Glossary
Messaging Protocol
The agreed set of rules that defines how a chat or messaging system formats, addresses, transports, orders and acknowledges messages between clients and servers.
General definition
A messaging protocol, or chat protocol, is the standard that governs how messages are structured, addressed, transported, ordered and acknowledged in a communication system. It defines how a client authenticates, how a message is framed, how presence and typing state are shared, and how delivery is confirmed.
- XMPP, an open, extensible and federatable chat and presence protocol
- MQTT and AMQP, lightweight publish and subscribe and enterprise messaging
- Matrix, a federated real-time communication protocol
- RCS and SMS, carrier-operated mobile messaging
- Proprietary protocols inside closed consumer apps
Protocols usually run over a transport such as a WebSocket or raw TCP. The protocol you choose shapes what a system can do: openness, scale, offline delivery, group semantics and security all follow from it.
In the Ethora ecosystem
Ethora is built on XMPP plus a curated set of extensions, packaged as the Ethora Chat Protocol, so developers get structured messaging, rooms, presence and history without designing a protocol themselves. The Chat SDK hides the protocol behind simple client APIs.
Because the protocol is open and standards-based, an Ethora deployment avoids lock-in and can be self-hosted with full control of the messaging layer and its data.
