates/
│   ├── base.html
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── register.html
│   ├── login.html
│   ├── inbox.html
│   ├── new_group.html
│   └── chat.html
├── uploads/
│   └── .gitkeep
└── instance/

Requirements

You need Python 3 installed. Python 3.10 or newer is recommended.

Check your Python version:

python3 --version

Installation

Clone or download the project, then move into the project folder:

cd home-email

Create a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv

Activate the virtual environment:

source venv/bin/activate

Install the required packages:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Running the app

Start the Flask app:

python app.py

Then open http://127.0.0.1:5000.

How to use

1. Create an account.
2. Use your email address as your username.
3. Create a group.
4. Invite another user with their email address.
5. Send messages inside the group chat.
6. Upload files with a message.
7. Download shared files from the chat.

To test invites locally, create one account, make a group, invite an address like maya@example.com, then register another account using maya@example.com as the email username.

Notes

The SQLite database is created automatically in instance/ when the app runs. Uploaded files are stored in uploads/. Both are ignored by Git so local test data does not get committed.

Resetting local data

Stop the server, then delete the local database and uploaded files:

rm -f instance/mailchat.sqlite3
rm -f uploads/*
touch uploads/.gitkeep

The app will recreate the database the next time it starts.

Troubleshooting

If Flask is not found, make sure your virtual environment is activated and run:

pip install -r requirements.txt

If port 5000 is already in use, run the app on a different port:

flask --app app run --port 5001