// no identity collection
Username and password. That's it. No email verification. No phone number. No SMS code. No tracking pixel. Nothing tying your account to a real-world identity.
SEC.01
// what makes it different
Built around what other apps forgot.
Most chat platforms demand your phone number, harvest your contacts, and store every message on servers you'll never see. NOX takes the opposite approach. Sign up with a username. Recover your account with a phrase only you know. And if you want, run the entire platform on your own machine.
// self-recoverable account
Lose your password? Use the six-word phrase you saved at signup. No support tickets. No identity proofs. No data held hostage.
// self-hostable
Run the whole platform on a single PC for a friend group, a guild, or a small community. Your hardware. Your rules. No cloud. No vendor lock-in.
// the full feature set
Servers, channels, direct messages, voice channels, threads, replies, reactions, custom emoji, search, attachments, presence, typing indicators. Nothing missing.
// transparent by design
No telemetry. No backdoors. No silent uploads. The platform does what it says it does — nothing more, nothing less.
// crafted, not assembled
Built by one developer with a single vision. No committee design. No feature creep. No quarterly metrics driving the roadmap. Every choice intentional.
SEC.02
// access
Three ways in.
Same interface, same features, three surfaces. Pick whichever fits your workflow.
// web
Open NOX in any modern browser. No install. Works on any device with a screen.
// desktop
Native window for Windows. System tray, auto-start, native notifications, auto-updates. Mac and Linux builds are on the way.
// android
Push notifications. Photo upload. Swipe gestures. Designed for the small screen.
SEC.03
// host it yourself
Your hardware. Your rules.
Designed to run on a single PC for up to about 50 concurrent users — friends, a guild, a small community. Backed by SQLite, served by Express, deployed in one command. No cloud. No third parties. No vendors.
nox-chat ~ install.sh
$ git clone <repo>
$ cd nox-chat-app
$ npm install
$ npm run db:migrate
$ npm run db:seed
$ npm run dev # opens on http://localhost:5173