About Nodz

Nodz is a small internet clubhouse: easy to enter, pleasant to use and worth coming back to.

Who runs it

How it is built

We use proven open-source software instead of inventing our own chat protocol:

• nodzd, our own IRC server written in Python, handles accounts, rooms, moderation and history.
• The Nodz web app connects your browser to that server over an encrypted WebSocket connection.
• Other IRC apps can connect to irc.nodz.im on port 6697 (TLS).

Guests and accounts

As a guest you can chat right away, but your nickname is only yours while you're connected, and it doesn't prove who you are. A free account reserves your name, lets you register rooms and lets you read your recent direct messages.

We don't ask for an email address, so there is no automatic password reset. Keep your password safe. If you lose it, contact the operator: they can only help if they can be sure the account is yours.

Rooms

• Public rooms appear in the room list and anyone can join, unless they've been banned.
• Private rooms are hidden and invite-only. Being private does not make a room end-to-end encrypted.
• Anyone can open a temporary room. It disappears when everyone has left, and its messages are never written to disk.
• Signed-in users can register a room. It then keeps its owner, settings and recent history, even after a restart.

Encryption, honestly

Every connection to Nodz is encrypted in transit (TLS), so people on your network can't read along. The server itself can still read messages, as with classic IRC. End-to-end encryption is not available yet. We'll only call something end-to-end encrypted once it actually is.

What's next

Planned, but not available yet:

• An installable web app and reliable notifications.
• End-to-end encrypted direct messages for signed-in users, using an established, reviewed protocol.
• End-to-end encrypted private groups.
• Desktop and mobile apps.