Quiet

Quiet is an open-source, self-hosted team chat application. It functions as a peer-to-peer messaging system that syncs data directly between devices without the need for a central server or the requirement for users to run their own server infrastructure. The software is deployed as a desktop application for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS.

Users organize themselves into communities, which act as insular networks where data is shared only among members of that specific group. Because the system operates over Tor, it does not require phone numbers or email addresses for account creation, preventing the leak of user metadata. The software uses a local-first approach to ensure that messages are synchronized across a team's devices while maintaining a decentralized architecture.

Key features

• End-to-end encryption for all data transmitted between member devices
• Channel-based organization for team chats
• Peer-to-peer file and image sharing without arbitrary size limits
• Desktop notifications for new messages
• Invite links for onboarding new community members
• Keyboard controls for navigating channels
• Support for Android and iOS mobile platforms
• No requirement for email or phone number registration

Technically, Quiet is written primarily in TypeScript and utilizes Electron and React Native for its frontends. It leverages OrbitDB and IPFS to handle message syncing and eventual consistency, treating the sync process similarly to a gossip protocol. This allows members to communicate asynchronously, provided there is a continuous chain of online peers to pass the updates. Access control is managed by the community owner, who acts as a certificate authority using PKI to grant usernames and cryptographic certificates to invitees. This architecture ensures that users only connect to their fellow community members via Tor onion services, keeping data from one community entirely separate from others.

Quiet is a tool for users who prioritize decentralization and software freedom.