Overview
OriginChats is a self-hostable chat system. originchats-osl is the reference server, written in OSL. It exposes rendered informational pages, asset and attachment endpoints, inbound webhooks, and a JSON WebSocket API from one port.
Choose your path
Section titled “Choose your path”- Building a client? Start with Build a client, then read the protocol model and command reference.
- Running a community? Start with Run a server and continue to configuration and deployment.
- Changing the server? Read architecture and adding a command.
System map
Section titled “System map”| Surface | Transport | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
/ |
WebSocket | Authenticated command and event protocol |
/ |
HTTP GET | Server home page |
/info, /user/{username} |
HTTP GET | Public server and user pages |
/server-assets/{name} |
HTTP GET | Server icon and banner |
/emojis/{name}, /stickers/{name} |
HTTP GET | Custom assets |
/attachments/upload |
HTTP POST | Authenticated attachment upload |
/attachments/{id} |
HTTP GET | Attachment download |
/webhooks[/…] |
HTTP GET/POST | Webhook discovery and ingestion |
Design principles
Section titled “Design principles”The server is intentionally synchronous and legible. Users, roles, and channels are loaded into memory at startup. Small indexes are JSON. Messages are append-friendly JSONL shards. A single dispatcher owns authentication, command permissions, request correlation, and event fan-out so handlers can stay thin.
The handshake advertises protocol version, server identity, limits, upload rules, attachment policy, known permissions, and capabilities. That makes it the compatibility contract between independently developed clients and servers.