Python Multi-Client Chat

A lightweight real-time multi-client terminal chat application built with Python, TCP sockets, and multithreading.

This project demonstrates the fundamentals of client-server communication, concurrent networking, and socket programming by allowing multiple users to communicate through a central server in real time.

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Features

• Real-time messaging
• Multi-client support
• TCP socket communication
• Multithreaded server
• Join and leave notifications
• Display currently connected participants
• Chat history logging
• Simple terminal interface
• Clean and modular code structure

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Project Structure

python-multiclient-chat/
│
├── server.py          # Starts the chat server
├── client.py          # Connects to the server
├── chat_history.txt   # Automatically generated chat log
└── README.md

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How It Works

1. The server starts and listens for incoming connections.
2. Clients connect to the server using TCP sockets.
3. Each connected client is handled in a separate thread.
4. Messages received by the server are broadcast to all connected clients.
5. All chat activity is logged with timestamps.

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Technologies Used

• Python 3
• Socket Programming
• TCP/IP Networking
• Multithreading
• Client-Server Architecture

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Getting Started

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/KSatyamLabs/python-multiclient-chat.git
cd python-multiclient-chat

Start the server

python server.py

Start one or more clients

Open a new terminal for each client.

python client.py

Enter a username and start chatting.

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Example

Server

Server listening on 127.0.0.1:1060
New connection from ('127.0.0.1', 52140)

Client 1

Enter your name: Alice

Alice: Hello everyone!

Client 2

Server: Alice has joined the chat.

Alice: Hello everyone!

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Future Improvements

• LAN support
• Internet-based communication
• GUI interface
• Private messaging
• User authentication
• File sharing
• End-to-end encryption
• Database support
• Asyncio implementation
• Cross-platform desktop application

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Learning Objectives

This project helped me understand:

• TCP socket programming
• Client-server communication
• Multithreading in Python
• Network message broadcasting
• Handling multiple concurrent connections
• Exception handling in network applications

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Contributing

Suggestions and improvements are always welcome.

Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.