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signalapp/signal-desktop

★ 16,281TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5LicenseSetup · hard

TLDR

Signal Desktop is the source for the official Signal messenger app on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It links to your phone and provides end-to-end encrypted chat from your computer.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Signal-Desktop))
    Inputs
      QR link from phone
      Encrypted messages
    Outputs
      Desktop chat app
      Synced message history
    Use Cases
      Use Signal on desktop
      Audit the client code
      Contribute fixes
    Tech Stack
      TypeScript
      Electron
      Node
      React
    Privacy
      End to end encryption
      Signal protocol
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Build Signal Desktop from source and run a self-compiled binary

USE CASE 2

Audit the client code that handles end-to-end encrypted messages

USE CASE 3

Contribute a bug fix or translation to the official Signal Desktop project

Tech stack

TypeScriptElectronNode.jsReact

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

Requires a working phone install of Signal to link, plus native build tooling for Electron modules.

AGPL-3.0: free to use, modify, and share, but any modified version you run as a network service must also be released under AGPL.

In plain English

Signal Desktop is the official desktop application for Signal, a private messaging service. It links with the Signal app on your phone (Android or iPhone) and lets you send and receive messages from your Windows, macOS, or Linux computer, essentially turning your computer into another device where you can use your Signal account. Signal is built around privacy. It uses end-to-end encryption, which means only you and the person you're messaging can read what's sent, not Signal, not your internet provider, and not any third party. The desktop app syncs with your phone, so your message history stays consistent across devices. This repository is specifically the source code for the desktop version of Signal. If you're not a developer, you'd simply download the app from signal.org. If you are a developer or technically curious, this is the open-source code that the app is built from, licensed under the AGPL open-source license. The app is built using TypeScript (a programming language that adds structure to JavaScript) and is maintained by Signal Messenger, LLC, an independent nonprofit organization. Signal accepts donations and relies on community contributions to maintain the project. People who want to help don't necessarily need to write code, there are many other ways to contribute described in their contributing guide.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Walk me through building Signal-Desktop from source on macOS, including the native module steps
Prompt 2
Explain how Signal-Desktop links to a phone via QR code and which crypto keys are exchanged
Prompt 3
Show me where in the Signal-Desktop codebase incoming messages are decrypted and rendered
Prompt 4
Help me set up a local development build of Signal-Desktop that points at the staging server
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