Building a Drama-Free Chat App in 2024
Because the internet could use more casual conversations
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So I've been playing around with Ruby on Rails lately (as you might know from my previous posts), and I just launched something fun - a public chat app!
You can check it out right here: Public Chat
Why a Public Chat?
Remember those old-school chat rooms where you could just pop in and start talking to random people? I kinda miss that vibe. No accounts, no login screens, just pure, unfiltered conversation (okay, maybe some filtering would be good, but you get the idea :D).
The cool thing about this chat is its simplicity. You show up, pick a nickname, and start chatting. That's it! No endless scrolling through your chat history, no pressure to maintain conversations - just real-time messages flowing through your screen.
The Technical Bits (because I know some of you are curious)
Building this in Rails was actually pretty fun! I got to play with WebSockets for real-time updates, and honestly? Rails 8 made it way easier than my previous JavaScript attempts. Everything just... worked? (I was surprised).
Some neat features I added:
Real-time message updates (duh, it's a chat)
Online users indicator
Message timestamps
Simple, clean UI that doesn't make your eyes bleed
The AI Question
Now, you're probably thinking, "But wait, aren't you the guy who puts AI in everything?" D: And yes, guilty as charged! I actually have the OpenAI API(for example in Suggestions App) ready to go, but I decided to keep it human-only for now. Sometimes it's nice to just chat with real people, you know?
What Makes This Different?
Look, I'm not trying to compete with WhatsApp or Discord here. This is more like... remember when you could just join a random chat room and talk about whatever? No friend requests, no profile pictures, no baggage - just pure conversation. It's basically a digital version of talking to strangers at a coffee shop (but with less awkward coffee-sipping).
Want to see it in action? Head over to chat.jock.pl and say hi! I'm usually lurking around, testing things and probably breaking stuff :)
What's Next? I've got some ideas brewing:
Maybe add some basic moderation tools
Possibly create themed chat rooms
And yeah, maybe (just maybe) add a friendly AI bot to keep conversations flowing
Would love to hear your thoughts! Drop by the chat and let me know what you think - should I keep it pure and simple, or spice it up with some AI magic?