Chat App - Full Features (21)

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

Room Activity Indicators

Show activity badges on rooms with recent message activity (e.g., "Active now", "Hot")
Display real-time message velocity or activity level per room
Activity indicators update live as conversation pace changes
Help users quickly identify where active conversations are happening

UI contract:

Active badge: text "Active" or "ACTIVE" (green) visible on rooms with 1+ messages in the last 5 minutes
Hot badge: text "Hot" or "🔥" (orange) visible on rooms with 5+ messages in the last 2 minutes
Badges appear in the room list/sidebar next to room names

Draft Sync

Message drafts are saved and synced across user's devices in real-time
Users can resume typing where they left off on any device
Each room maintains its own draft per user
Drafts persist across sessions until sent or cleared

UI contract:

Auto-save: typing in the message input saves the draft automatically (no save button needed)
Persistence: switching rooms and switching back restores the draft text in the message input
Cross-session: refreshing the page restores the draft text
Clear on send: sending a message clears the draft for that room

Anonymous to Registered Migration

Users can join rooms and send messages without creating an account
Anonymous users have a temporary identity that persists for their session
When an anonymous user registers, their identity and message history are preserved
Room memberships and all associated data transfer to the registered account

UI contract:

Guest entry: button with text "Guest" or "Anonymous" or "Join as Guest", OR the app auto-assigns a name like "Guest-XXXXX" or "Anon-XXXXX"
Guest indicator: text "guest" or "anon" visible as a badge/label next to the anonymous user’s name
Register button: button with text "Register" or "Sign Up" visible to guest users
Registration form: input with placeholder containing "name" or "username" for choosing a display name
Migration: after registration, all previous messages show the new display name

Pinned Messages

Users can pin important messages in a channel (admins and message authors can pin)
Pinned messages show a pin indicator in the message list
A "Pinned Messages" panel accessible from the channel header shows all pins for that channel
Users can unpin messages
Pin/unpin actions sync to all users in the channel in real-time

UI contract:

Pin button: button with text "Pin" or aria-label containing "pin" visible on message hover
Pinned indicator: text "pinned" or a pin icon (📌) visible on pinned messages
Pinned panel: button with text "Pinned" or "Pins" in the channel header, opening a panel listing all pinned messages
Unpin: button with text "Unpin" on pinned messages (in the panel or on hover)

User Profiles

Users can edit their profile: display name, bio/status message, and avatar URL
Clicking on a username anywhere in the app opens a profile card/popover showing their info
When a user updates their profile, the changes propagate everywhere in real-time — message attributions, member lists, online user lists, and DM headers all reflect the new name/avatar immediately
Profile changes are visible to all users across all channels without page refresh

UI contract:

Profile edit: button with text "Edit Profile" or "Profile" or a settings/gear icon accessible from the sidebar
Bio input: input or textarea with placeholder containing "bio" or "status" (case-insensitive)
Profile card: clicking a username opens a popover/modal showing the user’s name, bio, and avatar
Name propagation: changing display name updates all message attributions in real-time

@Mentions and Notification Feed

Users can @mention other users in messages by typing @username
Mentioned usernames are highlighted/styled in the message text
When a user is mentioned, a notification is created for them
Notification bell icon in the sidebar/header shows unread notification count
Clicking the bell opens a notification panel listing all notifications (mentions, invites, etc.) with the source message and channel
Users can mark individual notifications as read, or mark all as read
Notifications update in real-time — new mentions appear instantly in the bell count
Clicking a notification navigates to the source message in its channel

UI contract:

Mention highlighting: @username text in messages is visually distinct (bold, colored, or wrapped in a styled span)
Notification bell: button with text "🔔" or aria-label containing "notification" visible in the sidebar or header
Unread count: a numeric badge near the bell showing unread notification count
Notification panel: clicking the bell shows a list of notifications with message text and channel name
Mark read: button with text "Mark Read" or "Mark All Read" in the notification panel

Bookmarked/Saved Messages

Users can bookmark any message for personal reference (bookmark icon on hover)
A "Saved Messages" panel in the sidebar shows all bookmarked messages across all channels
Each bookmark shows the message content, sender, channel name, and timestamp
Users can remove bookmarks
Bookmarks are personal — only visible to the user who saved them
Bookmark list updates in real-time (e.g., if a bookmarked message is edited, the bookmark reflects the change)

UI contract:

Bookmark button: button with text "Bookmark" or "Save" or aria-label containing "bookmark" or "save" visible on message hover
Saved panel: button with text "Saved" or "Bookmarks" in the sidebar, opening a panel
Bookmark entry: each saved message shows the message text and the channel/sender it came from
Remove: button with text "Remove" or "Unsave" next to bookmarked messages in the panel

Message Forwarding

Users can forward a message to another channel they're a member of
A "Forward" button appears on message hover, opening a channel picker
The forwarded message appears in the target channel with a "Forwarded from #original-channel by @user" attribution
The original message is not modified — forwarding creates a copy
Forwarded messages appear in real-time for all members of the target channel

UI contract:

Forward button: button with text "Forward" or aria-label containing "forward" visible on message hover
Channel picker: a list or dropdown showing channel names the user can forward to
Attribution: forwarded messages display text containing "Forwarded" or "forwarded from"
Original unchanged: the source message has no "forwarded" indicator

Slow Mode

Admins can enable slow mode on a channel with a configurable cooldown (e.g., 10s, 30s, 1m, 5m)
When slow mode is active, users can only send one message per cooldown period
The UI shows a countdown timer after sending a message, disabling the input until the cooldown expires
A "Slow Mode" indicator is visible in the channel header when active
Admins are exempt from slow mode restrictions
Slow mode setting changes sync to all channel members in real-time

UI contract:

Settings: button with text "Settings" or a gear icon in the room header (admin only)
Slow mode toggle: input[type="checkbox"] or button with text/label containing "Slow Mode"
Cooldown input: input[type="number"] or select for setting the cooldown duration in seconds
Indicator: text "Slow Mode" visible in the channel header when active
Enforcement: after sending, the message input is disabled or shows countdown text until cooldown expires
Admin exempt: admins can send messages without cooldown restriction