# antirez/smallchat

A minimal programming example for a chat server

Repository: https://github.com/antirez/smallchat
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/smallchat
Language: C
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-01-27T07:04:44+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 27/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 74
- inputs: {"age_days": 1040, "days_push": 949, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7504, forks 843 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:00.376497+00:00)

## What it is
A minimal ~200-line C chat server written by antirez as a teaching example for his 'Writing System Software' video series. It demonstrates single-process socket multiplexing and fan-out messaging, working with telnet or netcat clients.

## Use cases
- learn how to write a minimal chat server in C
- study socket multiplexing in a single process
- understand how IRC-like fan-out messaging works
- follow along with systems programming video tutorials
- practice reading and refactoring small C codebases
- see how a server can work with telnet or netcat clients

## When to choose
- you want to learn systems programming and socket handling from a tiny real example
- you enjoy antirez's Writing System Software video series and want the accompanying code
- you want a minimal codebase to read, modify, or extend as an exercise

## When to avoid
- you need a production-ready chat server with authentication, persistence, or security
- you want a project that accepts feature contributions or has a license for reuse
- you need TLS, proper line buffering, or robust error handling

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: maintenance
- function: http-server, concurrency, networking
- domain: developer-tools, education, networking
- platform: c, cli
- tags: chat-server, educational, systems-programming, minimal-example, socket-programming, video-series, real-time, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- antirez/smallchat (main) score 27

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:00.376497+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 2026-08-29T17:37:31.368531+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/antirez/smallchat (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:00.376497+00:00, sha 3ec0881c08e7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.