salty.im is an open specification for a new Saltpack based e2e encrypted messaging protocol and platform for secure communications with a focus on privacy, security and being self-hosted.
There are numerous Domain Name Registrars you can choose from to register a domain name. It really doesn’t matter which one you use, but you do need a domain name to use Salty IM. Salty IM will also work with a sub-domain (a name under someone else’s domain).
Some reputable registrars include:
Once you have a domain name you will also need to run a small Web Server on it so that Salty Addresses can be looked up automatically by the Discovery process.
As Salty IM is decentralised this is an important step. If you cannot for some reason obtain a domain name and run a small web server, there are other options (see below).
To install Salty Chat simply run the following in your Terminal:
$ go install go.mills.io/saltyim/cmd/salty-chat@latest
Note: Currently you will need to have Go installed
as we do not yet currently release any packages for download yet. You may also
need to set GOPATH and add $GOPATH/bin to your $PATH. Example:
export GOPATH="$HOME/go"
export PATH="$GOPATH/bin:$PATH"
Once you have a Domain, a Web Server and have Salty Chat installed, run:
$ salty-chat make-user user@domain
And follow the instructions.
You’re all set! Happy chatting! 🤗
Say hi 👋
$ salty-chat send prologic@mills.io "Hey! 👋 This is really cool! 😎"
Okay if you don’t understand anything about Domains and Web Servers don’t worry!
We’ve got you covered! Currently you can skip these steps and just install Salty straight away and just following the setup process. Although we highly encourage you to setup your own domain and server as Salty IM is designed to be decentralised, we realize this is not for everyone. By default Salty IM will use publicly available free servers so you don’t need to worry about this.
The project is managed by a self-hosted Gitea instance at https://git.mills.io/saltyim/
We have an IRC channel #salty.im on the Libera.Chat
IRC network. You are welcome to come chat to us, hang out and get involved!
Salty.IM is a decentralised instant messaging protocol inspired by IndieWeb and Twtxt and accompanying project of Yarn.social.
Like Yarn.social there is a reference broker (server) and client(s) such as the
command-line client salty-chat and a mobile app.
The privacy policy therefore only strictly applies to the reference broker and clients (including the mobile app) built and provided by the Salty.Im developers.
Salty IM and Salty Chat are licensed under the terms of the MIT License.