deltachat-cli

Delta Chat on the command line.

Experimental application built on top of the deltachat-node native addon. Bringing E2EE chat over email to the commmand line.

• Install
• Usage
• Platform Support
• Screenshots
• Shortcuts and Keys
• Commands
• Configuration
• Why?
• Debug
• Kudos and Inspiration
• License

Install

npm i deltachat-cli -g

Usage

deltachat --email user@site.org --mail_pw foo

By default deltachat will use the $HOME/.deltachat_cli folder for storing data. This can be overriden by using the --home argument.

Run deltachat using current folder to store data:

deltachat --email user@site.org --mail_pw foo --home .

Platform Support

Currently deltachat-cli only works on Linux. This is completely dependent on the platform support of deltachat-node. If you're on a Debian based distro the following command should be enough to cover software and build dependencies.

sudo apt install libetpan-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev libsasl2-dev \
libbz2-dev zlib1g-dev meson ninja-build

Screenshots

TODO

Shortcuts and Keys

• ctrl-n Switch to next window.
• ctrl-p Switch to previous window.
• alt-n or pagedown Scroll down.
• alt-p or pageup Scroll up.
• alt-<n> Switch to window <n> where n is between 1 and 9.
• enter Accept input from the user.
• tab Auto completes commands (starting with /) and nicks.

Commands

Commands can be executed from anywhere, but the output of all commands show up in the status window.

• /archive-chat [<id>] Archive a chat. If <id> is omitted, defaults to current chat.
• /block-contact <id> Block a contact.
• /clear Clear the debug or status window.
• /create-chat <contactId> Create a normal chat with a single user.
• /create-contact [<name>] <address> Create a contact.
• /delete-chat [<id>] Delete a chat. If <id> is omitted, defaults to current chat.
• /delete-contact <id> Delete a contact (might fail if you have an open chat with that particular user).
• /delete-message <id> Delete a message.
• /get-chats List all chats.
• /get-contacts List all contacts.
• /help [<command>] Show all commands and their short syntax or help about a specific command.
• /star-message <id> Star a message (starred messages show up in a virtual stars chat).
• /unarchive-chat <id> Unarchive a chat.
• /unblock-contact <id> Unblock a contact.

Configuration

You can use environment variables instead of command line arguments:

deltachat_cli_email=user@site.org deltachat_cli_mail_pw=foo deltachat

You can also write a custom configuration file in either .json or .ini format. Please see the rc documentation for more details.

Styles

It's possible to configure various styles in the application.

• Text colors and background colors are taken from chalk.
• Gradient types are taken from the gradient-string module.
• Box styles (for chat messages) are taken from the boxen module.

Please consult rc.js for default values.

Why?

Why not just write a plugin for irssi or weechat and be done with it?

That's a great question. You should write one yourself!

The main goal is to implement something using deltachat-node to exercise the api, find stuff that doesn't work so well and make way for a coming desktop application. It's also an exploration into writing command line application based on the following node modules:

• neat-log
• neat-input
• txt-blit

You should check them out. They're great!

Debug

Running deltachat with --debug will create a debug window where all events from deltachat-node can be seen.

Kudos and Inspiration

A lot of inspiration comes from irssi and the architecture has a lot in common with cabal.

License

Licensed under the GPLv3, see LICENSE file for details.

Copyright © 2018 Delta Chat contributors.