Domain we build for
Real-time chat and community app development that scales past the demo
Custom software for this vertical — scoped to your workflows. Not a packaged product we resell, and not a claim that we run every company in this space.
Chat features are easy to fake in a demo and genuinely hard to get right under real concurrency — messages arriving out of order, presence status that lags, or a group chat that slows down once it passes a few hundred members are the failure modes that only show up in production. We build real-time messaging into apps — 1:1 chat, group channels, presence, typing indicators, push notifications for offline users — on infrastructure we've actually run ourselves, including Openfire-based XMPP messaging for use cases needing an open, self-hostable protocol rather than a black-box vendor SDK. That matters for community apps, marketplaces needing buyer-seller chat, and consultation platforms where the chat layer isn't a nice-to-have, it's the product. We also handle the parts that get skipped in a rush: message delivery guarantees, moderation tools for reported content, and graceful reconnect behavior when a user's connection drops mid-conversation.
What a real-time chat & community apps build usually includes
- 1:1 and group real-time messaging
- Presence, typing indicators, and read receipts
- Push notifications for offline users
- Moderation tools for reported content
- Self-hostable XMPP (Openfire) or managed chat SDKs
- Graceful reconnect on flaky connections
How we approach a real-time chat & community apps build
- 1
Choose the right messaging infrastructure
Self-hosted XMPP/Openfire for control and cost at scale, or a managed SDK for faster time-to-market — sized to your actual concurrency and compliance needs, not a default choice.
- 2
Build for real concurrency, not a two-account demo
Message ordering, delivery guarantees, and group-chat performance get tested under simulated load before launch, since this is where most chat features quietly break.
- 3
Add moderation and offline handling
Reported-content workflows, push notifications for offline users, and reconnect logic build in once the core messaging loop is stable.
Stack we often reach for
Frequently asked questions
Should we self-host chat infrastructure or use a vendor SDK?
Vendor SDKs (like Firebase or a managed chat API) get you live faster and are the right call for most apps. Self-hosted XMPP/Openfire makes sense when you need full data control, no per-message vendor cost at scale, or an open protocol for interoperability.
Can you build group chats that handle hundreds of members?
Yes — this requires careful message fan-out and read-receipt handling that a naive implementation doesn't do well, which is exactly the kind of scaling problem we design for upfront.
Do you handle push notifications for users who are offline?
Yes, offline delivery via push notification (FCM/APNs) is a standard part of the messaging design, not an afterthought bolted on after launch.
How long does it take to add real-time chat to an app?
Adding chat to an existing app typically takes 4 to 8 weeks depending on whether it's 1:1 only or includes group channels, presence, and moderation.
Working on something in this space?
Send a short brief. We usually reply within one business day.
Talk to us