Private chat, voice & video — that you actually own.
Pochta is a messaging app: chat and call your people, end-to-end encrypted. No phone number, no email, no company in the middle. Your account is a key on your device, and the network runs on people's own computers — so nobody can read you, lock you out, or shut it down.
No phone number · No email · No account server
A product for people. A toolkit for builders.
The same end-to-end core, two audiences. Use the apps if you just want a private messenger. Use the tools if you want to build your own chat network.
Your messenger and your on-ramp to the network. A client by default — flip Host on and it helps run Pochta for everyone.
A lightweight client in the browser. Nothing to install — open a link and you're in.
A lightweight client in your pocket, with your identity and history in sync.
Only the desktop can host. Web and mobile are clients that join the mesh — the more people host, the bigger and faster the network gets.
The end-to-end client core — identity, sign-then-seal crypto, transport, and every message op. Build any app on it; it ships no UI and no database.
Run your own private network or island with one Docker image or a self-contained release — and federate it with others.
Anyone can host — old Skype, done right.
Old Skype quietly turned users' machines into relays, then a company moved everything onto its own servers. Pochta brings back “anyone can host” — but consented and encrypted.
Offered, never forced
Your desktop hosts only if you allow it. When a big meeting needs capacity, it invites strong, reachable machines to help — you say yes or no. Never silent, always visible.
Hosts are blind
Everything is end-to-end encrypted, so a host relays sealed ciphertext it can never read — even in a 200-person meeting.
It scales like a mesh
Two people is pure peer-to-peer, no host at all. A big meeting recruits a slice of participants as forwarders. No data center, no license tier — the community is the capacity.
From a 1:1 to a full room — everyone sees everyone.
Calls grow with the room. Small groups stay pure peer-to-peer; big rooms borrow capacity from a host, so each person holds a single connection and still sees the whole room.
A direct, encrypted line between two devices. No host and no server in the media path.
A handful of people connect directly to each other — the most private setup, with zero hosts.
One host relays everyone to everyone. Each person holds one connection and still sees the whole room.
All live-tested with real clients. Next up: SFrame — so the forwarder relays ciphertext it can't read — and cascading forwarders for very large rooms.
Sealed to you. Signed by you.
Every message is signed by you and sealed to the recipient. A host only ever sees ciphertext — it cannot read your chats, even if compelled.
Your identity is a key
No phone number, no email, no account server. Your account is a cryptographic key on your device, backed up by 12 words like a crypto wallet — nothing to leak or be locked out of.
Signed then sealed
Ed25519 signatures, X25519 key exchange, and XChaCha20-Poly1305, via audited libraries. The relay holds only sealed envelopes.
No archive, by design
Your history lives on your devices. A host keeps a sealed message only until it's delivered, then deletes it.
Email is for invites only
Email bootstraps a new contact — never to carry your messages. There's no central directory; discovery rides in the invite.
Honest about the limits
Trust comes from being straight about what this does and doesn't guarantee.
- Content is end-to-end encrypted — a host holds only ciphertext.
- A host still sees metadata: who talks to whom, when, and message sizes.
- Large calls and strict-NAT links need forwarding capacity — a mesh of volunteer desktops, not a company, but still real infrastructure.
- “100% secure” is not a real claim. A stolen device or lost passphrase is out of our hands.
Build on the same core.
Pochta's client is a real, reusable SDK. Build your own app on the same E2E core, or run your own network behind a different frontend. It ships no UI and no database — you inject those.
- Identity, sign-then-seal crypto, transport, and every message op
- Framework- and storage-agnostic TypeScript, published on npm
- Self-host the relay in one Docker command — or a self-contained release
- Federate separate islands into one network, signed and origin-verified
$ npm i @pochta-chat/sdk import { createIdentity, Client } from "@pochta-chat/sdk"; // your key + 12 backup words — no account server const me = await createIdentity(); // sign-then-seal E2E; you inject storage + transport const client = new Client({ store, relayUrl }); await client.send(to, { type: "text", text: "hi 📮" });
The E2E core — identity, crypto, and transport. Storage and UI are yours.
# one image bundles the relay, web client + storage docker run -p 4000:4000 -v pochta-data:/data \ -e SECRET_KEY_BASE=$(openssl rand -base64 48) \ pochta-relay # → open http://localhost:4000
One image bundles the relay, the web client, and its storage.
Your messenger. Your keys. No company in the middle.
Free and open source, MIT-licensed. Get the desktop app, or build your own on the SDK.