sharp-chat/Protocol-draft.md

Sock Chat Protocol Information

The protocol operates on a websocket in text mode. Messages sent between the client and server are a series of concatenated strings delimited by the vertical tab character, represented in most languages by the escape sequence \t and defined in ASCII as 0x09. The first string in this concatenation must be the packet identifier, sent as an int.

Newer versions of the protocol are implemented as extensions, a client for Version 1 should have no trouble using a server built for Version 2 as long as authentication is understood.

The current stable version of the protocol is Version 1.

Types

bool

A value that indicates a true or a false state. 0 represents false and anything non-0 represents true, please stick to 1 for representing true though.

int

Any number ranging from -9007199254740991 to 9007199254740991, Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER and Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER in JavaScript.

string

Any printable unicode character, except \t which is used to separate packets.

timestamp

Extends int, contains a second based UNIX timestamp.

channel name

A string containing only alphanumeric characters (any case), - or _.

session id

A string containing only alphanumeric characters (any case), - or _.

color

Any valid value for the CSS color property. Further documentation can be found on MDN.

message flags

Message flags alter how a message should be displayed to the client, these are all bool values. The parts are as follows:

• Username should appear using a bold font.
• Username should appear using a cursive font.
• Username should appear underlined.
• A colon : should be displayed between the username and the message.
• The message was sent privately, directly to the current user.

As an example, the most common message flagset is 10010. This indicates a bold username with a colon separator.

user permissions

User permissions are a set of flags separated by either the form feed character (\f / 0x0C) or a space ( / 0x20). The reason there are two options is due to a past mixup that we now have to live with. Which of the methods is used remains consistent per server however, so the result of a test can be cached.

int	Rank of the user. Used to determine what channels a user can access or what other users the user can moderate.
bool	Indicates whether the user the ability kick/ban/unban others.
bool	Indicates whether the user can access the logs. This should always be 0, unless the client has a dedicated log view that can be accessed without connecting to the chat server.
bool	Indicates whether the user can set an alternate display name.
int	Indicates whether the user can create channel. If 0 the user cannot create channels, if 1 the user can create channels but they are to disappear when all users have left it and if 2 the user can create channels that permanently stay in the channel assortment.

Client Packets

These are the packets sent from the client to the server.

Packet 0: Ping

Used to prevent the client from closing the session due to inactivity.

int	User ID
timestamp	Time the packet was sent to the server	Added in version 2

Packet 1: Authentication

Takes a variable number of parameters that are fed into the authentication script associated with the chat.

...string

Any amount of data required to complete authentication

Packet 2: Message

Informs the server that the user has sent a message.

Commands are described lower in the document.

int	User ID
string	Message text, may not contain \t

Packet 3: Focus Channel

Selects which channel messages should be sent to.

Added in Version 2.

channel name

Channel to change focus to

Packet 4: Typing

Informs the currently focussed channel that this client is writing a message.

Added in Version 2.

Server Packets

These are the packets sent from the server to the client.

Packet 0: Pong

Response to client packet 0: Ping.

timestamp

Time the packet was sent to the client

Originally this field contained the string pong, but this value was completely unused and can be safely replaced.

Packet 1: Join/Auth

While authenticated this packet indicates that a new user has joined the server/channel. Before authentication this packet serves as a response to client packet 1: Authentication.

Successful authentication response

Informs the client that authentication has succeeded.

string	y
int	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
channel name	Default channel the user will join following this packet
int	Extensions version number. If this field is missing, version 1 is implied.	Added in Version 2
session id	ID of the currently active session	Added in Version 2

Failed authentication response

Informs the client that authentication has failed.

string	n
string	Reason for failure. authfail: Authentication data is invalid. userfail: Username in use. sockfail: A connection has already been started (used to cap maximum connections to 5 in SharpChat). joinfail: User attempting to authenticate is banned.
timestamp	If joinfail this contains expiration time of the ban, otherwise it is empty.

User joining

Informs the client that a user has joined.

timestamp	Time the user joined
int	User ID
string	Username
colour	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
int	Sequence ID

Packet 2: Chat message

Informs the client that a chat message has been received.

timestamp	Time when the message was received by the server
int	User ID. If -1 this message is an informational message from the server and the next field takes on a special form.
string	Message, sanitised by the server If this is an informational message this field is formatted as follows and concatenated by the form feed character \f, respresented in ASCII by 0x0C. Bot message formats are described lower in the document. int Message type. 0 for a normal informational message. 1 for an error. string An id of a string in the legacy language files. ...string Any number of parameters used to format the language string.
int	Sequence ID
message flags	Message flags
channel name	Channel this message was sent in	Added in Version 2

Packet 3: User disconnect

Informs the client that a user has disconnected.

int	User ID
string	Username
string	One of four disconnect reasons. leave: The user gracefully left, e.g. "x logged out". timeout: The user lost connection unexpectedly, e.g. "x timed out". kick: The user has been kicked, e.g. "x has been kicked". flood: The user has been kicked for exceeding the flood protection limit, e.g. "x has been kicked for spam".
timestamp	Time when the user disconnected
int	Sequence ID

Packet 4: Channel event

This packet informs the user about channel related updates. The only consistent parameter across sub-packets is the first one described as follows.

int

Channel information update event ID. 0: A channel has been created. 1: A channel has been updated. 2: A channel has been deleted.

Sub-packet 0: Channel creation

Informs the client that a channel has been created.

channel name	The name of the new channel
bool	Indicates whether the channel is password protected
bool	Indicates whether the channel is temporary, meaning the channel will be deleted after the last person departs

Sub-packet 1: Channel update

Informs the client that details of a channel has changed.

channel name	Old/current name of the channel
channel name	New name of the channel
bool	Indicates whether the channel is password protected
bool	Indicates whether the channel is temporary, meaning the channel will be deleted after the last person departs

Sub-packet 2: Channel deletion

Informs the client that a channel has been deleted

channel name

Name of the channel that has been deleted

Packet 5: Channel switching

This packet informs the client about channel switching.

int

Channel information update event ID. 0: A user joined the channel. Sent to all users in said channel. 1: A user left the channel. Sent to all users in said channel. 2: The client is to forcibly join a channel.

Sub-packet 0: Channel join

Informs the client that a user has joined the channel.

int	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
int	Sequence ID

Sub-packet 1: Channel departure

Informs the client that a user has left the channel.

int	User ID
int	Sequence ID

Sub-packet 2: Forced channel switch

Informs the client that it has been forcibly switched to a different channel.

channel name

The name of the channel that the user has been switched to

Packet 6: Message deletion

Informs the client that a message has been deleted.

int

Sequence ID of the deleted message

Packet 7: Context information

Informs the client about the context of a channel before the client was present.

int

Context event ID. 0: Users present in the current channel. 1: A message already in the channel, occurs more than once per channel. 2: Channels on the server.

Sub-packet 0: Existing users

Informs the client about users already present in the channel.

int	Amount of users present in the channel
Context User	An amount of repetitions of this object based on the number in the previous param, the object is described below

Context User object

int	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
bool	Whether the user should be visible in the users list

Sub-packet 1: Existing message

Informs the client about an existing message in a channel.

timestamp	Time when the message was received by the server
int	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
string	Message text, functions the same as described in Packet 2: Chat message
int	Sequence ID
bool	Whether the client should notify the user about this message
message flags	Message flags

Sub-packet 2: Channels

Informs the client about the channels on the server.

int	Amount of channels on the channel
Context Channel	An amount of repetitions of this object based on the number in the previous param, the object is described below

Context Channel object

channel name	Name of the channel
bool	Indicates whether the channel is password protected
bool	Indicates whether the channel is temporary, meaning the channel will be deleted after the last person departs

Packet 8: Context clearing

Informs the client that the context has been cleared.

int	Number indicating what has been cleared. 0: The message list has been cleared. 1: The user list has been cleared. 2: The channel list has been cleared. 3: Both the message and user listing have been cleared. 4: The message, user and channel listing have all been cleared.
channel name	Channel this clear is targeted towards. Ignore packet if this is set and channels are supposedly to be cleared. If this field is empty this packet is intended for the entire context.	Added in Version 2

Packet 9: Forced disconnect

Informs the client that they have either been banned or kicked from the server.

bool	0: The client has been kicked, can reconnect immediately. 1: The client has been banned, can reconnect after the timestamp (documented below) in the next param has expired.
timestamp	Ban expiration time

Packet 10: User update

Informs that another user's details have been updated.

int	User ID of the affected user
string	New username
color	New username color
user permissions	User permissions

Packet 11: Typing

Informs the client that a user is typing.

Added in version 2.

channel name	Name of the channel in which the user is typing. If this field is empty, assume it has been sent to the user directly for private messaging.
int	User ID of the typing user
timestamp	Time when the user started typing.

Bot Messages

Formatting IDs sent by user -1.

Informational
String	Description	Arguments
say	Just echoes the arguments in a message.	The message.
silence	Informs the client that they have been silenced.
unsil	Informs the client that they are no longer silenced.
silok	Informs the client that they have successfully silenced another user.	The username of the silenced user.
usilok	Informs the client that they have successfully removed the silencing from another user.	The username of the unsilenced user.
flwarn	Informs the client that they are risking being kicking for flood protection (spam).
unban	Informs the client that they have successfully removed the ban from a user or ip address.
banlist	Provides a list with banned users and IP addresses.	Sets of "<a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="Chat.SendMessageWrapper('/unban '+ this.innerHTML);">{0}</a>" where {0} is the username of the banned user or the banned IP address. The set is separated by ", "
who	Provides a list of users currently online.	Sets of "<a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="UI.InsertChatText(this.innerHTML);">{0}</a>" where {0} is the username of a user. The current online user is highlighted with " style="font-weight: bold;"" before the closing > of the opening <a> tag. The set is separated by ", "
whochan	Provides a list of users currently online in a specific channel.	Sets of "<a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="UI.InsertChatText(this.innerHTML);">{0}</a>" where {0} is the username of a user. The current online user is highlighted with " style="font-weight: bold;"" before the closing > of the opening <a> tag. The set is separated by ", "
join	Informs the client that a user connected with the server.	The username of said user.
jchan	Informs the client that a user moved into the channel.	The username of said user.
leave	Informs the client that a user disconnected from the server.	The username of said user.
lchan	Informs the client that a user moved out of the channel.	The username of said user.
kick	Informs the client that a user has disconnect because they got kicked.	The username of said user.
flood	Informs the client that a user has disconnect because they got kicked for flood protection.	The username of said user.
nick	Informs the client that a user has changed their nickname.	The first argument is the previous username of said user, the second argument is their new username.
crchan	Informs the client that they have successfully created a channel.	The name of the channel.
delchan	Informs the client that they have successfully deleted a channel.	The name of the channel.
cpwdchan	Informs the client that they have successfully changed the password of the channel.
cprivchan	Informs the client that they have successfully changed the hierarchy level required for the channel.
ipaddr	Shows the IP address of another user.	First argument is the username, second argument is the IP address.
Error
String	Description	Arguments
generr	Generic fallback error.
silerr	Informs the client that the user they tried to silence had already been silenced.
usilerr	Informs the client that the user whose silence they tried to revoke hasn't been silenced.
silperr	Informs the client that they are not allowed to silence that user.
usilperr	Informs the client that they are not allowed to remove the silence from that user.
silself	Informs the client that they cannot silence themselves.
delerr	Informs the client that they are not allowed to delete a message.
notban	Informs the client that a username or IP address is not banned.	The provided username or IP address.
whoerr	Informs the client that they do not have access to the channel they specified for the /who command.	The provided channel name.
cmdna	Tells the client they're not allowed to use a command.	First argument is the name of the command.
nocmd	Tells the client the command they tried to run does not exist.	First argument is the name of the command.
cmderr	Tells the client that they formatted the last command incorrectly.
usernf	Tells the client that the user they requested was not found on the server.	The requested username.
kickna	Tells the client that they are not allowed to kick a given user.	Username of the user they tried to kick.
samechan	Tells the client that they are already in the channel they are trying to switch to.	The name of the channel.
ipchan	Tells the client that they aren't allowed to switch to the provided channel.	The name of the channel.
nochan	Tells the client that the channel they tried to switch to does not exist.	The name of the channel.
nopwchan	Tells the client that the channel they tried to switch to requires a password.	The name of the channel.
ipwchan	Tells the client that the password to tried to switch to the channel to was invalid.	The name of the channel.
inchan	Informs the client that the channel name contained invalid characters.
nischan	Tells the client that a channel with that name already exists.	The name of the channel.
ndchan	Tells the client that they're not allowed to delete that channel.	The name of the channel.
namchan	Tells the client that they're not allowed to edit that channel.	The name of the channel.
nameinuse	Tells the client that the nickname they tried to use is already being used by someone else.	The name.
rankerr	Tells the client that they're not allowed to do something to a user because they have a higher hierarchy than them.

Commands

Actions sent through messages prefixed with /. Arguments are described as [name], optional arguments as [name?].

Name	Action	Expected bot messages
/afk [reason?]	Marks the current user as afk, the first 5 characters from the user string are prefixed uppercase to the current username prefixed by &lt; and suffixed by &gt;_ resulting in a username that looks like <AWAY>_flash if /afk away is ran by the user flash. If no reason is specified "AFK" is used.
/nick [name?]	Temporarily changes the user's nickname prefixed with ~. If the user's original name or no argument at all is specified the command returns the user's name to its original state without the prefix.	cmdna: Not allowed to change own nickname. nameinuse: Someone else is using the username. nick: Username has changed.
/msg [username] [message] /whisper [username] [message]	Sends a private message to another user.	cmderr: Missing username and/or message arguments. usernf: User not found.
/me [message] /action [message]	Sends a message but with flags 11000 instead of the regular 10010, used to describe an action.
/who [channel?]	If no argument is specified it'll return all users on the server, if a channel is specified it'll return all users in that channel.	nochan: The given channel does not exist. whoerr: The user does not have access to the channel. whochan: Listing of users in a channel. who: Listing of users.
/delete [channel name or message id]	If the argument is entirely numeric this function acts as an alias for /delmsg, otherwise /delchan.
/join [channel]	Switches the current user to a different channel.	nochan: The given channel does not exist. ipchan: The user does not have access to the channel. ipwchan: The provided password was invalid. nopwchan: A password is required to enter the given channel.
/create [hierarchy?] [name]	Creates a new channel.	cmdna: Not allowed to create channels. cmderr: Command isn't formatted correctly. rankerr: Tried to set channel hierarchy higher than own. inchan: Given name contained invalid characters. nischan: A channel with the given name already exists. crchan: Successfully created channel.
/delchan [name]	Deletes an existing channel.	cmderr: Command isn't formatted correctly. nochan: No channel with the given name exists. ndchan: Not allowed to delete this channel. delchan: Deleted channel.
/password [password?] /pwd [password?]	Changes the password for a channel. Specify no argument to remove the password.	cmdna: Not allowed to change the password. cpwdchan: Success.
/privilege [hierarchy] /rank [hierarchy] /priv [hierarchy]	Changes what user hierarchy is required to enter a channel.	cmdna: Not allowed to change hierarchy. rankerr: Missing rank argument or trying to set hierarchy to one higher than their own. cprivchan: Success.
/say [message]	Broadcasts a message as the server to all users in all channels.	cmdna: Not allowed to broadcast. say: Broadcast message.
/delmsg [message id]	Deletes a message.	cmdna: Not allowed to delete messages. cmderr: Invalid arguments. delerr: The message does not exist, or the user's hierarchy is lower than the sender.
/kick [user] [time?]	Kicks a user from the server. If no time is specified the kick expires immediately.	cmdna: Not allowed to kick users. usernf: User not found. kickna: Sender is trying to kick themselves, someone with a higher hierarchy or someone that's already banned. cmderr: Provided time is invalid.
/ban [user] [time?]	Kicks a user and IP address from the server. If no time is specified the kick will never expire.	cmdna: Not allowed to kick users. usernf: User not found. kickna: Sender is trying to kick themselves, someone with a higher hierarchy or someone that's already banned. cmderr: Provided time is invalid.
/unban [user] /pardon [user]	Revokes the ban of a user.	cmdna: Not allowed to revoke user bans. notban: User is not banned. unban: Success.
/unbanip [user] /pardonip [user]	Revokes the ban of an ip address.	cmdna: Not allowed to revoke ip bans. notban: IP address is not banned. unban: Success.
/bans /banned	Retrieves the list of banned users and ip addresses.	cmdna: Not allowed to revoke ip bans. banlist: List of bans.
/silence [username] [time?]	Silences a user. If the time argument is not specified the silence is indefinite.	cmdna: Not allowed to silence users. usernf: User not found. silself: Tried to silence self. silperr: Tried to silence user of higher hierarchy. silerr: User is already silenced. cmderr: Time isn't formatted correctly. silence: Informs the user they have been silenced. silok: Tells the sender that the user has been silenced.
/unsilence [username]	Revokes a silence.	cmdna: Not allowed to revoke silences. usernf: User not found. usilperr: Tried to revoke silence of user of higher hierarchy. usilerr: User isn't silenced. unsil: Informs the user that their silence has been revoked. usilok: Tells the sender that the user's silence has been revoked.
/ip [username] /whois [username]	Gets a user's IP address.	cmdna: Not allowed to view IP addresses. usernf: User not found. ipaddr: IP address of user.