Building from Source

Status: Complete

This guide covers building all Chatalot components from source: the Rust server, WASM crypto module, Svelte web client, and Tauri desktop app.

Prerequisites

Component	Requirement
Rust	1.84+ (edition 2024)
Node.js	22+
PostgreSQL	17
wasm-pack	Latest (`cargo install wasm-pack`)

Platform-Specific

Linux (for Tauri desktop): - WebKitGTK development libraries - On Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

Windows (for Tauri desktop): - WebView2 (included with Windows 10/11) - Visual Studio Build Tools with C++ workload

Clone the Repository

git clone https://forgejo.seglamater.app/seglamater/chatalot.git
cd chatalot

Generate Secrets

./scripts/generate-secrets.sh

This creates: - secrets/jwt_private.pem - Ed25519 private key for JWT signing - secrets/jwt_public.pem - Ed25519 public key for JWT verification - .env file from .env.example template

Database Setup

Start PostgreSQL (easiest via Docker):

docker compose up postgres -d

Or configure an existing PostgreSQL 17 instance and set DATABASE_URL in .env:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://chatalot:password@localhost:5432/chatalot

Migrations run automatically on server startup.

Build the Rust Server

# Development build
cargo build

# Production build (optimized)
cargo build --release

# Run directly
cargo run

The server listens on 0.0.0.0:8080 by default (configurable via LISTEN_ADDR in .env).

Note: Chatalot uses sqlx with runtime-checked queries. Set SQLX_OFFLINE=true if building without a live database connection.

Build the WASM Crypto Module

The crypto module must be built before the web client:

./scripts/build-wasm.sh          # Release build (optimized for size)
./scripts/build-wasm.sh --dev    # Development build (faster)

This compiles crates/chatalot-crypto-wasm/ to WebAssembly and outputs to clients/web/src/lib/crypto/wasm/.

The WASM build uses: - opt-level = "s" (size optimization) - LTO enabled (link-time optimization) - getrandom with js feature (uses crypto.getRandomValues() in browser)

Build the Web Client

cd clients/web
npm install
npm run build    # Production build
npm run dev      # Development server (port 5173, proxies API to 8080)

The production build outputs static files that the Rust server serves from ./static.

Build the Tauri Desktop App

# Install Tauri CLI
cargo install tauri-cli

# Build the desktop app
cd clients/desktop/src-tauri
cargo tauri build

The output binary is platform-specific (.deb/.AppImage on Linux, .msi on Windows, .dmg on macOS).

Status: Beta — The desktop app builds and runs but needs polish. The web client is the primary interface.

Docker Build

For production deployment, use the multi-stage Docker build:

docker compose up -d

The Dockerfile has four stages: 1. Rust builder — Compiles the server binary (rust:1.93-bookworm) 2. WASM builder — Compiles crypto to WebAssembly 3. Web builder — Builds the Svelte SPA (node:22-bookworm) 4. Runtime — Minimal Debian image with only the binary and static files

Development Workflow

A typical development setup:

# Terminal 1: Database
docker compose up postgres -d

# Terminal 2: Rust server
cargo run

# Terminal 3: Web dev server (with hot reload)
cd clients/web && npm run dev

The Vite dev server proxies API requests to the Rust server on port 8080.

Verification

# Run all tests
cargo test

# Lint Rust code
cargo clippy -- -W clippy::all

# Check Svelte types
cd clients/web && npm run check

# Build web client (should produce 0 warnings)
cd clients/web && npm run build

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and configure:

Variable	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	(required)	PostgreSQL connection string
`LISTEN_ADDR`	`0.0.0.0:8080`	Server bind address
`JWT_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH`	`./secrets/jwt_private.pem`	Ed25519 private key
`JWT_PUBLIC_KEY_PATH`	`./secrets/jwt_public.pem`	Ed25519 public key
`TOTP_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	(optional)	Hex key to encrypt TOTP secrets at rest
`FILE_STORAGE_PATH`	`./data/files`	File upload storage
`MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB`	`100`	Max file upload size
`UPLOAD_QUOTA_MB`	`500`	Per-user upload quota
`REGISTRATION_MODE`	`invite_only`	open/invite_only/closed
`RUST_LOG`	`info`	Log level