# The Lounge [![#thelounge IRC channel on freenode](https://img.shields.io/badge/freenode-%23thelounge-BA68C8.svg)](https://avatar.playat.ch:1000/) [![npm version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/thelounge.svg)](https://www.npmjs.org/package/thelounge) [![Travis CI Build Status](https://img.shields.io/travis/thelounge/lounge/master.svg?label=linux+build)](https://travis-ci.org/thelounge/lounge) [![AppVeyor Build Status](https://img.shields.io/appveyor/ci/astorije/lounge/master.svg?label=windows+build)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/astorije/lounge/branch/master) [![Dependencies Status](https://img.shields.io/david/thelounge/lounge.svg)](https://david-dm.org/thelounge/lounge) [![Developer Dependencies Status](https://img.shields.io/david/dev/thelounge/lounge.svg)](https://david-dm.org/thelounge/lounge?type=dev) __What is it?__ The Lounge is a web IRC client that you host on your own server. *This is the official, community-managed fork of @erming's great initiative, the [Shout](https://github.com/erming/shout) project.* __What features does it have?__ - Multiple user support - Stays connected even when you close the browser - Connect from multiple devices at once - Responsive layout — works well on your smartphone - _.. and more!_ __Why the fork?__ We felt that the original [Shout](https://github.com/erming/shout) project "stagnated" a little because its original author wanted it to remain his pet project (which is a perfectly fine thing!). A bunch of people, excited about doing things a bit differently than the upstream project forked it under a new name: “The Lounge”. This fork aims to be community managed, meaning that the decisions are taken in a collegial fashion, and that a bunch of maintainers should be able to make the review process quicker and more streamlined.
## Installation and usage The Lounge requires [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) v4 or more recent. ### Running stable releases from npm (recommended) Run this in a terminal to install (or upgrade) the latest stable release from [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/): ```sh [sudo] npm install -g thelounge ``` When installation is complete, run: ```sh lounge start ``` For more information, read the [documentation](https://thelounge.github.io/docs/), [wiki](https://github.com/thelounge/lounge/wiki), or run: ```sh lounge --help ``` ### Running from source The following commands install the development version of The Lounge: ```sh git clone https://github.com/thelounge/lounge.git cd lounge npm install npm start ``` A word of caution: - While it is the most recent codebase, this is not production-ready! - It is not recommended to run this as root. However, if you decide to do so, you will have to run `npm run build`. ## Development setup Simply follow the instructions to run The Lounge from source above, on your own fork. Before submitting any change, make sure to: - Read the [Contributing instructions](https://github.com/thelounge/lounge/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#contributing) - Run `npm test` to execute linters and test suite - Run `npm run build` if you change or add anything in `client/js/libs` or `client/views`