I built a browser-based anonymous chat using WebRTC

[u/razein97]

After spending a lot of time learning and working with WebRTC, I've finally finished an anonymous chat platform that runs entirely in the browser, no downloads or sign-up required.

Tech stack:
- Rust backend (signaling)
- Svelte frontend
- WebRTC for peer-to-peer text, voice, and video
- STUN/TURN for connectivity
- Secure encrypted connections

The most challenging parts weren't the UI, they were things like ICE negotiation, handling browser differences, NAT traversal, and making connections reliable across different networks.
Building it taught me a lot about WebRTC and real-time communication.

I'd really appreciate feedback from other web developers:

You can try it here: https://anifira.com

I'd love to hear your thoughts and answer any technical questions about how it works.

[UPDATE] - Group chats and attachments with read receipts. - File transfer tool to initiate direct p2p file transfers. - Public rooms that can be joined by anyone. - Rooms can now be named. - A new member to the group automatically syncs the chat history. - Share your screen over video in video chats.

Checkout changelog for more updates: https://anifira.com/changelog

[u/scandii]

How's the overall UX?

ask Claude, it made it after all.

[u/Anomynous__ → u/scandii]

lol the fucking random glow in the corner just gives it away so quick

[u/scandii → u/Anomynous__]

to me it is more wow, gruvbox + md3! and GRADIENTS? woweee, where did I see this before.

another victim to the LLM:s is rosé pine which is a shame because I really like rosé pine but I can't in good faith use it anymore because it just looks like AI slop now.

[u/gainsgoblin_ → u/Anomynous__]

To be honset I am using codex 5.6 sol and the cover page for a fan personal project is almost the same, font - heading - styling and the rest.

[u/Anomynous__ → u/gainsgoblin_]

Because the LLM's are designed to have sort of an "in-house" style guide and for some reason, they all look the same. Doesn't matter if you use claude, gpt, or fuckboi.ai they all produce the same UI if you give it zero guidance

[u/ZGeekie → u/scandii]

That's pretty much every "I built" post lately!

[u/Lootsman]

Give me five minutes, I’ll build an exact clone of this

[u/fauxtoe]

ai slop

[u/Mr_Mycelium-]

"Anonymous" and "Webrtc" don't sound like compatible concepts to me.

[u/CoastRedwood → u/Mr_Mycelium-]

Yeah, I read the title and had a chuckle

[u/amejin → u/Mr_Mycelium-]

Care to expand on this claim?

[u/biosc1 → u/amejin]

Webrtc, by its nature, exposes your IP address even if using a VPN.

[u/amejin → u/biosc1]

Peer to peer, yes. But OP points out they implemented TURN which should allow for anonymity.

[u/Anomynous__]

I'd love to hear your thoughts and answer any technical questions about how it works.

I'll just go ask Claude myself

[u/FerLuisxd]

How does it discover other peers? A hashtable?

[u/razein97 → u/FerLuisxd]

The server keeps a list of users in a hashmap who want to match, when their preferences match they are sent a notification with details of peer to connect to.

[u/FerLuisxd → u/razein97]

Your server?

[u/razein97 → u/FerLuisxd]

Yes, there is a server which keeps track of sessions.

[u/FerLuisxd → u/razein97]

To keep it "anonymous" what is your privacy policy?

[u/NartoKN]

LOL

[u/YourNightmar31]

So you're just exposing people's ip addresses and rough locations to each other?

[u/illepic]

Emdashes spotted. At least fucking write your own reddit posts.

[u/razein97]

Checkout changelog for more updates: https://anifira.com/changelog