MeshChat — A Zero-Install Terminal Chat Room Built with GitHub Copilot CLI

🚀 What I built MeshChat is a terminal-based chat server written in Python (asyncio) that lets anyone join a shared chat room using nothing more than: nc <host> <port> # or telnet <host> <port> No client binaries. No accounts. No setup on the user side. If you can open a terminal, you can chat. Repository: https://github.com/cristianrubioa/meshchat 💡 Why I built it Sometimes you just need a quick local chat room : A small team on the same network A classroom or lab A hackathon A home LAN I wanted something that felt like an old-school LAN chat, but with: modern async Python a clean CLI colorful output basic safety (rate limits, message caps) MeshChat turns a TCP port into a friendly shared room. ✨ Features Zero client setup — connect via nc or telnet Colorful UI — each user gets a unique ANSI color Chat commands: /who /me /help /quit Optional message history Rate limiting (anti-spam) Async I/O with asyncio Typer-based CLI Rich terminal formatting Environment + CLI configuration Tested w