OpenSource Instant Messaging APIs [closed]

Question

I want to create my own IM and I'm searching an open-source IM APIs. What do you think is the best open-source IM APIs. And what good front end to use?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you are looking into making a client, check out libpurple. This is what pidgin and many other IM clients use to access multiple IM networks.

http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/WhatIsLibpurple

If you are just worried about one IM network, the easiest one to work with would be Jabber because it is an open sourced protocol

http://www.jabber.org/

Answer 2

XMPP... lots of documentation, libraries and so on. http://xmpp.org

Answer 3

Just to be comprehensive, telepathy is a rather good competitor to libpurple. It's secure, modular and robust.

Answer 4

You can use QXmpp. It is a free (LGPL) XMPP client library written in C++ and Qt. It's light and simple to use.

Project page: http://code.google.com/p/qxmpp

Answer 5

If you're interested in the OSCAR protocol (AIM), check out Open AIM. They have documentation on custom clients for C++/C#/Java as well as how to access Web AIM.

Answer 6

If you need server side to support IM, use OpenSIPS. For client side, pidgin and libPurple.

Answer 7

You can use Kik API to build your instant messaging mobile apps on top of Kik Messenger. This API lets your app to reliably transfer and store rich content and files between different mobile users using Kik's own transport and infrastructure. It is available on Android and iPhone and, in simple scenarios, can be integrated into your app with about 5 lines of code. There is more info here: http://www.kik.com/dev

Disclaimer: I'm one of the developers behind Kik API :)