jared
81e1a25de6
Gitea suppresses workflow events from Actions runner pushes to prevent infinite loops, so the submodule bump commit was never firing release.yml. Add a second step that writes .cinny-version via the REST contents API — that creates a user-attributed commit Gitea does not suppress. The submodule bump is kept for correct SHA tracking; the API commit is the actual trigger. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Lotus Chat
A Matrix chat client built for Lotus Guild — fast, private, and packed with the features you actually want.
Deployed at chat.lotusguild.org | Forked from Cinny v4.12.1
Features
Messaging
- See who has read each message, and track delivery status (sending / sent / failed)
- Bookmark any message and revisit saved messages from the sidebar
- Schedule messages to send at a specific time
- Click "edited" on any message to see the full edit history
- Drafts are saved automatically and survive page reloads
- Long messages collapse automatically — click "Read more" to expand
- Forward messages to other rooms
- Create and view polls directly in chat
- Share your location with an inline map embed
- Add captions to image and video uploads
- Optionally compress images before uploading — shows before/after file sizes
- GIF links from Giphy and Tenor auto-preview inline
- Search for and send GIFs from a built-in GIF picker
- Control voice message playback speed: 0.75× / 1× / 1.5× / 2×
- Search messages with a date range filter
- Room topics support rich formatting (bold, links, italics)
- Deleted messages show a placeholder instead of disappearing
- Code blocks highlight syntax for JS/TS, Python, and Rust
- Rich link preview cards for YouTube, GitHub, Twitter/X, Reddit, Spotify, Twitch, Steam, Wikipedia, Discord, npm, Stack Overflow, and IMDb
Calls & Voice
- Push to Talk with a configurable keybind (default: Space)
- Push to Deafen with the M key
- Camera starts turned off by default when joining a call
- Screenshare requires confirmation before going live
- Toggle noise suppression on or off
- Calls float in a draggable picture-in-picture window when you navigate away
- Your chat background shows through the call view
- Dark/light mode inside calls matches your Lotus Chat theme
- Calls are available in DMs and private groups only — no accidental mass rings
Customization & Appearance
- LotusGuild Terminal Design System (TDS) — a CRT terminal-inspired dark theme
- TDS light mode variant for daytime use
- 20+ static chat background patterns
- 5 animated chat backgrounds: Digital Rain, Star Drift, Grid Pulse, Aurora Flow, Fireflies
- Toggle to pause background animations
- Glassmorphism sidebar — frosted glass effect that lets the background show through
- Night Light / blue light filter with an adjustable intensity slider
- Emoji prefixes on room names render larger in the sidebar (e.g. 🎮 general)
- Rename any room for yourself only — other members see the original name
- Emoji picker on all room name inputs
Presence & Profile
- Discord-style presence selector: Online, Idle, Do Not Disturb, Invisible, or Auto
- Custom status message with emoji and an optional auto-clear timer
- Colored presence ring on member avatars (green / yellow / red)
- Profile fields for pronouns and timezone
- When a user's timezone is set, their current local time appears in their profile
- Unread count shown in the browser tab title
Moderation & Privacy
- Report any room to homeserver admins from the room menu
- View policy lists and ban lists (Draupnir-compatible, read-only)
- Toggle private read receipts so others can't see when you've read messages
- Optional warning when an encrypted room contains unverified devices
- Full push rule editor in notification settings
- View and edit Server ACL rules in room settings
- Filterable room activity / mod log (joins, kicks, bans, power level changes, etc.)
- Room stats and insights panel (active members, top reactions, media breakdown, activity heatmap)
- Export room history as plain text, JSON, or HTML with optional date range filter
Notifications
- In-app toast notifications appear bottom-right when the window is focused
- Custom notification sounds per category (messages, invites)
- Quiet hours — suppress notifications during a configured time window
- Click a toast to jump directly to the room or DM
UX
- Filter and search rooms in the sidebar
- Favorite rooms sync across devices and appear in a pinned section
- Sort rooms by recent activity, alphabetical, or unread first
- DM rows show a message preview and relative timestamp
- Right-click a room for a context menu: mute with duration, copy link, mark as read
- Quick emoji reactions appear on message hover — one click to react
- Knock-to-join: request access to a room; admins approve or deny from the members list
- Media gallery drawer: browse all images, videos, and files shared in a room
- Invite link and QR code in room settings
- Pending knock requests shown in the members list for room admins
- Homeserver support contact displayed in Help & About (MSC1929)
- Server notice rooms are visually distinct from regular DMs
Desktop App
Lotus Chat has a desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It wraps the same web client in a native window with automatic background updates — no need to reinstall for new versions.
Download
Download the latest release from the Releases page on code.lotusguild.org.
SmartScreen Warning (Windows)
When you first run the installer on Windows, you may see a popup that says "Windows protected your PC" with the app listed as an unknown publisher. This is normal.
Why it happens: Windows SmartScreen flags any app that does not have an expensive commercial code-signing certificate from a major CA. Lotus Chat is signed with its own key for update verification, but that key is not in Microsoft's pre-approved list.
How to install anyway:
- Click "More info" in the SmartScreen dialog.
- A "Run anyway" button will appear.
- Click it to proceed with installation.
After the first install, automatic in-app updates handle all future versions — you will not see this prompt again for updates.
For Developers
The source code lives in /root/code/cinny. All changes should be made on the lotus branch. Push to origin/lotus and CI will automatically build and deploy to chat.lotusguild.org in approximately 11 minutes — no manual build or deploy steps required.
See LOTUS_FEATURES.md for the full feature changelog and LOTUS_TODO.md for the work backlog.
Build
npm ci && npm run build # outputs to dist/
If the build is killed due to out-of-memory:
NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=6144 npm run build
CI/CD
edit → commit → git push → ~11 min → live at chat.lotusguild.org