[https://hack.chat/](https://hack.chat/) is a minimal, distraction-free, account-less, log-less, disappearing chat service that is easily deployable as your own service. The client comes bundled with LaTeX rendering provided by [https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX](https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX).
A list of software developed for the hack.chat framework can be found at: [https://github.com/hack-chat/3rd-party-software-list](https://github.com/hack-chat/3rd-party-software-list). This includes bots, clients, docker containers & more.
This is a backwards compatible continuation of the work by Andrew Belt [https://github.com/AndrewBelt/hack.chat](https://github.com/AndrewBelt/hack.chat). The server code has been updated to ES6 along with several new features- including new commands and hot-reload of the commands/protocol.
These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes. See deployment for notes on how to deploy the project on a live system.
An installation guide for your operating system can be found at: [https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/)
First you will first need to clone this git, if you are unfamiliar with this process read [https://help.github.com/articles/cloning-a-repository/](https://help.github.com/articles/cloning-a-repository/), or to clone with git:
This will install the required packages to run hack.chat. Next the server will need to be configured, again in your terminal run:
```
node main.js
```
The configuration script will execute the initial server setup by requesting input. Follow the steps until it finishes:
```
Note: npm/yarn run config will re-run this utility.
You will now be asked for the following:
- Admin Name, the initial admin username
- Admin Pass, the initial admin password
- Port, the port for the websocket
- Salt, the salt for username trip
prompt: adminName: admin
prompt: adminPass: ****
prompt: websocketPort: (6060)
prompt: tripSalt: ************
Config generated! You may now start the server normally.
```
___Note:___ if you change the `websocketPort` option during the config setup then these changes will need to be reflected on line 64 of the [client.js](https://github.com/hack-chat/main/blob/master/client/client.js#L64).
After the config script runs, the process will exit & the server will need to be relaunched. For a production environment we recommend using [PM2](https://github.com/Unitech/pm2) to start the server:
```
cd main/server/
pm2 start main.js --name HackChat
```
[Launch the client](./client/README.md) `main/client/index.html`, you may now begin development or deploy to production environment.
## Deployment
After the initial installation and configuration, push everything except the node_modules folder to the live server and re-run:
```
npm install
```
You can now run start the server software with a process manager like [PM2](https://github.com/Unitech/pm2). The client code will need to be copied into your http server directory. If you plan on using SSL to serve the client; you will need to use a reverse proxy, as TLS is not natively supported by the hack.chat server software (this may change in future releases).
