Talkest.

A simple real-time messaging app built with Flutter & Firebase - designed for a single purpose: let people reach you directly from your personal website.

No need to share social media links. No need for third-party contact forms.
Just embed Talkest on your website, and anyone with a Google account can start a conversation with you instantly.

Why does this exist?
I built Talkest because I wanted a simple "get in touch" solution for my portfolio website. Instead of redirecting visitors to social media, they can just chat with me right there, powered by a Flutter Web widget embedded directly into the page.

✨ Features

• Real-time messaging — Powered by Cloud Firestore with live message streaming
• Google Sign-In — One-tap authentication, no extra account needed
• Light & Dark theme — With system theme detection and manual toggle
• QR Code profile — Each user gets a personal QR code for quick contact sharing
• QR Scanner — Scan someone's QR code to start a chat instantly
• Start chat by email — Find and message any registered user by their email address
• Editable display name — Customize how your name appears to others
• Embeddable chat widget — Deploy the Flutter Web build and embed it on any website via iframe
• Native mobile app — Install the Android app to monitor and reply to incoming messages on the go

📦 Available Platforms

Platform	Status	Link
Android	✅ Available	Github release
Web	✅ Available	khip01.github.io/talkest
Embedded mode	✅ Available	Used on my portfolio
iOS	❌ Not yet	No Mac device available for development

Note

Push notifications are currently not implemented.
A complete push notification flow requires Firebase Cloud Functions to trigger Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), which depends on the Blaze (pay-as-you-go) plan.

📸 Screenshots

Mobile App

Login	Chat List	Messaging

Embedded Mode (on website)

Embed mode — Landing page on portfolio website

Embed mode — Chat view on portfolio website

🛠 Tech Stack

Category	Technology
Framework	Flutter (Dart)
Backend	Firebase (Auth, Cloud Firestore)
Authentication	Google Sign-In
State Management	BLoC + Provider
Routing	GoRouter
Deployment	GitHub Pages (Web), APK (Android)

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🔧 Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Flutter SDK
• Firebase project with Authentication and Cloud Firestore enabled
• Google OAuth 2.0 Client ID (for Flutter Web only)

Firestore Structure

Collections and documents are created automatically when the app runs for the first time — no manual setup needed. Below is the database structure for reference:

├── app_users (collection)
│   └── {uid} (document)
│       ├── name: string
│       ├── displayName: string
│       ├── email: string
│       ├── photoUrl: string
│       ├── provider: string
│       ├── createdAt: timestamp
│       ├── updatedAt: timestamp
│       └── lastLoginAt: timestamp
│
└── chats (collection)
    └── {chatId} (document)
        ├── type: string ("direct")
        ├── participants: array [uid1, uid2]
        ├── createdAt: timestamp
        ├── updatedAt: timestamp
        ├── unreadCount: map { uid1: number, uid2: number }
        ├── lastMessage: map
        │   ├── id: string
        │   ├── senderId: string
        │   ├── text: string
        │   ├── type: string
        │   ├── createdAt: timestamp
        │   └── isDeleted: boolean
        │
        └── 📁 messages (subcollection)
            └── {messageId} (document)
                ├── id: string
                ├── chatId: string
                ├── senderId: string
                ├── type: string
                ├── text: string
                ├── createdAt: timestamp
                ├── editedAt: timestamp (optional)
                ├── isDeleted: boolean
                ├── replyToId: string (optional)
                ├── replyToSenderId: string (optional)
                ├── replyToSenderName: string (optional)
                └── replyToText: string (optional)

Firestore Security Rules

Security rules are defined in firestore.rules.

Important

The included rules are stricter than the default test-mode rules. They enforce that:

• Users can only write to their own profile
• Only chat participants can read/write chats and messages
• Messages can only be created (no editing or deleting from client)

Review and adjust the rules in firestore.rules to fit your needs before deploying.

Firestore Indexes

This project requires a composite index for querying chats. The index configuration is defined in firestore.indexes.json.

Collection	Fields	Query Scope
chats	participants (Array) + updatedAt (Descending)	Collection

Tip

If you skip deploying indexes, Firestore will show an error with a direct link to create the required index when the app first runs a query that needs it.

Deploying Firestore Rules & Indexes

Deploy both rules and indexes at once:

firebase deploy --only firestore --project YOUR_PROJECT_ID

Or deploy them individually if needed:

firebase deploy --only firestore:rules --project YOUR_PROJECT_ID
firebase deploy --only firestore:indexes --project YOUR_PROJECT_ID

Tip

If you skip this step, Firestore will show an error with a direct link to create the required index when the app first runs a query that needs it.

Getting OAuth 2.0 Client ID

1. Via Firebase Console (Recommended):

   • Open Firebase Console
   • Select your project → Project Settings
   • Add a Web app (if not already added)
   • The Client ID will be auto-generated in Google Cloud Console

2. Manual Setup:

   • Go to Google Cloud Console
   • Navigate to APIs & Services → Credentials
   • Create OAuth client ID → Select Web application
   • Configure:
     • Authorized JavaScript origins:
       • http://localhost
       • http://localhost:5000
       • https://your-domain.firebaseapp.com (production)
     • Authorized redirect URIs:
       • https://your-domain.firebaseapp.com/__/auth/handler
   • Copy the generated Client ID

Running the App

Web (Development):

flutter run -d <web-device> --dart-define=GOOGLE_WEB_CLIENT_ID=YOUR_CLIENT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com

Mobile (Android/iOS):

flutter run -d <device-id>

Building for Production:

Web (Release)

flutter build web --elease --dart-define=GOOGLE_WEB_CLIENT_ID=YOUR_CLIENT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com

Important

Web builds require the Google Web Client ID for authentication.

Mobile (Release)

flutter build --release

Mobile builds do not require additional parameters and can be built normally in release mode.

Embed Mode

Talkest supports an embedded chat widget mode, designed to be loaded inside an <iframe> on any website. This allows visitors to chat with a specific user directly from your page.

URL format:

https://your-talkest-deployment.com/?embed=1&targetUid=FIREBASE_USER_UID

Example iframe usage:

<iframe
  src="https://khip01.github.io/talkest/?embed=1&targetUid=YOUR_FIREBASE_UID"
  width="400"
  height="600"
  style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;"
  allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write"
></iframe>

Parameters:

Parameter	Required	Description
embed	Yes	Set to 1 to activate embedded mode
targetUid	Yes	The Firebase UID of the user to chat with

Tip

You can find your Firebase UID in the Firebase Console → Authentication → Users tab.

In embed mode, the app will:

• Show a landing page with a sign-in prompt for unauthenticated visitors
• Automatically open a direct chat with the target user after sign-in
• Hide navigation elements like the FAB and profile access for a clean widget experience

📚 Resources

• Flutter Documentation
• Firebase Setup Guide
• Google Sign-In for Flutter

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Made with 🤍 by Khip01