Chat App - Private Rooms

Create a real-time chat app.

UI & Style Guide

Layout

Sidebar (left, ~220px fixed): app title/branding, user info with status, room list, online users
Main area (right, flex): room header bar, scrollable message list, input bar pinned to bottom
Panels (right slide-in or overlay): threads, pinned messages, profiles, settings

Visual Design

Dark theme using the brand colors from the language section below
Background: darkest shade for main bg, slightly lighter for sidebar and cards
Text: light on dark, muted color for timestamps and secondary info
Borders: subtle 1px, low contrast against background
Consistent spacing scale (8/12/16/24px)
Font: system font stack, clear hierarchy (bold headers, regular body, small muted metadata)
Rounded corners on inputs, buttons, cards, and message containers

Components

Messages: sender name (colored) + timestamp (muted) + text. Group consecutive messages from same sender. Action buttons appear on hover only (which buttons depend on the features below).
Inputs: full-width, rounded, subtle border, placeholder text, focus ring using primary color
Buttons: filled with primary color for main actions, outlined/ghost for secondary. Clear hover and active states.
Badges: small pill-shaped with count, contrasting color (e.g., unread count on rooms)
Modals/panels: slide-in from right with subtle backdrop, or dropdown overlays
Status indicators: small colored dots (green=online, yellow=away, red=DND, grey=offline)
Room list: room names with optional icon prefix (#), active room highlighted, unread badge

Interaction & UX

Show loading/connecting state while backend connects (spinner or skeleton, not blank screen)
Empty states: helpful text when no rooms, no messages, no results ("Create a room to get started")
Error feedback: inline error messages or toast notifications, never silent failures
Smooth transitions: fade/slide for panels, modals, and state changes
Hover reveals: message action buttons, tooltips on reactions, user profile cards
Keyboard support: Enter to send messages, Escape to close modals/panels
Auto-scroll to newest message, with scroll-to-bottom button when scrolled up

Features

Important: Each feature below includes a "UI contract" section specifying required element attributes for automated testing. You MUST follow these — they define the user-facing interface. Your architecture, state management, and backend design are entirely up to you.

Basic Chat Features

Users can set a display name
Users can create chat rooms and join/leave them
Users can send messages to rooms they've joined
Show who's online
Include reasonable validation (e.g., don't let users spam, enforce sensible limits)

UI contract:

Name input: placeholder contains "name" (case-insensitive)
Name submit: button with text "Join", "Register", "Set Name", or type="submit"
Room creation: button with text containing "Create" or "New" or "+"
Room name input: placeholder contains "room" or "name" (case-insensitive)
Message input: placeholder contains "message" (case-insensitive)
Send message: pressing Enter in the message input sends the message
Room list: room names visible as clickable text in a sidebar or list
Join room: clicking room name joins/enters it, or a button with text "Join"
Leave room: button with text "Leave"
Online users: user names displayed as text in a visible user list or member panel

Typing Indicators

Show when other users are currently typing in the SAME room (typing must be scoped to room — do not broadcast typing to users in different rooms)
Typing indicator should automatically expire after a few seconds of inactivity
Display "User is typing..." or "Multiple users are typing..." in the UI

UI contract:

Typing text: visible text containing "typing" (case-insensitive) when another user types
Auto-expiry: typing indicator text disappears within 6 seconds of inactivity

Read Receipts

Track which users have seen which messages
Display "Seen by X, Y, Z" under messages — only show OTHER users who have seen it, not the sender
Update read status in real-time as users view messages

UI contract:

Receipt text: text containing "seen" or "read" (case-insensitive) appears near messages after another user views them
Reader names: the receipt text includes the viewing user’s display name

Unread Message Counts

Show unread message count badges on the room list
Track last-read position per user per room
Update counts in real-time as new messages arrive or are read

UI contract:

Badge: a visible numeric badge (e.g., "3") appears next to room names in the sidebar when there are unread messages
Badge clears when the room is opened/entered

Scheduled Messages

Users can compose a message and schedule it to send at a future time
Show pending scheduled messages to the author (with option to cancel)
Message appears in the room at the scheduled time

UI contract:

Schedule button: button with text "Schedule" or aria-label containing "schedule", or an icon button with title containing "schedule"
Time picker: an input[type="datetime-local"] or input[type="time"] or input[type="number"] for setting the send time
Pending list: text "Scheduled" or "Pending" visible when viewing scheduled messages
Cancel: button with text "Cancel" next to pending scheduled messages

Ephemeral/Disappearing Messages

Users can send messages that auto-delete after a set duration (e.g., 1 minute, 5 minutes)
Show a countdown or indicator that the message will disappear
Message is permanently deleted from the database when time expires

UI contract:

Ephemeral toggle: select, button, or input with text/label containing "ephemeral", "disappear", or "expire" (case-insensitive)
Duration options: selectable durations (e.g., 30s, 1m, 5m)
Indicator: visible text containing a countdown, "expires", or "disappearing" on ephemeral messages
Deletion: the message text is removed from the DOM after the duration expires

Message Reactions

Users can react to messages with emoji (e.g., 👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 😢)
Show reaction counts on messages that update in real-time
Users can toggle their own reactions on/off
Display who reacted when hovering over reaction counts

UI contract:

Reaction trigger: button with emoji text (👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 😢) or a button with text "React" / aria-label containing "react" visible on message hover
Reaction display: emoji + count (e.g., "👍 2") visible below or beside the reacted message
Toggle: clicking the same emoji again removes the user’s reaction
Hover info: title attribute on reaction element showing voter names

Message Editing with History

Users can edit their own messages after sending
Show "(edited)" indicator on edited messages
Other users can view the edit history of a message
Edits sync in real-time to all viewers

UI contract:

Edit button: button with text "Edit" visible on hover over own messages
Edit form: an inline input or textarea replaces the message content during editing, with a "Save" button
Edited indicator: text "(edited)" visible on edited messages
History: clicking "(edited)" opens a view showing previous versions of the message

Real-Time Permissions

Room creators are admins and can kick/ban users from their rooms
Kicked users immediately lose access and stop receiving room updates
Admins can promote other users to admin
Permission changes apply instantly without requiring reconnection

UI contract:

Admin indicator: text "Admin" or "ADMIN" visible for admin users in the member list
Members panel: button with text "Members" or "Manage" in the room header
Kick button: button with text "Kick" next to non-admin members
Promote button: button with text "Promote" next to non-admin members
Kicked feedback: kicked user sees text containing "kicked" or is redirected away from the room

Rich User Presence

Users can set their status: online, away, do-not-disturb, invisible
Show "Last active X minutes ago" for users who aren't online
Status changes sync to all viewers in real-time
Auto-set to "away" after period of inactivity

UI contract:

Status selector: select or group of button elements with text "Online", "Away", "Do Not Disturb" / "DND", "Invisible"
Status indicator: colored dot or icon next to user names (green=online, yellow=away, red=DND, grey=invisible)
Last active: text containing "Last active" or "ago" for offline/away users

Message Threading

Users can reply to specific messages, creating a thread
Show reply count and preview on parent messages
Threaded view to see all replies to a message
New replies sync in real-time to thread viewers

UI contract:

Reply button: button with text "Reply" or "💬" visible on message hover
Reply count: text like "N replies" or "💬 N" visible on messages that have replies
Thread panel: clicking the reply button/count opens a panel showing the parent message and all replies
Thread input: input or textarea with placeholder containing "reply" (case-insensitive) in the thread panel

Private Rooms and Direct Messages

Users can create private/invite-only rooms that don't appear in the public room list
Room creators can invite specific users by username
Direct messages (DMs) between two users as a special type of private room
Invited users receive notifications and can accept/decline invitations
Only members can see private room content and member lists

UI contract:

Private toggle: input[type="checkbox"] or button with text/label containing "Private" during room creation
Private indicator: text "private" or a lock icon (🔒) visible on private rooms in the sidebar
Invite button: button with text "Invite" in the room header or members panel
Invitation UI: invited user sees text containing the room name with "Accept" and "Decline" button elements
DM button: button with text "DM" or "💬" next to user names in the user list