# moose-team/friends

:tv: P2P chat powered by the web.

Repository: https://github.com/moose-team/friends
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/friends
Homepage: http://moose-team.github.io/friends/
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Archived: true
Last push: 2018-08-29T02:36:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4147, "days_push": 2927, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3161, forks 334 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:46.557443+00:00)

## What it is
Friends is an open-source, peer-to-peer chat application built with Electron that works like Slack but without central servers. It authenticates users via GitHub SSH keys, replicates messages over WebRTC using a gossip protocol (hyperlog), and supports offline communication via mDNS and Bluetooth LE.

## Use cases
- chat with friends without a central server
- peer-to-peer messaging over the web
- offline local network chat
- chat that works without internet
- decentralized slack alternative
- message friends over bluetooth without wifi
- self-owned chat data

## When to choose
- you want a serverless, censorship-resistant chat experiment
- you need messaging on a local network with no internet
- you want to study P2P gossip protocols like hyperlog and scuttlebutt
- you're comfortable building from source and contributing fixes

## When to avoid
- you need a production-ready, reliable chat tool
- you require end-to-end encryption or anonymity
- you want a polished installable app without building it yourself
- you need active maintenance or support

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: abandoned
- function: chat-interface, p2p, auth, networking
- domain: messaging-platforms, privacy, cross-platform
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: webrtc, gossip-protocol, hyperlog, decentralized-chat, mdns, bluetooth-le, github-auth, offline-first, real-time, electron, desktop, nodejs

## Member repositories
- moose-team/friends (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:46.557443+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:45:32.647180+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/moose-team/friends (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:46.557443+00:00, sha 4641a49e754a)
  - homepage: http://moose-team.github.io/friends/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:40:06.423629+00:00, sha 3792acf17ed0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.