NoEyes 🔒 Secure Terminal Chat

End-to-end encrypted group chat, private messages, and file transfer in your terminal. The server is a blind forwarder: it cannot read your messages, does not know your username, does not know the room you are in, and cannot link any two messages to the same person, even if fully compromised.

See it in action

What is NoEyes?

NoEyes is a Python terminal chat tool for small trusted groups. The server never decrypts anything and never sees who you are - it only handles opaque tokens and forwards encrypted bytes.

You generate the key, share it out-of-band, and the server learns nothing about your conversations.

Useful for small trusted groups who want encrypted comms without trusting any third-party server, self-hosting a private chat with true end-to-end encryption, or anyone who wants to understand exactly what a server can and cannot see.

Features

Feature	Details
Zero-metadata server	Server never sees usernames, room names, or public keys, only opaque tokens
Sealed sender	Sender identity lives inside the encrypted payload, never in the routing header
Blind-forwarder server	Zero decryption, server forwards encrypted blobs it cannot read
Forward secrecy	`/ratchet start` — Sender Keys protocol, each message encrypted with a unique derived key, past messages safe even if current key leaks
Group chat	Per-room XSalsa20-Poly1305 keys derived via BLAKE2b, rooms cryptographically isolated
Private messages	X25519 DH handshake on first contact, pairwise key only the two parties hold
File transfer	ChaCha20-Poly1305 streaming, any size, low RAM usage, pause/resume across reconnects
Ed25519 identity	Auto-generated signing key, all messages and files are signed
TOFU	First-seen keys trusted; key mismatches trigger a visible security warning
Random PBKDF2 salt	Each deployment gets a unique random salt, rainbow tables are useless
TLS + cert pinning	Transport encrypted, server cert pinned on first contact via TOFU
Replay protection	Per-room message ID deque, replayed frames silently dropped
Split sidebar panel	Rooms (top) and users (bottom) always visible, each half scrolls independently
CRT boot animation	Full-screen phosphor effect with sound on startup
Ratchet activation animation	Full-screen CRT effect with braille gear art, glitch flicker, spotlight sweep, synced SFX, and TUI chrome transition to red
Guided launcher	Arrow-key menu UI, no command-line experience needed
Auto dependency installer	Detects your platform, installs what's missing, asks before changing anything

Quick Start

Option A - Guided (recommended for beginners)

# 1. Run the setup wizard - installs Python, pip, and dependencies automatically
python ui/setup.py

# 2. Launch NoEyes
python ui/launch.py

ui/launch.py walks you through starting a server or connecting to one.

Option B - If Python isn't installed yet

Platform	Run this first
Linux / macOS / Termux / iSH	`sh install/install.sh`
Windows	`install\install.bat`

Both scripts install Python if missing, then hand off to setup.py automatically.

Option C - Manual

# 1. Install dependencies
pip install cryptography PyNaCl

# 2. On the server machine — generate the access key
python noeyes.py --generate-access-key
# Prints an access code hex string — share with clients via USB

# 3. On a client machine — generate chat.key from the access code
python noeyes.py --generate-chat-key <ACCESS_CODE_HEX> --key-file ./chat.key
# Distribute chat.key to all other clients via USB. Never put it on the server.

# 4. Start the server (does NOT need the key file)
python noeyes.py --server --port 5000

# Start without bore tunnel (LAN / static IP / custom tunnel)
python noeyes.py --server --port 5000 --no-bore

# Start without adding a firewall rule (not needed when using bore tunnel)
python noeyes.py --server --port 5000 --no-firewall

# 5. Connect clients - each person needs their own identity file
python noeyes.py --connect SERVER_IP --port 5000 --username alice --key-file ./chat.key --identity-path ~/.noeyes/identity_alice.key
python noeyes.py --connect SERVER_IP --port 5000 --username bob   --key-file ./chat.key --identity-path ~/.noeyes/identity_bob.key

Important: Every user must have their own identity file. Two clients sharing the same identity file get the same inbox token and the server will reject the second one as a duplicate session. The identity file is auto-generated on first run, just pass a unique --identity-path per user.

Running on Termux (Android)

Download Termux from F-Droid (recommended): https://f-droid.org/packages/com.termux/

Keep the session alive - install tmux so NoEyes keeps running when you switch apps:

pkg install tmux -y
tmux
python ui/launch.py
# Press Volume Down + D to detach (keeps running in background)
# tmux attach   to come back

Storage permissions - file transfer will fail without this:

termux-setup-storage

In-Chat Commands

Command	Description
`/help`	Show all commands
`/quit`	Disconnect and exit
`/clear`	Clear messages from screen
`/users`	List users in current room
`/join <room>`	Switch to a room (warns if in active ratchet)
`/leave`	Return to the general room (warns if in active ratchet)
`/msg <user> <text>`	Send an E2E-encrypted private message
`/send <user> <file>`	Send an encrypted file
`/whoami`	Show your identity fingerprint
`/trust <user>`	Trust a user's new key after they reinstall
`/notify on\|off`	Toggle notification sounds
`/ratchet start`	Propose forward-secrecy rolling keys to all room members (all must confirm)
`/ratchet invite <u>`	Re-invite a user to the ratchet after they rejoin (triggers full restart — no chain keys forwarded)
`/proceed`	During migration wait, vote to drop an offline peer and resume

TUI Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
`↑` / `↓`	Scroll chat up / down
`PgUp` / `PgDn`	Scroll chat one page
`^P` (Ctrl+P)	Show / hide the sidebar panel
`^C`	Quit

Top half - ROOMS - all rooms joined this session. Active room highlighted with ▶.
Bottom half - USERS - everyone currently in your active room.

Each half scrolls independently. Press ^P to hide the panel for a full-width chat view.

Message Tags

Prefix any message with a !tag to color it for everyone and trigger a notification sound. Tags travel inside the encrypted payload, the server never sees them.

Tag	Color	Use for
`!ok <msg>`	🟢 Green	Success, confirmed, done
`!warn <msg>`	🟡 Yellow	Warning, heads up
`!danger <msg>`	🔴 Red	Critical, urgent, emergency
`!info <msg>`	🔵 Blue	Status update, FYI
`!req <msg>`	🟣 Purple	Request, needs action
`!? <msg>`	🩵 Cyan	Question, asking for input

NoEyes

Most Popular

NoEyes 🔒 Secure Terminal Chat

See it in action

Full Showcase - 3 clients, rooms, private messages, sidebar panel

install.sh - Bootstrap installer

install.py - Universal Python installer

Server - Guided launcher startup