LobbyChat
A live, casual shoutbox for your community. Real-time messages, emoji reactions, link previews, moderator tools, optional AI bot.
Use with caution
LobbyChat works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 20+ sites and was last updated 3 months ago, and scores 56/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (20+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release β each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where LobbyChat stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| chat | >100 |
| comments | >100 |
| community | >100 |
| live chat | >100 |
| shoutbox | #4 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About LobbyChat
From the official readme Β· v1.2.2Description
LobbyChat is a lightweight live-chat shoutbox you can drop into any WordPress page or sidebar with a single shortcode. Built for communities β fan sites, forums, fandoms, classrooms, internal teams β where you want a casual, always-on group chat without bolting on Slack or Discord.
What you get
- Live chat feed with auto-refresh (configurable polling interval β no WebSocket server required)
- Guest posting β visitors can chat with just a display name, no signup wall
- Emoji reactions on every message β π β€οΈ π π₯ π
- Link previews for YouTube and any URL with Open Graph tags
- @mention highlighting β
@usernamegets visually picked out - Pinned messages β moderators can pin one important message above the feed
- Online presence β live count of members, guests, and search-engine bots in the room
- Moderator role β add a “LobbyChat Moderator” role to any user for pin/delete powers
- Reporting + auto-hide β 5 reports on a message and it’s hidden automatically
- Word blocklist for basic profanity filtering
- Rate limiting built in β separate cooldowns for guests vs members
- Fullscreen mode + collapse toggle
- Sound notification for new messages (toggleable per-visitor)
- Mobile responsive
Optional: AI Chat Companion
LobbyChat ships with an optional AI bot you can drop into your chat. The bot uses your own API keys β you bring your own Google Gemini key (the free tier works) or OpenAI key. The plugin does not route requests through any third-party server.
- Bring-your-own-key β Gemini (free tier) or OpenAI (paid)
- Configurable persona β name, system prompt, custom personality
- Smart triggers β replies to @mentions always; questions usually; random messages occasionally (all configurable)
- Hard rate limits β daily and hourly caps protect against runaway API costs
- Active-hours window β bot only chats during the hours you specify
- One-click test in the admin to verify the bot can post
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 (request goes from your server to that URL)
- Calling Google Gemini or OpenAI only if you explicitly enable the AI bot and provide an API key
No telemetry, no analytics, no “phone home.” All data lives in your own wp_lobbychat* tables.
Try it live
See LobbyChat running in production at bejaunty.com/plugins/lobbychat.
Roadmap
LobbyChat is the free, standalone version. Premium add-ons with gaming-community features β looking-for-group buttons, platform tags, profile-card integration, and richer moderation tools β are in development. Updates and announcements at bejaunty.com.
Support development
LobbyChat is free and developed in spare time. If it helps your community, you can support development at wise.com/pay/me/asadk372. Every bit is appreciated. β₯
Usage
After activating, drop this shortcode into any page, post, or text widget:
[lobbychat]
Then visit Settings β LobbyChat to configure rate limits, blocklist, and other options. For the AI bot, see Settings β LobbyChat AI Bot.
Developer hooks
LobbyChat exposes several filters and actions for theme/plugin developers:
lobbychat_after_sendβ action, fires after a message is saved.do_action('lobbychat_after_send', $user_id, $message_id, $row)β the third arg is the database row object.lobbychat_profile_urlβ filter, override the URL linked from a username (default: WP author archive)lobbychat_allowed_reactionsβ filter, override the array of allowed reaction emojilobbychat_report_thresholdβ filter, change the auto-hide report threshold (default: 5)lobbychat_emoji_setβ filter, customize the array of emoji shown in the picker
External services
This plugin does not connect to any external service by default. Two optional features may, only when explicitly enabled by the site administrator, contact third-party services:
1. Link previews
When the link-sharing feature is enabled (Settings β LobbyChat β “Allow link sharing”, which is on by default), and a logged-in user shares a URL in chat, the plugin’s server fetches that URL once to extract Open Graph / Twitter / <title> metadata for a preview card.
- What is sent: The HTTP request from your server to the URL the user pasted. The request user-agent identifies as
LobbyChatBot/1.0and includes a link back to your site. - When: Only at the moment a user posts a message containing a URL.
- What is received and stored: Title, description, and image URL extracted from the page’s metadata. Stored in the chat message row in your database.
- Special handling for YouTube URLs: YouTube URLs are first sent to YouTube’s public oEmbed endpoint (
https://www.youtube.com/oembed) to retrieve title and author info. YouTube’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy apply.
This feature can be fully disabled by un-checking “Allow link sharing” in plugin settings.
2. Optional AI chat companion
When the AI bot is explicitly enabled by the administrator (Settings β LobbyChat AI Bot β “Enable bot”, which is off by default) and the administrator has provided their own API key for one or both of the providers below, chat messages are sent to that provider for the bot to generate replies.
Google Gemini API (https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/)
* What it is: Google’s generative AI service, used here to produce conversational chat replies.
* What is sent: Up to 6 most recent chat messages (sender display name + message text), the bot’s system prompt, and the administrator’s Gemini API key.
* When: Only when the administrator has enabled the bot AND a chat message satisfies the bot’s reply-trigger rules (mention, question, or random chance β all configurable).
* Terms and privacy: Google APIs Terms of Service, Gemini API Additional Terms, Google Privacy Policy.
OpenAI API (https://api.openai.com/)
* What it is: OpenAI’s chat completions API, used here as a fallback when Gemini fails or as the primary if only an OpenAI key is configured.
* What is sent: Same as Gemini above (recent messages + system prompt + administrator’s OpenAI API key).
* When: Same conditions as Gemini above.
* Terms and privacy: OpenAI Terms of Use, OpenAI API Data Usage Policies, OpenAI Privacy Policy.
The AI bot is disabled by default and will not contact any external service unless the administrator explicitly enables it and provides an API key.
3. Optional Cloudflare Turnstile spam protection
When Turnstile is explicitly enabled by the administrator (Settings β LobbyChat β Spam protection, off by default) and a site key and secret key are provided, the plugin uses Cloudflare’s Turnstile service to verify that the person posting is not a bot.
Cloudflare Turnstile (https://challenges.cloudflare.com/)
* What it is: Cloudflare’s privacy-focused CAPTCHA alternative, used here to block automated spam before a message is posted.
* What is sent: When a user submits a message, the Turnstile token generated in their browser plus the user’s IP address are sent from your server to Cloudflare’s siteverify endpoint, along with your secret key, to confirm the token is valid. The browser-side widget also loads Cloudflare’s api.js script from challenges.cloudflare.com.
* When: Only when Turnstile is enabled and a user attempts to post a message (optionally limited to guests only).
* Terms and privacy: Cloudflare Website Terms of Use, Cloudflare Privacy Policy.
Turnstile is disabled by default and will not contact any external service unless the administrator explicitly enables it and provides their own keys.
Installation
- Upload the
lobbychatfolder to/wp-content/plugins/, or install the zip via Plugins β Add New β Upload. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu.
- Place the shortcode
[lobbychat]on the page or in the widget area where you want the chat to appear. - (Optional) Visit Settings β LobbyChat to tweak rate limits and moderation settings.
- (Optional) Visit Settings β LobbyChat AI Bot if you want to add an AI chat companion.
Frequently asked questions
Does this require a WebSocket server, Pusher, or any external service?
No. LobbyChat uses simple HTTP polling at a configurable interval (default 30 seconds). It runs entirely on your own WordPress install with no external dependencies.
Can guests post without registering?
Yes β guest posting is on by default. They just enter a display name. You can require login in Settings if you prefer.
How do I make someone a moderator?
Edit the user in Users β All Users, change their role (or add the role) to LobbyChat Moderator. Administrators are automatically moderators.
How does the AI bot work? Does it cost me anything?
The bot is off by default. To turn it on, you provide your own Gemini API key (Google offers a free tier β see aistudio.google.com/apikey) and/or OpenAI key. The bot calls those APIs directly from your server using your key. We never see your messages or your key.
Will old messages be deleted automatically?
Yes if you want. Set Auto-delete old messages in Settings to a number of days (default 30, set to 0 to keep forever). Pinned messages are never auto-deleted.
Is the chat history searchable?
Not in the current version. Messages are stored in a standard MySQL table (wp_lobbychat) so any standard WP backup or export tool will include them.
Can I style it to match my theme?
Yes β every color is set via CSS custom properties (--lobbychat-accent, --lobbychat-bg, etc.) on the wrapper. Override them in your themeβs stylesheet.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes, the layout is fully responsive and supports fullscreen mode.
Where do clickable usernames link to? Can I point them at a custom profile page?
By default usernames link to the WordPress author archive β but only if that user has published a post (otherwise the link is omitted to avoid 404s). To send clicks to a different URL (e.g. a BuddyPress profile, a custom /profile/{username} page from your community plugin, or anywhere else), use the lobbychat_profile_url filter in your themeβs functions.php: add_filter( 'lobbychat_profile_url', function( $url, $user_id ) { $user = get_userdata( $user_id ); return $user ? home_url( '/profile/' . $user->user_login ) : $url; }, 10, 2 );
Changelog
Minor compliance and code-quality fixes. Recommended for anyone using Turnstile.
1.2.2
- Compliance: Cloudflare Turnstile’s API script is now printed directly instead of enqueued, to satisfy WordPress.org’s rule against enqueueing remote scripts. No functional change β Turnstile works exactly as before.
- Housekeeping: cleaned up a couple of Plugin Check warnings (script versioning and a cross-method nonce annotation).
1.2.1
- Fixed: Clicking an emoji in the picker did nothing on sites where WordPress replaces emoji with images (Twemoji). The real emoji character is now stored on each button and inserted reliably regardless of how the glyph is displayed.
1.2.0
- New: Optional Cloudflare Turnstile integration for bot protection. Enable it under Settings β LobbyChat β Spam protection, paste your free site/secret keys, and choose whether to require it for everyone or guests only. Posting is blocked until the check passes.
- Improved: Emoji picker is more reliable β fixed an issue where clicking the π button or an emoji did nothing on some setups.
- Improved: The moderator “clear chat” action no longer uses a browser confirm() popup. Instead the π§Ή button arms on first click (turns red, shows β) and clears on a second click within 3 seconds.
- Improved: Hover actions (Delete / Pin / Report) now float in the top-right corner of a message instead of pushing the message taller, so row heights no longer jump on hover.
1.1.0
- New: Emoji picker β users can insert emoji into their messages via a π button next to the message box. The emoji set is filterable with
lobbychat_emoji_set. - New: Moderators can instantly clear all chat messages with a π§Ή button in the chat header β useful for sites that run multiple separate sessions (pinned messages are kept).
- Fixed: Auto-delete (message retention) now also runs opportunistically when the chat is loaded, throttled to once per hour. Previously, on very low-traffic sites β for example a chat only enabled during a weekly event β WordPress cron might never fire and old messages would linger past their retention window. Thanks to @david-innes for the report.
1.0.8
- Fixed: Apostrophes and other special characters were rendered as HTML entities (
I'm goinginstead ofI'm going) in chat messages and display names. Server no longer double-encodes payload fields that the JS client already escapes at render time. Thanks to @david-innes for the report. - Fixed: Clickable usernames could 404 on sites where users hadn’t published any posts or where author archives are disabled. Default username link is now only added when the user has a usable author archive β otherwise the name is shown as plain text. Use the
lobbychat_profile_urlfilter to point at custom profile URLs (see FAQ).
1.0.7
- Updated: “Tested up to” bumped to WordPress 7.0.
Screenshots
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own β no account needed.
Best LobbyChat alternatives
All chat plugins β
FAQ
LobbyChat: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org Β· checked Oct 6, 2026
Is LobbyChat free?
Yes. LobbyChat is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is LobbyChat safe to use in 2026?
LobbyChat works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 20+ sites and was last updated 3 months ago, and scores 56/100 on our health check.
How many websites use LobbyChat?
LobbyChat is active on 20+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 515 times since it launched in May 2026. It was downloaded 129 times in the last 30 days.
Does LobbyChat work with WordPress 7.1?
LobbyChat is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.6, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does LobbyChat need?
LobbyChat requires PHP 7.2 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was LobbyChat last updated?
The latest version, 1.2.2, was released on June 26, 2026 (3 months ago).
Who makes LobbyChat?
LobbyChat is developed and maintained by Asad Khalil.
What are the best alternatives to LobbyChat?
The most popular alternatives to LobbyChat are Joinchat (700K+ installs), Floating Chat Widget: Conta⦠(300K+ installs) and Tidio (70K+ installs).
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