vision-3-bbs

README

ViSiON/3 BBS Software

Overview

This project is a work-in-progress refactor and modernization of the classic ViSiON/2 BBS software. The goal is to recreate the core functionality of the classic BBS experience using modern technologies.

There's detailed SysOp documentation here.

Note: This is currently under active development and is not quite feature-complete.

Companion Projects

• ViSiON/3 QWK Mobile — a React Native offline mail client for ViSiON/3. It consumes the experimental QWK Packet API to download .QWK packets, read and reply entirely offline, and upload .REP packets back to the board. The full offline loop (connect → sync → read → compose/reply → upload → import report) is implemented in-repo, but the app is not yet available for download — there's currently nothing end-users can connect to the QWK Packet API with, so sysops should leave it disabled for now.

Community

Join us on Discord to get involved, follow development and to connect with other contributors and BBS enthusiasts:

👉 Join the ViSiON/3 Discord

STUFF WE NEED

🎯 Contributors - Yes, You

What This Is: A moderately amusing, functional anachronism.

Are you the kind of person who can wrangle a Go codebase while arguing about why HSLINK was underrated? Do you have strong opinions about ANSI art but also know when to use a mutex? We need someone to lead this glorious mess.

Technical Chops:

• Strong Go experience (not just "I vibe coded an app and apparently it works")
• Deep understanding of terminal emulation, ANSI/VT100, character encodings
• Bonus: Network programming experience (SSH, raw sockets)
• Comfortable with legacy protocol implementation (ZMODEM, etc.)
• Can read Pascal/C when needed to understand the original implementations

Cultural Fit:

• Either lived through the BBS era OR has become genuinely obsessed with it
• Gets why pipe codes matter and what makes a good door game
• Understands this isn't about making money or padding a resume
• Has opinions about which transfer protocol was best
• Won't try to "modernize" it into a web app

Working Team:

• Wrangling this wacko codebase into something proper
• Help building a community of contributors
• Make technical decisions when we need them
• Keep the codebase from turning into spaghetti

What we won't do:

• Rewrite this in another language
• Add a REST API and React frontend
• Turn it into a web app
• Modernize away what makes it a BBS (we want to keep the soul, not just the name)

If this sounds like your particular flavor of madness, email: spaceman@vision3bbs.com

🎨 Period-Correct ANSI Artists & Art

Are you an old school ANSi artist (are you younger and infatuated for some reason with that time-period and style)? Do you need one more goddamn thing to do? Consider spending valuable free-time, compensated by nothing more than unyielding appreciation and thanks from the people that enjoy this kind of thing. There's at least 12 of us!

What we need:

• Menu screens - Main, Message, File, Door menus with that classic warez BBS aesthetic
• Login/Logoff screens - Welcome screens, new user applications, goodbye screens
• Headers and prompts - Message headers, file listings, user stats displays
• Transition screens - Loading screens, pause prompts, error messages
• Special effects - Matrix rain, plasma effects, classic BBS animations

Style we're after:

• Authentic early 90s underground/warez BBS aesthetic
• Classic color schemes (cyan/magenta highlights, ice colors)
• Scene-style fonts and logos
• Period-appropriate group shoutouts and "greetz"

If you have skills, old .ANS files gathering dust, or just love the aesthetic of the golden age of BBSing, we want to hear from you! Contact us via GitHub issues or pull requests.

💻 Go Developers Who Give a Damn

Do you write Go? Do you have fond memories of waiting 3 minutes for a single GIF to download at 14.4k? Are you looking for a project that will impress exactly nobody at your day job but might make a dozen middle-aged nerds unreasonably happy? Boy, do we have the unpaid volunteer opportunity for you!

If you aren't old enough to have experienced it first-hand, have you read a weird text file or listened to some wild-eyed GenX nutjob ramble on about how much we enjoyed it and decided "I need me some of that?"

Areas where we need help:

• File transfer protocols beyond Zmodem (XMODEM, YMODEM)
• Performance optimization and scalability
• Terminal emulation improvements
• Modern features while maintaining the classic feel
• Testing, bug fixes, and code reviews

Your reward? The satisfaction of knowing that somewhere, someone is reliving their misspent youth thanks to your code. Also, we'll put your handle in the credits. Not your real name though - this is a BBS, we have standards.

Please submit PRs!

Current Status: PRE-ALPHA (Expect crashes, data loss, and general chaos)

Feature	Status	Notes
Networking
SSH Server	✅ Working	Pure-Go (gliderlabs/ssh), PTY support, SyncTerm compatible, legacy algorithms, auto-login
Telnet Server	✅ Working	Full IAC negotiation, TERM_TYPE detection
Users
Signup & Authentication	✅ Working	bcrypt hashed passwords, JSON persistence
User Listings & Stats	✅ Working	Last callers, user listing, call history, stats display
NUV (New User Verification)	✅ Working	Voting-based approval system for new user accounts
Info Forms	✅ Working	Up to 5 configurable forms; required form enforcement on login; user fill/view; SysOp browse and management
TUI User Editor (ue)	✅ Working	Full-screen terminal user management
WFC Sysop Console (wfc)	✅ Working	Remote read-only monitor of live nodes/callers + event feed over SSH, gated by a hot-reloadable WFC Access toggle in Access Levels (guide)
Menus
Menu System	✅ Working	.MNU, .CFG, .ANS files, ACS evaluation, password protection
TUI Menu Editor (menuedit)	✅ Working	Full-screen menu configuration editor
Messaging
Message Areas	✅ Working	JAM format, echomail/netmail, conferences, lightbar reader, threading, quoting, vi-style editor, newscan, last read
Private Mail	✅ Working	User-to-user messaging, send/read/list
Message List View (scan)	✅ Working	Title/subject scan view
QWK Offline Mail	✅ Working	QWK/REP packet download/upload, stable conference map, reply threading, HEADERS.DAT extended headers, REP upload dedup, configurable BBS ID
QWK Packet API	🧪 Experimental	REST API for offline mail clients (off by default — companion app not yet released) — see the QWK API docs and the QWK Mobile client
Files
File Areas	✅ Working	List/select areas, list files, search, file info, newscan, configurable columns, extended listing
File Transfers	✅ Working	ZMODEM upload/download via sexyz, batch download with per-area ACS validation
File Management	✅ Working	SysOp file delete, move, edit descriptions, review queue for uploads, lightbar sysop bar (* toggle)
Doors & Scripting
Door/External Programs	✅ Working	Dropfile generation, PTY passthrough
SyncJS Doors	✅ Working	Synchronet-compatible JavaScript door engine
V3 Scripting Engine	✅ Working	goja-based JavaScript runtime for native V3 script doors
Networking/FTN
FTN Echomail/Netmail	✅ Working	JAM-backed, tosser, import/export, dupe checking
Integrated Binkd Mailer	✅ Working	Bundled bin/binkd supervised as a child process (auto-restart on crash, clean shutdown); one-toggle echomail — inbound tosses automatically, outbound exports on a timer. See FTN Echomail.
FTN Setup Wizard	✅ Working	Guided setup in ./config: pick network, download echo list, auto-create areas + binkd.conf
V3Net Networking	🧪 Experimental	Native inter-BBS message networking via REST+SSE (hub/leaf, signed area lists) — see the V3Net docs
Community Features
Voting System	✅ Working	Voting booths, mandatory topics, SysOp management
News System	✅ Working	SysOp-managed news items, auto-display on login
Chat & SysOp Paging	✅ Working	Inter-node chat, SysOp page
One-liner System	✅ Working
Sponsor Menus	✅ Working	Area management for SysOps and area sponsors
Admin & Tools
Event Scheduler	✅ Working	Cron-style, automated maintenance, FTN polling
Admin Functions	✅ Working	User validation, banning, deletion, purge
TUI String Editor (strings)	✅ Working	Full-screen BBS string customizations
Config Hot Reload	✅ Working	Live reload via fsnotify, no restart required
Invisible SysOp Login	✅ Working	SysOp/CoSysOp login without appearing in caller log
SysOp Config TUI (config)	✅ Working	Full-screen TUI configuration editor (cmd/config)
Quality
Comprehensive Testing	📋 Planned
Complete Documentation	📋 Planned

Technology Stack

• Language: Go 1.24+
• SSH Server: github.com/gliderlabs/ssh — pure-Go SSH server with legacy algorithm support (SyncTerm, NetRunner compatible)
• TUI Framework: Charmbracelet BubbleTea (github.com/charmbracelet/bubbletea) — full-screen terminal editors and admin tools
• JavaScript Engine: github.com/dop251/goja — embedded JS runtime for V3 scripting and SyncJS door support
• Event Scheduling: github.com/robfig/cron/v3 — cron-style event scheduler
• Config Monitoring: github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify — live configuration hot reload
• PTY Support: github.com/creack/pty — PTY handling for door programs
• Terminal Handling: golang.org/x/term
• Password Hashing: golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt
• Message Base: JAM binary format (echomail/netmail compatible)
• Data Format: JSON (for users and configuration)

Platform Support

Pre-built releases are available for all major platforms. Linux x86_64 is the primary development platform.

Platform	Architecture	Status	Notes
Linux	x86_64	✅ Tested	Primary development platform
Linux	ARM64	✅ Released	Includes Raspberry Pi 4/5 (64-bit)
Linux	ARMv7	✅ Released	Raspberry Pi 3 and earlier
macOS	Universal	✅ Released	Intel + Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
Windows	x86_64	✅ Released

Note: ViSiON/3 is pure Go. The standard Go toolchain is all that's required to build for any supported platform.

Project Structure

vision-3-bbs/
├── setup.sh / .ps1 / .bat  # One-time setup: SSH host key, configs, dirs, build binaries
├── build.sh / .ps1 / .bat  # Build all ViSiON/3 binaries
├── dev-setup.sh            # Install a BBS instance into a separate directory (standalone or dev)
├── Dockerfile              # Container image build
├── docker-compose.yml      # Container orchestration
├── docker-entrypoint.sh    # Container startup script
├── cmd/
│   ├── ansitest/           # ANSI color test utility
│   ├── config/             # TUI system configuration editor
│   ├── helper/             # FTN setup utility (import echomail areas)
│   ├── ini2ftnreg/         # Convert Synchronet init-fidonet.ini to the FTN wizard's JSON registry
│   ├── menuedit/           # TUI menu editor
│   ├── strings/            # TUI string configuration editor
│   ├── ue/                 # TUI user editor
│   ├── v3mail/             # JAM message base and FTN mail processor
│   ├── v3net-bootstrap/    # Create and publish an initial NAL for a V3Net network
│   ├── vision3/            # Main BBS server application
│   └── wfc/                # Remote sysop console (SSH client for the WFC TUI)
├── configs/                # Active configuration files (not tracked in git)
│   ├── allowlist.txt       # IP allowlist for connection filtering
│   ├── archivers.json      # Archive handler configurations
│   ├── blocklist.txt       # IP blocklist for connection filtering
│   ├── config.json         # Main BBS configuration
│   ├── conferences.json    # Message/file conference definitions
│   ├── doors.json          # Door/external program configurations
│   ├── events.json         # Event scheduler (cron-style tasks)
│   ├── file_areas.json     # File area definitions
│   ├── ftn.json            # FidoNet/FTN network configuration
│   ├── login.json          # Login sequence flow definition
│   ├── message_areas.json  # Message area definitions
│   ├── protocols.json      # File transfer protocol configuration
│   ├── strings.json        # BBS string customizations
│   └── ssh_host_rsa_key    # SSH host key
├── templates/              # Configuration templates (tracked in git)
│   ├── configs/            # Template configuration files
│   └── infoforms/          # Info form templates
├── data/                   # Runtime data
│   ├── users/              # User database and call history
│   ├── msgbases/           # JAM format message bases
│   │   ├── general/        # General discussion area
│   │   └── sysop/          # Sysop area
│   ├── files/              # File areas
│   ├── ftn/                # FidoNet/FTN data (packets, tosses, etc.)
│   └── logs/               # Application logs
├── internal/               # Internal packages
│   ├── admin/              # WFC admin contract (shared types for the sysop console)
│   ├── ansi/               # ANSI/pipe code processing
│   ├── archiver/           # Archive format handling (ZIP, etc.)
│   ├── chat/               # Inter-node chat and sysop paging
│   ├── config/             # Configuration loading
│   ├── configeditor/       # TUI configuration editor (BubbleTea)
│   ├── conference/         # Conference management
│   ├── editor/             # Full-screen ANSI message editor
│   ├── file/               # File area management
│   ├── ftn/                # FidoNet/echomail support
│   ├── jam/                # JAM message base format
│   ├── logging/            # Logging setup and helpers
│   ├── menu/               # Menu system & lightbar UI
│   ├── menueditor/         # TUI menu editor (BubbleTea)
│   ├── message/            # Message base management
│   ├── qwk/                # QWK offline mail packet format
│   ├── qwkapi/             # QWK packet transport REST API (experimental)
│   ├── qwkservice/         # QWK packet export/import service
│   ├── scheduler/          # Cron-style event scheduler
│   ├── scripting/          # V3 scripting engine (goja-based JavaScript runtime)
│   ├── session/            # Session management
│   ├── sshserver/          # pure-Go SSH server (gliderlabs/ssh wrapper)
│   ├── stringeditor/       # TUI string configuration editor
│   ├── syncjs/             # Synchronet-compatible JavaScript door engine
│   ├── telnetserver/       # Telnet server
│   ├── terminalio/         # Terminal I/O handling
│   ├── tosser/             # FTN echomail tosser (import/export)
│   ├── transfer/           # File transfer protocols
│   ├── types/              # Shared types
│   ├── uitext/             # Shared UI text/formatting helpers
│   ├── user/               # User management
│   ├── usereditor/         # TUI user editor
│   ├── util/               # Utility functions
│   ├── v3net/              # V3Net inter-BBS networking service (experimental)
│   ├── version/            # Version information
│   ├── wfcui/              # WFC (Waiting For Call) sysop console TUI (BubbleTea)
│   └── ziplab/             # ZIP archive processing and viewer
├── menus/v3/               # Menu set files
│   ├── ansi/               # ANSI art files
│   ├── bar/                # Lightbar menu definitions
│   ├── cfg/                # Menu configuration files
│   ├── mnu/                # Menu definition files
│   └── templates/          # Display templates
│       └── message_headers/ # Customizable message header styles (unlimited, 16 included)
├── bin/                    # External helper binaries (not tracked in git)
├── scripts/                # Utility scripts and example V3/SyncJS scripts
│   └── examples/           # Example JavaScript scripts for V3 scripting and SyncJS
├── third_party/            # Modified third-party packages (tracked in git)
├── ziplab/                 # ZipLab support data files
└── docs/                   # GitHub Pages website (vision3bbs.com)
    └── sysop/              # Sysop documentation (published)

Setup & Installation

Third-party binaries: sexyz (ZMODEM file transfers) and binkd (FTN echomail/netmail) are not built by this project. Pre-compiled binaries for these — along with all ViSiON/3 binaries — are available on the GitHub Releases page.

Option 1: Download a Pre-Built Release

The fastest way to get started — no Go toolchain required.

1. Download the archive for your platform from the GitHub Releases page
2. Extract it and run the setup script:

   tar -xzf vision3_<platform>.tar.gz   # Linux/macOS
   cd vision3
   ./setup.sh                            # Linux/macOS
   .\setup.ps1                           # Windows (PowerShell)
   

3. Edit configs/config.json with your BBS settings
4. Run the server:

   ./vision3         # Linux/macOS
   .\vision3.exe     # Windows
   

Option 2: Docker (Recommended for Production)

git clone https://github.com/ViSiON-3/vision-3-bbs.git
cd vision-3-bbs
docker-compose up -d

See Docker Deployment Guide for detailed instructions.

Option 3: Build from Source

Go 1.24+ is the only build requirement.

1. Clone and set up:

   git clone https://github.com/ViSiON-3/vision-3-bbs.git
   cd vision-3-bbs
   ./setup.sh          # Linux/macOS
   .\setup.ps1         # Windows (PowerShell)
   

   setup.sh will generate SSH host keys, copy template configs to configs/, create the required directory structure, and build all binaries (vision3, helper, v3mail, strings, ue, config, menuedit, wfc).

   Installing to a separate directory: setup.sh installs the BBS in-place inside the repo checkout. To install into a separate directory instead (recommended for a real deployment, and required for running multiple instances), use dev-setup.sh:

   ./dev-setup.sh ~/my-bbs              # build binaries + a full config/data tree into ~/my-bbs
   ./dev-setup.sh ~/my-bbs --symlink    # symlink binaries to the repo (instance always runs your latest build)
   

   This builds and installs all binaries (vision3, helper, v3mail, strings, ue, config, menuedit, wfc) into the target directory, creates the full configs/, data/, menus/, and doors/ tree, generates an SSH host key, and seeds a default sysop account — leaving the repo checkout clean. Re-running it never overwrites existing config or data. Start the instance with cd ~/my-bbs && ./vision3.

2. Configure your BBS:

   nano configs/config.json
   

3. Run the server:

   ./vision3           # Linux/macOS
   .\vision3.exe       # Windows
   

The server listens on port 2222 (SSH) and 2323 (Telnet) by default.

Default Login

The system creates a default user on first run:

• Username: felonius
• Password: password

IMPORTANT: Change this password after first login!

Connecting

ssh felonius@localhost -p 2222

SyncTerm and Retro Terminal Support

ViSiON/3 fully supports SyncTerm, NetRunner, and other classic BBS terminal emulators:

• Automatic CP437 encoding for authentic ANSI graphics
• Compatible with modern SSH algorithms

Download SyncTerm: https://syncterm.bbsdev.net/

Command Line Options

./vision3 --output-mode=auto

• --output-mode: Terminal output mode (auto / utf8 / cp437)
  • auto: Automatically detect based on terminal type (default)
  • utf8: Force UTF-8 output
  • cp437: Force CP437 output for authentic DOS/BBS experience

Configuration

All configuration files live in configs/ and are generated from templates in templates/configs/ during setup. See the SysOp Documentation for full configuration reference.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

Acknowledgments

This project is built in tribute to ViSiON/2 and my friend Crimson Blade.

For the original ViSiON/2 BBS (Pascal version), see: vision-2-bbs