OnRabble

OnRabble is a modern, self-hostable real-time chat platform designed for security, scalability, and observability. It combines WebSocket messaging, Keycloak-based authentication, PostgreSQL for persistence, Valkey for caching, and a React-based admin dashboard — all orchestrated behind a Caddy reverse proxy.

🚀 Features

• Secure Authentication – Keycloak provides robust user management and JWT-based authentication.
• Real-Time Messaging – Go-based WebSocket server for fast, reliable chat delivery.
• Scalable Storage – PostgreSQL stores messages, users, and analytics data.
• High-Speed Caching – Valkey (a Redis-compatible engine) caches recent messages and enforces rate limits.
• Reverse Proxy (HTTPS) – Caddy terminates TLS and securely routes traffic.
• Admin Dashboard – A web-based React app for user moderation and analytics.

🧩 Services Overview

postgres

• Relational database backing for users, messages, channels, and sessions.
• Configured via environment variables from ./postgres/.env.[mode].
• Health checks used for startup synchronization.

keycloak

• Manages authentication, user roles, and client credentials.
• Auto-imports realm config from ./keycloak/chat-realm.[mode].json.

chatserver

• Go-based WebSocket backend, located in ./chatserver.
• Communicates with PostgreSQL and Valkey.
• Handles routing, caching, rate limiting, and moderation.

valkey

• Redis-compatible caching system.
• Supports message buffering, rate limiting, and recent history.
• See chatserver/internal/cache/README.md for implementation details.

caddy

• Handles HTTPS and request routing.
• Uses automatic TLS via Let's Encrypt in production.
• Configuration in ./caddy/Caddyfile.dev and Caddyfile.prod.

web

• React-based admin dashboard.
• Communicates with the chatserver over WebSockets and REST.
• Provides analytics, message history, server settings, and user moderation tools.

🔧 Development Setup

1. Trust Caddy’s internal root certificate if running locally.
2. Run: docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d --build
3. Open the dashboard at: https://localhost

⚠️ Ensure your browser trusts Caddy's local CA or HTTPS will be blocked.

Future Improvements

• Refactor message types for better modularity
• Add pardon/unban functionality for admins
• Include unsaved cached messages in search results
• Allow configuration of cache size from the admin dashboard
• Enable updating and deleting of chat channels
• Expand developer documentation
• Add a full “Getting Started” guide

Licensing

This project is licensed under the MIT License (LICENSE).

The services defined in docker-compose.dev.yml and docker-compose.prod.yml use external software (e.g., Keycloak, PostgreSQL, Valkey, etc.), documented in THIRD_PARTY_SERVICES.md.

Each subproject may have additional third-party dependencies:

• chatserver/: see chatserver/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md
• web/: see web/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md