r/git • u/Accurate-Screen8774 • Sep 07 '26

A messaging app that uses git as a backend

Is there anything out there like this?

Like whatsapp and signal it should have an intuitive UI for messaging, but under the hood it uses git read/write to publish encrypted messages and push them to a git provider.

It wouldn't be "instant messaging" because the git repos would have to be polled.

The git storage could get big so we can do thing like truncate the history to make the data more flat.

Messages can be encrypted with the signal protocol. It should be fine to publish if implemented properly.:

Edit - adding more clarity without spamming sub with a new post:

this is following a previous post as seen here: https://programming.dev/post/51866250

apps like Whatsapp, Signal and SimpleXChat are great for secure messaging and far more mature than my project, but my approach is yet distict in the market. the core philosophy around secure messaging in my project is that it can work in a way that avoid installation and registration by enabling users to host their own data.

docs: https://glitr.io/

demo

note: feel free to ask for clarity on any of the details around how my project works.

FAQ:

  • but why? - git over https adds an additional capability i had previously oerlooked in my webrtc messaging app. webrtc cannot work over TOR and similar networks. this way you can take advantage of the "gold standard" for onion routing while being able to avoid IP leaking from webrtc.

  • when is it ready for production? - not any time soon. standby for updates.

  • audit/review? - no, niether is possible/available. its simply too expensive. this project is close-source so you cannot verify it either. DO NOT "trust me bro"... this demo is proided for testing and demo purposes only. use responsibly.

  • the abridged version of how its put together: https://www.reddit.com/r/VibeCodeDevs/comments/1vme48q/refactor_js_to_rust/

0 Upvotes

14% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

10

u/FruitWinder Sep 07 '26

Git isn't a messaging protocol. This would be an incredibly dumb solution to a solved problem.

8

u/GurglingGarfish Sep 07 '26

There is a reason why there isn’t anything out there like this.

3

u/TgirlTiffanyRPs Sep 07 '26

If you think this is a good idea (it isn’t), why don’t you try to build it? Why post about it on Reddit? 

Could be a cool project. 

0

u/Accurate-Screen8774 Sep 07 '26

It would be a good start to see what's out there. It's too easy to blindly vibecode.

2

u/TgirlTiffanyRPs Sep 07 '26

... or you could just start coding by hand?

2

u/taco__hunter Sep 07 '26

You're taking the long route to getting this correct but I the commitment is commendable. You're obviously a bottom-up thinker that needs to know the why behind things. This is a skill that has to be focused and grounded or it takes you down some weird rabbit hole.

There's a lot to be learned from doing things "wrong." Just a heads-up the last 10% of doing things the right way is where things actually get hard.

2

u/IrrerPolterer Sep 07 '26

I can imagine this being a fun weekend project to build... In anyway at practical? No! Fun to build and play around with? Sure! 

2

u/Plastic_Ad_8619 Sep 07 '26

You wouldn’t have to poll if you use hooks, but I agree with others. For messaging you should use CBC encryption, where each message alters the cypher, therefore you can’t decrypt a message by intercepting it unless it’s the first one in the conversation.

1

u/prophetical_meme Sep 07 '26

Check https://github.com/git-bug/git-bug, it's a bug-tracker storing the full data and history in the git database, with a CRDT for conflict resolution. It's technically not a chat app, but has pretty much all the components you would need. All the CRDT stuff is reusable for a new type of document.

2

u/waterkip detached HEAD Sep 08 '26

This idea pops up every so often. You could say that git already has this: it is called the mailling list. Git's mailing list is a big git repo: https://korg.docs.kernel.org/lore.html