Open Source Rust Chat Software

Dorion is an alternative Discord client aimed and lower-spec or storage-sensitive PCs that supports themes, plugins, and more! Built with Rust on top of the Tauri library, Dorion uses your systems integrated Webview implementation. This means Dorion has a tiny installation size (~10mb) and works portably on Windows 11 and newer versions of Windows 10. Don't worry, you can still use it on Windows 7 too!

Aero P2P Chat is a simple chat app for Windows, Linux, and Android. Connect directly with friends using a Peer ID. Your messages are sent between chat partners instead of being routed through a central chat server. Features include direct messaging, screen sharing, and fast connections. To start, open the app, share your Peer ID with a friend, enter their Peer ID, select Connect, and begin chatting. Source code and updates: https://github.com/Zorblock/AeroP2Pchat License: MIT

Buzz is a self-hostable collaboration workspace where human teammates and AI agents work together in the same channels. It records messages, reactions, workflow steps, approvals, and Git activity as cryptographically signed Nostr events in a shared log. The platform includes channels, threads, direct messages, canvases, media sharing, full-text search, and a tamper-evident audit trail. Agents receive their own identities and memberships, allowing them to answer questions, review patches, manage workspaces, and run tools without impersonating users. YAML workflows can respond to messages, reactions, schedules, and webhooks while preserving execution traces. Buzz provides a Tauri desktop client, browser access, a JSON-oriented CLI, MCP support, and ACP integrations for popular coding agents. Teams can run their own relay and keep the workspace, history, automation, and repositories under their control.

Halloy is an open-source IRC client written in Rust, utilizing the Iced GUI library. It aims to provide a simple and fast client for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms

Stoat is an open-source communication platform and ecosystem designed to provide a modern alternative to traditional chat applications with support for self-hosting and extensibility. The project includes multiple components such as backend services, client applications, and supporting infrastructure, forming a complete messaging system that can be deployed across different environments. The repository for stoat.chat specifically serves as a central web hub that provides access to downloads, documentation, and information about the platform. StoatChat is built with modern technologies such as Rust and TypeScript and integrates with systems like Revolt to deliver real-time messaging capabilities. The platform supports multiple clients including web, desktop, and mobile applications, allowing users to interact across devices seamlessly. It also emphasizes developer flexibility by offering APIs and SDKs that enable integration with custom tools and services.

Mesh Bridge connects multiple LoRa mesh networks and relays text messages from the PUBLIC CHANNEL from one network to all the others. It simultaneously manages MeshCore companions (connected via USB serial) and Meshtastic routers (accessible via TCP/IP), enabling bridging between networks operating on different bands or frequencies (for example, an 868 MHz companion, a 433 MHz companion, and two separate Meshtastic routers). The bridge operates using full broadcasting: every active module retransmits messages to all the others. Any module that is missing, disconnected, or unreachable simply attempts to reconnect in the background without blocking the others. The bridge becomes operational as soon as at least two modules are active.

libsignal is the foundational cryptographic library that implements the Signal Protocol and other essential primitives used across the official Signal clients and servers, enabling secure end-to-end encrypted communication. Written primarily in Rust with bindings and APIs surfaced for Java, Swift, and TypeScript, this library encapsulates critical algorithms like the Double Ratchet, prekey mechanisms, secure key storage, and zero-knowledge group primitives, along with additional utilities for media handling and device key transfer. libsignal abstracts complex cryptographic constructions into reusable components that client applications can adopt to ensure forward secrecy, authentication, and integrity without re-implementing core security logic. Although its primary use is within the Signal ecosystem, its documentation and exposed interfaces allow developers to explore modern secure messaging primitives or use pieces of the protocol in experimental applications.

Serenity is a Rust library for building Discord bots and integrations through Discord’s official API. It wraps Discord’s HTTP and gateway systems so developers can handle messages, events, commands, cache data, and bot sessions from Rust. The library provides a client builder, token validation, event dispatching, context objects, and handlers for reacting to Discord activity. It also manages gateway shards transparently, which reduces the complexity of scaling bot connections. Serenity includes examples for common bot behaviors and can be paired with related Rust projects such as poise for command frameworks and songbird for voice. It is best suited for developers who want Discord API access with Rust’s safety, performance, and async ecosystem.