sharp-chat/Protocol.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 _.

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.

string

User ID

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.

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

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
string	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
channel name	Default channel the user will join following this packet
int	Maximum length for messages sent by the client

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
string	User ID
string	Username
colour	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
string	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
string	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.
string	Sequence ID
message flags	Message flags

Packet 3: User disconnect

Informs the client that a user has disconnected.

string	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
string	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.

string	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
string	Sequence ID

Sub-packet 1: Channel departure

Informs the client that a user has left the channel.

string	User ID
string	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.

string

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

string	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
string	User ID
string	Username
color	Username color
user permissions	User permissions
string	Message text, functions the same as described in Packet 2: Chat message
string	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.

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.

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

Bot Messages

Formatting IDs sent by user -1.

Informational

say: Broadcast

Just echo whatever is specified in the first argument.

Arguments

• string: Message to be broadcast.

flwarn: Flood protection warning

Informs the client that they are risking getting kicked for flood protection (spam) if they continue sending messages at the same rate.

unban: Ban revocation confirmation

Informs the client that they have successfully revoked a ban on a user or an IP address.

banlist: List of banned entities

Provides the client with a list of all banned users and IP addresses.

Arguments

• string: HTML with the information on the users with the following format: "<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: List of online users

Provides the client with a list of users currently online on the server.

Arguments

• string: HTML with the information on the users with the following format: "<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: List of users in a channel.

Provides the client with a list of users currently online in a channel.

Arguments

• string: HTML with the information on the users with the following format: "<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: User connected

Informs the client that a user just connected to the server.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user.

jchan: User joined channel

Informs the client that a user just joined a channel they're in.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user.

leave: User disconnected

Informs the client that a user just disconnected from the server.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user.

lchan: User left channel

Informs the client that a user just left a channel they're in.

kick: User has been kicked

Informs the client that another user has just been kicked.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user.

flood: User exceeded flood limit

Informs the client that another user has just been kicked for exceeding the flood protection limit.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user.

timeout: User has timed out

Informs the client that another user has been disconnected from the server automatically.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user.

nick: User has changed their nickname

Informs the client that a user has changed their nickname.

Arguments

• string: Previous username of the user.
• string: New username of the user.

crchan: Channel creation confirmation

Informs the client that the channel they attempted to create has been successfully created.

Arguments

• string: Name of the target channel.

delchan: Channel deletion confirmation

Informs the client that the channel they attempted to delete has been successfully deleted.

Arguments

• string: Name of the target channel.

cpwdchan: Channel password update confirmation

Informs the client that they've successfully changed the password of a channel.

cprivchan: Channel rank update confirmation

Informs the client that they've successfully changed the minimum required rank to join a channel.

ipaddr: IP address

Shows the IP address of another user to a user with moderation privileges.

Arguments

• string: Name of the target user.
• string: IP address.

Errors

generr: Generic Error

Informs the client that Something went Wrong.

nocmd: Command not found

Informs the client that the command they tried to run does not exist.

Arguments

• string: Name of the command.

cmdna: Command not allowed

Informs the client that they are not allowed to use a command.

Arguments

• string: Name of the command.

cmderr: Command format error

Informs the client that the command they tried to run was incorrectly formatted.

Arguments

• string: Name of the command.

usernf: User not found

Informs the client that the user argument of a command contains a user that is not known by the server.

Arguments

• string: Name of the target user.

rankerr: Rank error

Informs the client that they are not allowed to do something because their ranking is too low.

nameinuse: Name in use

Informs the the client that the name they attempted to choose is already in use by another user.

Arguments

• string: Name that is in use.

whoerr: User listing error

Informs the client that they do not have access to the channel they tried to query.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

kickna: Kick or ban not allowed

Informs the client that they are not allowed to kick a user.

Arguments

• string: Username of the user in question.

notban: Not banned

Informs the client that the ban they tried to revoke was not in place.

Arguments

• string: Username or IP address in question.

nochan: Channel not found

Informs the client that the channel they tried to join does not exist.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

samechan: Already in channel

Informs the client that they attempted to join a channel they are already in.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

ipchan: Channel join not allowed

Informs the client that they do not have sufficient rank or permissions to join a channel.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

nopwchan: No password provided

Informs the client that they must specify a password to join a channel.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

ipwchan: No password provided

Informs the client that the password they provided to join a channel was invalid.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

inchan: Invalid channel name

Informs the client that the name they tried to give to a channel contains invalid characters.

nischan: Channel name in use

Informs the client that the name they tried to give to a channel is already used by another channel.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

ndchan: Channel deletion error

Informs the client that they are not allowed to delete a channel.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

namchan: Channel edit error

Informs the client that they are not allowed to edit a channel.

Arguments

• string: Name of the channel.

delerr: Message deletion error

Informs the client that they are not allowed to delete a message.

Commands

Actions sent through messages prefixed with /. Arguments are described as [name], optional arguments as [name?]. The . character is ignored in command names (replaced by nothing).

/afk: Setting status to away

Marks the current user as afk, the first 5 characters from the user string are prefixed uppercase to the current username prefixed by < and suffixed by >_ 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.

Format

/afk [reason?]

/nick: Change nickname

Temporarily changes the user's nickname, generally with a prefix such as ~ to avoid name clashing with real users. 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.

Format

/nick [name?]

Responses

• cmdna: User is not allowed to change their own nickname.
• nameinuse: The specified nickname is already in use by another user.
• nick: Username has changed.

/msg: Sending a Private Message

Sends a private message to another user.

Format

/msg [username] [message]

Aliases

• /whisper

Responses

• cmderr: Missing username and/or message arguments.
• usernf: Target user could not be found by the server.

/me: Describing an action

Sends a message but with flags 11000 instead of the regular 10010, used to describe an action.

Format

/me [message]

Aliases

• /action

/who: Requesting a user list

Requests a list of users either currently online on the server in general or in a 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.

Format

/who [channel?]

Responses

• nochan: The given channel does not exist.
• whoerr: The user does not have access to the channel.
• whochan: Listing of users in the channel.
• who: Listing of users in the server.

/delete: Deleting a message or channel

Due to an oversight in the original implementation, this command was specified to be both the command for deleting messages and for channels. Fortunately messages always have numeric IDs and channels must start with an alphabetic character. Thus if the argument is entirely numeric this function acts as an alias for /delmsg, otherwise /delchan.

Format

/delete [channel name or message id]

Responses

Inherits the responses of whichever command is forwarded to.

/join: Joining a channel

Switches or joins the current user to a different channel.

Format

/join [channel] [password?]

Responses

• nochan: The given channel does not exist.
• ipchan: The client does not have the required rank to enter the given channel.
• nopwchan: A password is required to enter the given channel.
• ipwchan: The password provided was invalid.

/leave: Leaving a channel

Leave a specified channel.

Format

/leave [channel]

Responses

• nocmd: The client tried to run this command without specifying the MCHAN capability.

/create: Creating a channel

Creates a new channel.

Format

/create [rank?] [name...]

If the first argument is numeric, it is taken as the minimum required rank to join the channel. All further arguments are glued with underscores to create the channel name.

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to create channels.
• cmderr: The command is formatted incorrectly.
• rankerr: The specified rank is higher than the client's own rank.
• inchan: The given channel name contains invalid characters.
• nischan: A channel with this name already exists.
• crchan: The channel has been created successfully.

/delchan: Deleting a channel

Deletes an existing channel.

Format

/delchan [name]

Responses

• cmderr: The command is formatted incorrectly.
• nochan: No channel exists with this name.
• ndchan: The client is not allowed to delete this channel.
• delchan: The target channel has been deleted.

/password: Update channel password

Changes the password for a channel. Removes the password if no argument is given.

Format

/password [password?]

Aliases

• /pwd

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to change the password for this channel.
• cpwdchan: The password of the channel has been successfully updated.

/rank: Update channel minimum rank

Changes what user rank is required to enter a channel.

Format

/rank [rank]

Aliases

• /privilege
• /priv

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to change the rank of the target channel.
• rankerr: Missing rank argument or the given rank is higher than the client's own rank.
• cprivchan: The minimum rank of the channel has been successfully updated.

/say: Broadcast a message

Broadcasts a message as the server/chatbot to all users in all channels.

Format

/say [message]

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to broadcast messages.
• say: The broadcasted message.

/delmsg: Deleting a message

Deletes a given message.

Format

/delmsg [message id]

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to delete messages.
• cmderr: The given message ID was invalid.
• delerr: The target message does not exist or the client is not allowed to delete this message.

/kick: Kick a user

Kicks a user from the serer. If not time is specified, then kick expires immediately.

Format

/kick [username] [time?]

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to kick others.
• usernf: The target user could not be found on the server.
• kickna: The client is trying to kick someone who they are not allowed to kick, or someone that is currently banned.
• cmderr: The provided time is invalid.

/ban: Bans a user

Bans a user and their IP addresses from the server. If no time is specified the ban will never expire.

Format

/ban [user] [time?]

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to kick others.
• usernf: The target user could not be found on the server.
• kickna: The client is trying to kick someone who they are not allowed to kick, or someone that is currently banned.
• cmderr: The provided time is invalid.

/pardon: Revokes a user ban

Revokes a ban currently placed on a user.

Format

/pardon [user]

Aliases

• /unban

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to revoke user bans.
• notban: The target user is not banned.
• unban: The ban on the target user has been successfully revoked.

/pardonip: Revokes an IP address ban

Revokes a ban currently placed on an IP address.

Format

/pardonip [address]

Aliases

• /unbanip

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to revoke IP bans.
• notban: The target address is not banned.
• unban: The ban on the target address has been successfully revoked.

/bans: List of bans

Retrieves a list of banned users and IP addresses.

Format

/bans

Aliases

• /banned

Responses

• cmdna: Not allowed to view banned users and IP addresses.
• banlist: The list of banned users and IP addresses.

/ip: Retrieve IP addresses

Retrieves a user's IP addresses. If the user has multiple connections, multiple ipaddr responses may be sent.

Format

/ip [username]

Aliases

• whois

Responses

• cmdna: The client is not allowed to view IP addresses.
• usernf: The target user is not connected to the server.
• ipaddr: (One of) The target user's IP address(es).