Lobby Chat Plugin

LobbyChat is a lightweight live-chat shoutbox you can drop into any WordPress page or sidebar with a single shortcode. Built for communities — fan sites, forums, fandoms, classrooms, internal teams — where you want a casual, always-on group chat without bolting on Slack or Discord.

Try it live

The chat below is the actual plugin running. Type something — it works.

What’s included

Real-time chat with auto-refresh. No WebSocket server required, no monthly subscription, no external service. Just install and post the shortcode.

Guest posting — visitors can chat with just a display name. Or require login if you prefer.

Emoji reactions on every message — 👍 ❤️ 😂 🔥 🎉 — built in, no extra setup.

Link previews for YouTube and any URL with Open Graph tags. Drop a link, get a card.

@mention highlighting — typing @username visually picks out the mention.

Pinned messages — moderators can pin one important message above the feed.

Online presence — live count of members, guests, and even search-engine bots in the room.

Moderator role — assign the LobbyChat Moderator role to any user for pin/delete powers. Reports system auto-hides messages after 5 reports.

Word blocklist for basic profanity filtering. Configurable from settings.

Rate limiting built in — separate cooldowns for guests vs members.

Fullscreen mode + collapse toggle + sound notifications.

Mobile responsive — works on phones, tablets, and desktops.

Optional AI chat companion

LobbyChat ships with an optional AI bot you can drop into your chat. It uses your own API keys — Google Gemini (free tier works) or OpenAI — so requests never route through any third-party server.

The bot’s persona is configurable, replies to @mentions, answers questions, and chats casually based on rules you set. Hard rate limits protect you from runaway API costs.

Privacy & data

LobbyChat does not call any third-party server by default. The only network calls are:

• Fetching link previews when a user shares a URL (server-to-URL)
• Calling Gemini or OpenAI only if you explicitly enable the AI bot

No telemetry. No analytics. No phone-home. All chat data lives in your own database tables.

Install

LobbyChat is free on the WordPress.org plugin directory:

→ Install LobbyChat (button)

Or download the latest version from this page and upload via Plugins → Add New → Upload.

After activation, drop this shortcode anywhere:

That’s it. Configure rate limits and moderation in Settings → LobbyChat.

Roadmap

LobbyChat is the free, standalone version. Premium add-ons with gaming-community features — looking-for-group buttons, platform tags, profile-card integration, richer moderation tools — are in development. Sign up for updates via the form below or follow along on GitHub.

Source code

LobbyChat is open source under GPL-2.0+. Source on Lobby Chat.

Support

• WordPress.org support forum — official support, free
• GitHub Issues — for bug reports and feature requests
• Direct contact — for everything else