iris chat

Encrypted chat app using Nostr Double Ratchet. Shared Rust core, native UIs.

Primary development is on hashtree: https://git.iris.to/#/npub1399g0q2gtwjcglyjcg3jw3rcllqhm375pwases5hkvqa56aqe5wsz2eaap/iris-chat-rs

Features

• Encrypted direct and group chats.
• Device linking and QR/link invites.
• Offline queueing, message server sync, and SQLite persistence.
• Reliable ordered linked-device snapshots over TCP/FIPS, while Delivered and Seen remain recipient application receipts.
• iris command line app for scripts, agents, and local devices that need to send messages.
• Attachments, profile pictures, notifications, and support bundles.
• Nearby chat over Wi-Fi/LAN and Bluetooth.
• Adaptive voice and video calls over FIPS on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux and standalone browsers.
• Signed chat events and attachment reads over known native FIPS mesh peers.
• Desktop open-at-login on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
• Share to iris chat from Android, iOS, and macOS.
• Search and choose one or more recipients.
• iOS suggests recent chats in the share sheet.

Status

• Shared Rust core drives app state, navigation, messaging, sync, persistence, and support export across platforms.
• Native shells exist for Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows.
• Android, iOS, and macOS are the most active app targets.
• Linux and Windows are buildable and releaseable, with lighter acceptance coverage.

See native mesh connections for routing scope and explicit peer configuration.

Repo

• core/: Rust core and UniFFI boundary
• android/: Android Compose app
• ios/: iOS SwiftUI app and shared Apple shell code
• macos/: macOS SwiftUI app
• linux/: GTK/libadwaita desktop app
• windows/: WPF/.NET desktop app
• scripts/: build, test, release, and harness entrypoints
• docs/: feature and release docs

Run

cd /path/to/iris-chat-rs
just info
just run
just build
just run-android
just run-ios
just run-linux
just run-macos
just run-windows

just run dispatches to the native app for the local desktop platform. just build builds the native app for the local desktop platform and prints the app output path.

Check

just verify-fast
just verify-health
just verify-full
just qa-native-contract
just qa-interop
just qa-lan

verify-fast is the per-change Rust/core/contract tier and does not allocate simulators, phones, VMs, or GUI sessions. verify-full reserves the native lab, runs the five-platform plus physical-device matrices, and is intended for nightly or release boundaries. Machine-readable results distinguish infrastructure_unavailable (exit 75) from product failures. See docs/verification-tiers.md for resource configuration and safe reset rules.

Desktop call checks

Windows and Linux use the shared desktop-media engine: CPAL audio devices, Nokhwa cameras, OpenH264 video, the existing Opus codec, and Sonora's WebRTC AEC3 for echo cancellation. Signalling, encryption and media delivery stay on FIPS. Apple and Android retain their native hardware media paths.

cargo test --manifest-path core/Cargo.toml --locked --features desktop-media --lib desktop_call -- --nocapture
./scripts/test-linux
# On Windows, after building the native DLL and C# bindings:
./scripts/windows-build-local.ps1 call-tests

These checks cover sustained bitrate reduction/recovery, reordered and lost video, echo cancellation, sample-rate drift, mute/camera privacy, and call UI lifecycle. Linux needs ALSA development headers and NASM; the dev container includes them. The Windows build script enables desktop-media automatically.

For browser interoperability, build iris-call-fixture with --features stack-fixture,desktop-media, then run the browser repository's e2e/calls-native.spec.ts with IRIS_CALL_FIXTURE_BIN pointing to that binary and IRIS_CALL_DESKTOP_CODEC=1 REQUIRE_CALL_INTEROP=1 CALL_INTEROP_WS_ONLY=1. This decodes browser H.264 and re-encodes it with the production desktop codec over a real local FIPS connection. It uses fresh test accounts and no devices. Real camera, speakerphone, and Wi-Fi checks still require physical hardware.

scripts/android_call_lan_e2e.py --help describes the physical Wi-Fi benchmark. Build local_nostr_relay with local-relay-bin, and build paired Android debug and test APKs with -Piris.testRunner=to.iris.chat.calls.NativeCallTestRunner. Run it inside an Android native-lab reservation with an explicit device and the laptop's private LAN address. It uses a fresh account, restores the installed APKs, stops the message server, and checks sustained 150 kbps video, decoded frame rate, round-trip delay, mute, camera off, and remote hangup. --voice-only also checks an initially muted call lasting longer than the media timeout.

Build

Native builds require Rust, CMake, and the platform C/C++ toolchain. The bundled Opus codec builds from source; Android builds use the configured NDK.

just build
just android-assemble
just ios-xcodeproj
just macos-build
just windows-build
just linux-release

Releases are built once in GitHub Actions and promoted unchanged to every distribution channel. See the release and distribution playbook.

Command Line

Install the Iris command line app with Homebrew:

brew tap sirius/iris https://upload.iris.to/npub1399g0q2gtwjcglyjcg3jw3rcllqhm375pwases5hkvqa56aqe5wsz2eaap/homebrew-iris.git
brew install iris

Or install a prebuilt macOS/Linux binary directly:

curl -fsSL https://upload.iris.to/npub1399g0q2gtwjcglyjcg3jw3rcllqhm375pwases5hkvqa56aqe5wsz2eaap/releases%2Firis-chat-rs/latest/install.sh | sh

The iris command is useful for humans, agents, scripts, and local devices that need to send, search, or listen for messages and trigger normal iris chat notifications.

CLI reads (read, chat open, chat read, group read, tail, and search) and listeners do not mark messages seen. Agents should call iris seen <chat> <message-id>... when they start processing those messages. Delivery receipts remain automatic for accepted conversations when receipts are enabled. Interactive apps retain their normal read behavior.

For scripts that manage sync themselves, use --no-background-sync to prevent a one-shot command from starting a background process that keeps the profile open. Pending messages and public follows stay saved for the next iris sync or app session. An already running iris service continues normally.

Messages can travel over Nostr relays, and nearby transports can keep local device messages off a remote server when the devices are close enough.

Platform Notes

• Android: Compose UI, Gradle, Rust via cargo-ndk, Zapstore release path.
• iOS: SwiftUI, XcodeGen, share extension, push support, App Store archive helper.
• macOS: SwiftUI, XcodeGen, share extension, LaunchAgent open-at-login, DMG helper.
• Linux: GTK/libadwaita shell, direct Rust core link, XDG open-at-login.
• Windows: WPF/.NET 8 shell, x86_64 MSVC target, Credential Manager, open-at-login via the Run key.

More

• Release guide
• Android beta release
• Architecture
• UI/UX flows
• Windows notes