Built a small encrypted messenger that runs over any MQTT broker you host. The broker is just a dumb relay — it only sees ciphertext, never plaintext. Setup is dead simple: spin up an MQTT broker (EMQX, Mosquitto, whatever), share a room name and encryption key with someone, done. ChaCha20-Poly1305 + Argon2id, fresh salt and nonce per message. Rust backend (Tauri), React frontend, single portable exe around 5MB. There’s also a clipboard encryption mode — type plaintext, it encrypts to clipboard, paste into any app. Useful if you don’t want to run a dedicated chat client. Originally designed for people in censored regions, but it works as a minimal self-hosted secure chat for anyone who wants it. Limitations: no forward secrecy, no traffic obfuscation, Windows only for now. Tauri should make cross-compilation straightforward if anyone wants to build for Linux/macOS. Unlicense, public domain. I’m not maintaining it — fork and do what you want.
Why the 1-off release with no further development? (9 months ago)
Interestimg take though, using MQTT instead of XMPP
Thank you very much for your reply. In fact, this project is a one-off project and a vision. The original idea came from fear — the fear of having your communications surveilled, and the legal risks that come with having your speech monitored.
It had many ideas, which were eventually abandoned. I’m unable to continuously maintain and update this project, so it would need community forks.
The 9-month silence was also for the same reason. The account replying to you (clinamen0) will also be retired soon, to prevent tracing.