Chat is a suite of Gall applications that handle "instant messaging"-style communication between ships.

A chat is a named collection of messages created by and hosted in a ship's chat-store. Most of Chat revolves around doing things with these chats.

Chats are subscribed to by some number of ships which are permitted to post and retrieve messages from the chat.

There are two "kinds" of chats:

• A channel is a chat that exists as part of a group that is readable and writable by members of the group. Messages are sent to the chat's host ship, and the host ship distributes those messages to members of the chat. Therefore, if you plan to host a chat, you should ensure that your ship has high uptime.
• A DM is a direct message from one ship to another, visible to no other ship, and not part of a group. Messages may be sent while offline, but the other party will not receive them until both ships are online simultaneously.

Further Reading

• Landscape includes a web interface for using Chat.
• Messaging guide: A guide to using Chat from the command line.