JCJCattheATM·Jan 18, 2026
Use something like gurk[0]
[0] https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs
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gurk-rs
Rust2022–2026
boxdot / gurk-rs
gurk-rs
Signal Messenger client for terminal
4Distinct people
4Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
1.4KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Signal Messenger client for terminal
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use has been verified yet.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year4 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2022-08-02 14:24:51 UTC to 2026-01-18 00:48:38 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
4 sourcesElectron is Flash for the Desktop.
https://josephg.com/blog/electron-is-flash-for-the-desktop/
* Non-native UI toolkit
* Massive waste of resources (CPU, RAM, Battery, Disk). Consumption of 500 MB RAM for idle is the norm.
* Slow.
* Often issues with autonomous, local operation.
* Security -> Browser Engine
It is always better to use a well-working application with your native UI-Toolkit:
* Linux: Evolution, Geary, K-Mail, Claws, whatever TUI application you prefer. And Thunderbird.
* macOS: Apple Mail or Thunderbird.
* Windows: Please. Stop using Windows. You harm other people. Start with using Thunderbird :)
The “Electron” from Signal is one of the best applications using Electron. It is fat. Even in this case people resist. Signal isn’t supporting a stable API but:
https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs
TUI :)
Read the rest
Electron is used, when a company wants to save on developer. All users pay with suffering from bad UI and their hardware resources. In this case it is something nobody asked for?
I have an old Nokia N900 phone that runs a custom alpine linux-based rom (postmarketOS). Given the limited hardware resources, small screen size, and sliding keyboard, you'll be mostly running terminal applications on this phone (some GUI apps works but the experience is mixed). There are some unofficial terminal clients for Signal [0], and iirc hacker news works with the lynx terminal browser. The N900 might work for this scenario as a feature-minimal phone, but depends on your use cases.
[0] https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs
In Ask HN: Recommendations for ‘minimalist’ (e.g. not too ‘smart’) phones?Signal Messenger Client for the Terminal
3 points · Open discussion