Netbout.com is a communication platform that enables smoothless integration of humans and software agents in a conversation-centered environment.

The original idea behind Netbout is explained in USPTO patent application US 12/943,022.

Functionality

A user can (both via web interface and RESTful JSON API):

• Login by email, by Github, by Facebook, etc.
• Create a unique identity
• Start a bout with an immutable title
• Invite another user to a bout (can't kick him out)
• Post an immutable message to a bout (can't edit or delete it)
• Attach a flag to a message
• Drop a flag from a message
• Put an immutable tag to a bout with a value (can't remove or modify)
• List messages/bouts by search string

A search string is similar to what GitHub uses:

• title=Hello! --- the title of the bout is exactly Hello!
• owner=yegor256 --- the owner of the bout is yegor256
• started<2023-12-14 --- the bout was created before 14-Dec-23
• guest=:yegor256 --- yegor256 is one of the participants of the bout
• #foo+ --- the bout has foo tag
• #foo- --- the bout doesn't have foo tag
• #foo==bar --- has foo tag with the value bar
• $green+ --- the message has green flag
• $green- --- the message doesn't have green flag
• body=Hello! --- the body of the message is exactly Hello!
• body=~the "world"! --- the body of the message contains the "world"!
• author=yegor256 --- the author of the message is yegor256
• posted>2023-12-14 --- the message was posted after 14-Dec-23

Predicates may be groupped using or, and, and brackets, for example:

body=important and (author=yegor256 or #hello+ or $bye+ or
  (posted<2023-12-14 and title=~something and body=~Hello))

How to Test

In order to test it locally, run:

$ bundle update
$ bundle exec rake

In order to run it locally as a web service on your localhost, run:

$ bundle exec rake run

You should be able to see it at http://localhost:4567.