AnBubble Chat

A small, self-hosted chat app for your local network. Written in Go with no external dependencies: one binary, one in-memory message store, and a plain vanilla JS/HTML/CSS frontend.

Everyone on the same LAN opens the same URL and starts chatting. No accounts, no database, no setup beyond running the server.

Features

• Simple bubble-style chat UI, mobile-friendly
• Only one person needs to run the app. Everyone else just opens a link in their browser, nothing to install
• Privacy-friendly by design: messages live only in memory and are gone for good once the server stops, nothing is written to disk
• Thread-safe message store, safe for many concurrent users
• Auto-discovers your LAN IP so others can join instantly
• Zero external dependencies, pure Go standard library and vanilla JS

Requirements

• Go 1.26.4 or later

Project Structure

AnBubble/
├── main.go          # entry point, HTTP server & routing
├── store.go         # thread-safe in-memory message store
├── message.go        # Message struct
├── handlers.go       # HTTP handlers (/send, /messages)
├── go.mod
├── LICENSE
└── web/               # static frontend, served at "/"
    ├── index.html
    ├── style.css
    └── app.js

Note: the server serves static files from a web/ folder, so make sure index.html, style.css, and app.js live inside a web/ directory next to main.go.

Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/AnduanBerisha/AnBubble.git
   cd AnBubble

2. Run the server

   go run .

   You should see something like:

   Server running on LAN: http://192.168.1.42:8080
   

3. Open the app

   Visit that address in your browser. Anyone else on the same Wi-Fi/LAN can open the same URL from their own device to join the chat.

Build a binary (optional)

go build -o anbubble .
./anbubble

How It Works

• On first visit, the browser asks for a nickname and stores it locally.
• New messages are sent via POST /send and appended to an in-memory list.
• The frontend polls GET /messages every 2 seconds and renders any new bubbles.

Endpoint	Method	Description
/	GET	Serves the frontend (web/ folder)
/send	POST	Sends a message ({sender, text})
/messages	GET	Returns all messages as JSON

Good to Know

• Chat history does not persist across restarts, by design. If you need long-term history, this is not the right tool.
• Designed for trusted local networks. There is no authentication or encryption.

License

Licensed under the MIT License.