This change started as an experiment, but it turned out to be a pretty refreshing shift in my own experience using the chat protocol we created a while back as part of @peak.open.
Important part first: this is not a forced replacement for the standard Sting Chat interface some people are already used to. The familiar embedded Sting Chat widget is still there and still works. Peak Chat is simply a new option you can switch to from the Settings page if you want a more integrated chat experience inside PeakD itself.
What changed
Instead of treating chat as only an embedded external frame, PeakD now has a proper native chat workspace for the main /chat page and for the slideout panel too.
In practice that means the new chat feels much more like part of PeakD itself:
- a dedicated native layout for direct messages, groups, and community chats
- a cleaner sidebar and conversation list
- a more integrated and familiar editor area
- better handling on smaller screens and in the panel view
- easier switching between chat views without feeling like you got teleported into a separate product
This is one of those changes where the technical side was fairly large, but the point for users is actually simple: the chat area feels more coherent now.
And to make this super clear: these two chat versions are perfectly interchangeable. They still share the same Sting protocol/backend, so using Peak Chat does not put you in some separate chat universe. You can chat just fine with people using the other frontend.
Sting Chat is still a first-class option
This is worth repeating because I do not want people to read "new chat" as "the old one is gone".
It is not gone.
The familiar Sting Chat widget remains available as the standard embedded option, and there is now a setting that lets you switch between Sting Chat and Peak Chat. The switch is also available as a quick side button in the slideout panel.
So if you already like the existing Sting flow, you can keep using it. If you want to try the new native PeakD version, it is there as an alternative.
That felt like the right balance. PeakD gets room to evolve a more integrated chat experience without forcing everyone to immediately abandon the UI they already know.
If you want to look at the open source Sting stack itself, the repos are here: frontend and backend.
A bunch of practical improvements came with it
I am not going to turn this post into a commit-by-commit changelog, but a few things are worth calling out.
The new native chat got several rounds of layout and usability tuning. We reworked the structure for direct chats, group conversations, and community channels, improved the composer, polished the message view, and made the overall workspace behave much better across page mode and panel mode.
I am not going to lie: if you are used to Discord, the new chat UI should look pretty familiar.
There were also some smaller but important quality improvements behind the scenes:
- better handling around message sending and chat connection edge cases
- improved behavior when opening or revisiting conversations
- local caching for decoded messages, which helps make chat history feel less wasteful to reload again and again
- extra fixes for the Sting Chat panel integration too, so the legacy option remains solid and not half-forgotten
What is still missing
This first version is already very usable, but it is not feature-complete yet. A few things like reply to message, edit, delete, and some extra chat actions are still missing from the native UI and should land in the next update.
Why I like this direction
PeakD has had chat for a long time, but the experience was still heavily shaped by the external widget model. That worked, and it is still useful, but it also meant the chat surface never felt fully aligned with the rest of the product.
Peak Chat gives us a path toward a more native and more flexible chat experience inside PeakD, while still keeping the standard Sting Chat widget around for people who prefer the familiar UI.
That is probably the most important part of this update: more choice, not less. Both are valid, and both are being maintained.
Feedback welcome
This is exactly the kind of feature where real usage matters more than my local impressions. If you try the new chat on PeakD and something feels better, worse, confusing, or half-baked, let me know.
The whole point of shipping it as an option alongside Sting Chat is that we can improve it in the open without making the transition unnecessarily disruptive.
Looks good. Too bad I can't write anything in mobile @keychain because the bottom toolbar covers the input box. I will check out the desktop version soon.
https://discord.gg/e9ddMYRw
This is the keychain discord, they had this issue a while back.
They were telling folks to 'scroll down', but I don't know if that is still current.
You can ask in that discord.
Yep, scrolling down hides the toolbar on other sites. But here there is nowhere to scroll down. The chat is in a container which does not count in this regard.
I'll check on our side and with the PeakD team what can be done about this.
Thanks for letting us know @thedd, @antisocialist
EDIT : The toolbar can be easily toggled on/off by a two-fingers press by the way
I will check that. For this first iteration I mostly focused on desktop with only minor optimizations for mobile.
oh this is neat! Very cool to see improvements :)
Can we post video clips and images on it? A pic is worth a thousand words, they say.
Thanks!
Yes, images are fully supported. And you can link videos
Images Great! Video clips smaller than some arbitrary size would be greatly appreciated. If a picture's worth a thousand words, then vids are worth millions.
Totally off topic. But what's going on with the wallet link to hivehub.dev? It won't load. I've been trying to find some information without luck so thought I'd ask here. Thanks
That's usually a browser refresh issue. Can you try to force a browser refresh with
CTRL+SHIFT+R?I'm using my phone. I can not go directly to hivehub.dev nor can I follow the market link in my wallet. I'll keep looking to see if I've done something wrong? The problem started over a week ago.
Can you try this direct link? https://hivehub.dev/market/swap
Just figured out it's not working on kiwi browser. I can get it to load on Chrome.
👍
!discovery
!PIZZA
Since Google Chrome can't translate chat, it's useless for me.
Chrome does a pretty good job with translation here. Both on the chat and the rest of the website.
Do you have a screenshot to share maybe?
You are still using the Sting chat interface. Click this button to test the new one:
Great - now I can translate and read what you write. 👍
Nice 👍
people will still use discord no matter what , family and friends will never switch to hive.
Sure, I use Discord myself.
But I feel like having a dedicated chat integrated with Hive and using the Hive accounts and tech is still a win for the platform.
only if you have the same ability as in discord to ban users and remove their posts to keep it safe from spammers and scammers
We'll get there. We already have those things for Hive communities and we can leverage those roles
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This feels like a big deal for usability, especially that line about keeping both chat versions interchangeable while making the new one feel like a natural extension of PeakD. The mention of Discord everyoneiliarity is accurate; that kind of intuitive layout goes a long way in adoption.