Parch

The user-hosted messenger and voice chat application.

Parch is a real-time chat and voice platform built around decentralization and simplicity. It allows users to run their own servers (hosts), connect through a public relay, and communicate securely via self-hosted infrastructure.

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Architecture

Parch consists of multiple cooperating components:

• Relay Server
  A central Go service responsible for handling host and user registrations. It acts as a lightweight signal relay between clients and hosts, facilitating connection setup.

• Host Application
  A desktop application that stores chat data locally using SQLite. It manages spaces, channels, and message storage. Hosts register with the relay and provide a Host Key to clients for access.
  (Currently uses andlabs/ui for Windows and macOS interfaces.)

• Client Application
  The main user-facing chat app. Users connect to hosts using Host Keys and participate in channel-based communication within user-created spaces.

• SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit)
  A Pion-based media server that routes voice streams between participants without mixing them, improving performance for group audio.

• TURN Server
  Enables NAT traversal for clients behind restrictive firewalls, ensuring reliable peer-to-peer and media connections over WebRTC.

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Getting Started

📦 Download Binaries

Beta builds are available for macOS and Windows on the landing page:

• Parch Client (macOS & Windows)
• Parch Host (macOS & Windows)

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Local Development

Ensure you have Go installed and available in your environment.

Install Dependencies

go mod tidy

Start the Relay Server

go run ./relay_server

Run the Host Application

go run ./host_client

Run the Web Client (Wails)

cd web_client
wails dev

To build the frontend:

cd frontend
npm run build

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⚙️ Database Migrations (Host)

Parch Host uses SQLite for data storage and golang-migrate for schema evolution.

Create a New Migration

migrate create -ext sql -dir ./migrations <name>

Apply Migrations

migrate -path ./migrations -database "sqlite3://chat.db?_foreign_keys=on" up

Rollback Migrations

migrate -path ./migrations -database "sqlite3://chat.db?_foreign_keys=on" down

Troubleshooting

If you encounter SQLite build errors:

go install -tags 'sqlite3' github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4/cmd/migrate@latest

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Contact

[email protected]