friends are not real.

self-hosted · modern · realtime · small-community chat

A lightweight, open-source, single-executable, self-hosted web-browser chat app. Targeted at small groups of trusted friends (max 10 people or so).

Web Chat For Small Groups
I see a lack of modern webchat apps targeted at small groups and self-hosting. Some people are put off by IRC-style and want something that looks more like other common chat apps:

typing indicators
avatars
image and file attachments
notifications
edit/delete messages
light/dark mode

⚡ interface preview (desktop browser only, no mobile)

Minimal interface with light/dark theme support.

🚀 try it yourself

FANR

Open a live demo (for a limited time).
Log in with one of [megabozz, zork, frotz] all with password: hello

why should I?

Modern stack – realtime messaging, typing indicators, notifications (for those averse to IRC).
Self-hosted – you own the data. nginx reverse-proxy (written in C). single sqlite database. The site-admin in your group should be technical, though the other users in the group only need to click a link in their browser to chat.
Lightweight & fast – optimized for low resource use. Attached images are compressed on the client before upload.
Controlled onboarding – new users and groups are created by the server owner only (using server-side tools).

run your own instance

This instance runs on a small VPS running Alpine Linux.
(see the source code for example startup scripts) You will need your own VPS and some familiarity with setting up nginx and reverse proxies, though examples are provided in the source code.

source releases

fanr_20260507.tar.gz

disclaimer: AI dev used

I used https://chat.deepseek.com to help develop this code.
"Cut & paste"-style into the web chat.