cabal

cabal-cli

Terminal client for cabal, the p2p chat platform.

See cabal-core for the underlying database & api.

chat with us: npx cabal cabal://cabal.chat

Installation

$ npm install --global cabal
$ cabal --new

If that fails the newest node is not yet supported by the stack. Try this:

Install nvm, open a new shell and run

$ nvm install 12
$ npm install --global cabal
$ cabal --new

Usage

Start a new instance:

cabal --new

then copy the key and give it to someone else.

Connect to an existing instance:

cabal <key>

e.g.

cabal cabal://0201400f1aa2e3076a3f17f4521b2cc41e258c446cdaa44742afe6e1b9fd5f82

Remember cabals for auto-joining

save a cabal to the config

cabal --save <key>

then connect to all of your saved cabals, by simply running cabal:

cabal

show saved cabals with --cabals and remove a saved cabal with --forget

cabal --cabals
cabal --forget <key|alias>

Save an alias to a key

create a local name for a key.

cabal --alias <name> --key <key>
cabal <name>

Scan a QR code to join a cabal:

Cabal can use a webcam connected to your computer to read a cabal key from a QR code. For this to work, you'll need to install an additional system dependency:

• Linux: sudo apt-get install fswebcam
• MacOS: brew install imagesnap

# Hold up your QR code in front of the webcam and then run:
cabal --qr

Headless mode

This will run cabal without a UI. You can use this to seed a cabal (e.g. on a VPS) and make its data more available:

cabal <key> --seed

Custom port

If you have a tightly configured firewall and need to port-forward a port, the default port Cabal uses is port 13331. You can change this with the --port flag, or setting preferredPort in your .cabal.yml config file.

cabal <key> --seed --port 7331

Commands

/add, /cabal
  add a cabal
/new
  create a new cabal
/nick, /n
  change your display name
/emote, /me
  write an old-school text emote
/names
  display the names of the currently online peers
/channels
  display the cabal's channels
/panes
  set pane to navigate up and down in panes: channels, cabals
/join, /j
  join a new channel
/leave, /l
  leave a channel
/clear
  clear the current backscroll
/help
  display this help message
/qr
  generate a qr code with the current cabal's address
/quit, /exit
  exit the cabal process
/topic, /motd
  set the topic/description/message of the day for a channel
/whoami, /key
  display your local user key
/whois
  display the public keys associated with the passed in nick

alt-n
  move between channels/cabals panes
ctrl-{n,p}
  move up/down channels/cabals

Hotkeys

ctrl-l
    redraw the screen
ctrl-u
    clear input line
ctrl-w
    delete last word in input
up-arrow
    cycle through command history
down-arrow
    cycle through command history
home
    go to start of input line
end
    go to end of input line
ctrl-n
    go to next channel
ctrl-p
    go to previous channel
ctrl-a
    go to next unread channel
pageup
    scroll up through backlog
pagedown
    scroll down through backlog
shift-pageup
    scroll up through nicklist
shift-pagedown
    scroll down through nicklist
alt-[1,9]
    select channels 1-9
alt-n
    tab between the cabals & channels panes
alt-l
    tab toggle id suffixes on/off

Configuration

The message styling can be slightly tweaked.
Regarding the supported options, see .cabal.yml-example