I built an orbital graph as an alternative navigation for my open-source messenger
Most messengers display conversations as a static list. I wanted to try something different.
In ONYX v1.5-beta I added Account Graph — an alternative navigation mode where your chats, groups and categories become nodes in a dynamic orbital system centered around your account.
The idea came from Obsidian’s graph view. I adapted the concept for a messenger context.
Honestly, when I started building it I was pretty sure it would end up useless. Just a visual gimmick. But somewhere during development that changed. When you have a lot of chats across multiple categories, the graph gives you a better spatial sense of where everything is. You navigate by structure rather than scrolling through a flat list.
How it works:
- chats, groups and categories are displayed as connected orbiting nodes
- online users are highlighted via presence glow
- orbit speed is adjustable
- animations can be paused entirely
- graph position persists between sessions
The entire thing is optional and can be disabled at any time.
GitHub: https://github.com/wardcore-dev/onyx/releases/tag/v1.5-beta
Feedback is welcome!