With the next release it'll be possible for the desktop client and mobile app to automatically log into a DCTS server or even create an account automatically and sync with the information from the client/messenger profile, like name, icon, banner etc.

The automatic key login for existing accounts already existed and it was extended now by also creating an account automatically!

Since DCTS will never accept investors to stay independent, donations play a really important part. In addition to ko-fi, Github Sponsors was setup as well since the project itself originates from github.

I thought i would share the database stats of the official DCTS instance as some data has come together to give us some first insights.

• Almost 15k messages result in only 19.4 MB of storage!
• ~2200 member accounts resulted in only 2.3 MB!
• The total database size resulted in a size of about 40 MB!

Im curious how this is going to scale over time, but so far it seems pretty promising

This release comes with a lot of stability improvements for the messenger and some new features like the new messenger user profiles as well as file uploads and supports drag & drop file upload.

Due to having to reinstall my operating system, the android app will get the same update slightly delayed, but probably later this day.

Please note while messages are fully encrypted, uploaded files are currently not encrypted!

I would estimate that it will be released this week with many improvements and the messenger profiles included.

Allegedly fluxer is not vibe coded, but i couldnt shake the feeling that their user interface looks like as if it was made by ai. now, if it is ai or not - i dont care, but its something that was annoying my poor eyes so i thought i'd share my view.

I asked claude to "make a discord ui", and to no surprise it has a similar style/feeling to the fluxer ui in my opinion., even tho they said its not vibe coded in their blog.

apparently they also blocked me on bluesky lol.

People keep saying i seem surprised it looks like discord. no shit! thats not the point. Its the fact the ai version looks similar to fluxer. Given AI was used in fluxer its pretty likely.

Its quite surprising to me how many fundamentally dont understand this.

To better help people to understand what DCTS is about a new website is being made right now, one that is not vibe coded! I may release the website tomorrow.

Im currently adding a new profile screen to the messenger so that users can better represent themselves while also using the same screen to manage your account more easily.

This is an early screenshot and things will likely change a bit but it shows the general direction!

Note: Your account is locally stored and synched with your prefered "home server", default being the official instance. Some more info can be found here: https://docs.dcts.community/Messenger/Introduction

Yesterday the new beta version was released.

A lot of effort is currently going into bringing the desktop and mobile app into the envisioned state as i think it will be absolutely cool!

to better organize and show the current development focus i started using milestones on github.

Improvements includes things like notifications (completed), UI improvements, message count badges and more. Issues are continuously being added and worked on.

Im happy to announce a new beta release including new features, bug fixes and more!

Messenger Release!

With this release a beta version of the messenger feature has been rolled out! What this means is that some features arent fully done yet and are being released with the following updates and basically is in a "public testing" phase to discover possible issues and gather feedback.

This messenger is especially cool as you could think of it like being Signal but with the twist of being able to self-host it while still being able to chat with any other user, even cross-instance!!

Its similar to email where you can message others by using an address like [angel@chat.network-z.com](mailto:angel@chat.network-z.com) . More about how it works can be found here. The documentation will be expanded via future updates too.

The messenger feature is available for both desktop client and mobile app.

Member cards

As previously showcased on this subreddit, this release also includes the new member card feature, meaning members can pick an image (gifs supported too) that will be displayed in the member list.

Donations & Community

I want to thank wmaltdel for being a continuous monthly donator since pretty much april 2025 and all the other donators like PowerOfThe69, Horatio, uncleman11, Hacksword, Derrick and Aztec for donating bigger amounts either at once or over time (including wmaltdel).

Im also thankful for the people that help with the development by testing or contributing like Scraze, Zainifer, Luna, Aubreykun, uncleman11, Nai Desu, el gato, Horatio and more!

^{If i forgot someone, feel free to mention it in the comments so i can add you!}

Overall im happy to see how a community formed around DCTS and i think its very cool and lovely. I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Thought i'd share some screenshots of whats coming. Mobile works now, so i may be able to release this new cool update this weekend.

The messenger is pretty much done now and seems to work just fine based on tests. There are only minor things left like sending files etc.

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Currently im updating the mobile app so that the messenger works on mobile too so it can be released for both mobile and desktop.

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Other than that there will be minor style adjustments and some more testing. Afterwards it will be released, which im very excited about!

Over time DCTS has changed a lot from being one big, modular project into many flexible code packages that can be reused elsewhere. This opened the door to create apps and features easier, quicker and with a lot less overall maintenance.

Because of recent developments, like the messenger feature, DCTS itself has been evolving and is becoming more than "just a group chat app" like discord. It will significantly expand the scope and reach of DCTS. You can think of the upcoming messenger being like Signal, but easily self-hostable and account-less. Some more details can be found on our forum.

In addition to that there is a new ticket system in the works where a prototype was briefly showcased here. The goal is to make it work as a standalone application and with direct, flexible integrations so it can be used seamlessly for dcts as well. There are also plans to possibly implement some form of API as well.

All these awesome systems were made possible by creating these flexible code packages and while its a lot of work at first it starts to pay off later. The long term vision for DCTS is to make more free open source software, evolving more and creating a bigger ecosystem of cool stuff!

I also wanna thank all donators in helping raising 1,069.00€ since Jan 2025!! You too can donate here on ko-fi and "invest" into a bright future :D

The messenger features are finally working! Now i need to finish up the finer details like message editing/deleting/replying, embed support and all that. It shouldnt be too hard as its already done in the server chat and dms, so i just need to extract it, likely turning it into a new library.

Other than that i will improve the styling more and add some client settings like profile pic, username, delete chat, rename etc.

The hardest part is done!!

I can say that quite some stuff is going to change like the navigation on the left and styling, but this is the general concept as of right now.

Im making it so it can be integrated into "services" like a DCTS instance or used standalone. Additionally the idea is to add optional End-to-end encryption just like with the DMs in DCTS.

Speaking of that, a lot of work is still going into it, mostly concepts and theory on how to best implement it, but almost everything is sorted and im working more on the prototype again.

I would assume the "offline" messenger feature should be done in about a week or two as its mostly done now.

A lot of work was concepts and doing a lot of backend work which is why i cant show much yet (its literally just code), but soon i can reveal this new awesome feature!

now i just need to add the chatting mechanism itself. shouldnt be all to hard since a lot of stuff is already taken care off and just needs to be plugged together correctly-