rickbutton/termfire — explained in plain English
Analysis updated 2026-07-18 · repo last pushed 2013-12-10
Chat in Campfire rooms directly from a terminal window.
Keep a lightweight chat client running alongside code without opening a browser.
| rickbutton/termfire | 100rabhg/masterdetailapp | 100rabhg/pizzafactroy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Ruby | Ruby | Ruby |
| Last pushed | 2013-12-10 | 2024-02-20 | 2025-01-26 |
| Maintenance | Dormant | Dormant | Stale |
| Setup difficulty | moderate | moderate | moderate |
| Complexity | 2/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Audience | developer | developer | pm founder |
Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.
Requires a Campfire subdomain and auth token, and the README warns the project is unfinished.
Termfire is a command-line chat client for Campfire, a group messaging platform that was popular in the early 2010s. Instead of opening Campfire in a web browser, you can use this tool to chat directly from your terminal, the same window where you'd run code or navigate files. The project uses ncurses, a text-based interface library, to create a readable chat window in your terminal. This means you get a borderless, keyboard-driven chat experience without leaving your command line. If you're someone who spends most of your day in a terminal and wants to keep your chat window there too, this eliminates the friction of switching between windows or opening a browser. To use it, you run a simple command with your Campfire subdomain and an authentication token, and you're dropped into the chat. The README itself acknowledges this is very much an early project, it says "VERY MUCH a work in progress. Don't expect anything to work", so it's more of a proof-of-concept than a finished tool right now. This would appeal mainly to developers or technical teams who were Campfire users and wanted a lightweight, keyboard-driven alternative to the web interface. It's the kind of project someone might build for themselves or their small team, rather than as a polished product for widespread use. The sparse documentation (even the installation instructions say "TODO") reinforces that this was likely a personal tool or early experiment.
A terminal-based chat client for Campfire, the old group chat platform, so you can chat without leaving your command line.
Mainly Ruby. The stack also includes Ruby, ncurses.
Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2013-12-10).
Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.
Mainly developer.
This repo across BitVibe Labs
Don't trust strangers blindly. Verify against the repo.