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rocketchat/rocket.chat

📈 Trending★ 45,321TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5ActiveLicenseSetup · hard

TLDR

Self-hosted team chat platform with messaging, calls, and file sharing, a privacy-focused alternative to Slack or Teams that organizations can run on their own servers.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Text channels
      Direct messages
      Voice and video calls
      File sharing
    Features
      End-to-end encryption
      Federation between instances
      Custom app marketplace
      Admin integrations
    Deployment
      Docker
      Kubernetes
      Cloud hosting
    Access methods
      Web browser
      Desktop apps
      Mobile apps
    Use cases
      Government compliance
      Healthcare privacy
      Finance security
      Air-gapped networks

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Deploy a private messaging platform for a government agency that cannot use cloud-based chat services.

USE CASE 2

Set up secure team communication for a healthcare organization with strict data residency requirements.

USE CASE 3

Build a federated chat network connecting multiple company offices without routing messages through external servers.

USE CASE 4

Create custom chat workflows for finance teams using the Apps-Engine framework to integrate with internal systems.

Tech stack

TypeScriptNode.jsMeteorDockerKubernetes

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

Requires Docker, Kubernetes orchestration, and multiple service components (messaging, calls, file storage) to be configured and running together.

MIT license allows free use, modification, and deployment for any purpose, including commercial, as long as you include the original copyright notice.

In plain English

Rocket.Chat is an open-source team communications platform, essentially a self-hosted alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams that organizations can run on their own servers rather than relying on a third-party cloud service. The problem it solves is that many organizations, especially in government, defense, finance, or healthcare, need real-time messaging and collaboration tools but cannot or will not send their internal communications through an external company's infrastructure. Rocket.Chat gives those organizations all the features of a modern chat platform while keeping full control over their data. The platform supports text channels, direct messages, voice and video calls, file sharing, and end-to-end encryption. It can federate with other Rocket.Chat instances, meaning separate organizations can communicate with each other securely across a network. Admins can install apps from a marketplace or build custom integrations using the Apps-Engine framework, which lets developers extend the platform's capabilities similarly to how Slack allows custom bots and apps. Users can access Rocket.Chat through a web browser, desktop apps (Windows, Mac, Linux), or mobile apps (iOS and Android). You would use Rocket.Chat when your organization needs a professional messaging tool but requires self-hosting for compliance, security policy, or air-gapped network reasons. It can be deployed using Docker, Kubernetes, or managed cloud hosting. The codebase is written in TypeScript, originally built on the Meteor framework for its real-time capabilities, and runs on Node.js. The license is MIT, making it free to use, modify, and deploy.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I deploy Rocket.Chat using Docker for a small team that needs self-hosted messaging?
Prompt 2
Show me how to build a custom app for Rocket.Chat using the Apps-Engine framework to integrate with our internal tools.
Prompt 3
What are the steps to set up end-to-end encryption and federation between two Rocket.Chat instances?
Prompt 4
How can I migrate our team from Slack to a self-hosted Rocket.Chat instance while preserving message history?
Prompt 5
What compliance and security features does Rocket.Chat offer for healthcare or government deployments?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.