AnyChat

A microservice-based instant messaging (IM) backend built with Go and the Kratos framework.

Features

• Private & group chat
• Audio/video calls via LiveKit
• File transfer via MinIO
• Message read receipts
• Multi-device sync
• Offline push notifications

Architecture

AnyChat consists of 10 services communicating via gRPC (internal) and NATS (async):

Layer	Service	Port
Gateway	gateway	HTTP 8080
Gateway	realtime	HTTP/WS 8081
Microservice	user	gRPC 50051
Microservice	friend	gRPC 50052
Microservice	group	gRPC 50053
Microservice	message	gRPC 50054
Microservice	conversation	gRPC 50055
Microservice	file	gRPC 50056
Microservice	rtc	gRPC 50057
Microservice	push	gRPC 50058

Clients reach the system via HTTP (gateway) or WebSocket (realtime). Services discover each other through Consul.

Client (HTTP)  ->  gateway (8080)  ->  Microservices (gRPC)
Client (WS)    ->  realtime (8081)  ->  Microservices (gRPC)
                                       <-->  NATS JetStream (async)

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Language	Go 1.26
Framework	Go Kratos
Database	PostgreSQL 18.0
Cache	Redis 7.0+
Message Queue	NATS with JetStream
Object Storage	MinIO
Audio/Video	LiveKit
Service Discovery	Consul
Observability	Prometheus + Grafana + Tempo + Loki
Build Tool	Mage

Quick Start

Requirements

• Go 1.26+
• Docker & Docker Compose
• protoc (for gRPC code generation)
• Mage: go install github.com/magefile/mage@latest

Local Development

# 1. Install dependencies
mage deps

# 2. Start infrastructure (PostgreSQL, Redis, NATS, MinIO, etc.)
mage docker:up

# 3. Run database migrations
mage db:up

# 4. Start services (each in a separate terminal)
GRPC_ADDR=0.0.0.0:50051 mage dev:user
GRPC_ADDR=0.0.0.0:50052 mage dev:friend
HTTP_ADDR=0.0.0.0:8081 mage dev:realtime
# ... see docs/development/service-startup.md for the full list

For full port allocation and per-service commands, see port-allocation.md and service-startup.md.

Build & Test

# List all commands
mage -l

# Build all services
mage build:all

# Run tests
mage test:all

# Lint / format
mage lint && mage fmt

Documentation

• API docs: docs/api/README.md
• Getting started: docs/development/getting-started.md
• Service startup: docs/development/service-startup.md
• System design: docs/design/backend-design.md
• Writing API docs: docs/development/writing-api.md

License

MIT License — see LICENSE