# Introduction

Source: https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/guide

Overview of the Gryt WebRTC voice chat platform

Gryt is a self-hosted voice, video and text chat platform. You run the server; it holds your messages and decides who may join. Voice and video go through a separate media service that never sees any of that.

## Components

| Component | Tech | Role |
|-----------|------|------|
| **Client** | React + TypeScript, Electron on the desktop | Interface, audio processing, WebRTC |
| **Server** | Node.js + TypeScript, SQLite | Chat, identity, permissions, invites |
| **SFU** | Go + Pion WebRTC | Media forwarding. One per machine |
| **Image worker** | Node.js + sharp | Thumbnails and compression, kept out of the server |
| **Keycloak** | Hosted at `auth.gryt.chat` | Signing in |
| **Identity service** | Hosted at `id.gryt.chat` | Signs the certificate that binds your key to your account |
| **CLI** | Go | Creates and runs servers from a terminal |

## How it works

1. You sign in to Keycloak, once, with OIDC and PKCE.
2. Your client generates a keypair that never leaves the device, and the
   identity service signs a certificate saying that key is yours.
3. Joining a server is a signed challenge. The server sends a nonce, your client
   signs it, and the server checks the signature against the certificate. **Your
   Keycloak token is never sent to the server**, so a server operator has no
   credential of yours to steal.
4. The server issues a token scoped to itself, and the client talks to it over a
   WebSocket for chat, presence and permissions.
5. Joining a voice channel gets you a room from the SFU. Media goes straight to
   the SFU over one UDP port and never touches the server.

[Security](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/guide/security) has the whole handshake, and
[Do I need an account?](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/guide/accounts) covers joining without one, which
is also supported.

## Next steps

<Cards>
  <Card
    title="Quick Start"
    description="Get Gryt running locally in under a minute"
    href="/docs/guide/quick-start"
  />
  <Card
    title="Architecture"
    description="Deep dive into how the components fit together"
    href="/docs/guide/architecture"
  />
  <Card
    title="Configuration"
    description="Environment variables and settings for each service"
    href="/docs/guide/configuration"
  />
  <Card
    title="Accessibility"
    description="Our commitment and roadmap toward full accessibility"
    href="/docs/guide/accessibility"
  />
  <Card
    title="Roadmap"
    description="What's shipped, what's in progress, and what's coming next"
    href="/docs/guide/roadmap"
  />
  <Card
    title="Deployment"
    description="Docker Compose, Kubernetes, and Cloudflare Tunnel guides"
    href="/docs/deployment"
  />
</Cards>