Fediverse-adjacent curiosity project: a bridge that syncs messages between a Discord channel and a Matrix room, in both directions. Which is really an excuse to study how two very different chat protocols model presence, edits and reactions.
// one-way is easy; the hard part is edits/replies in flight
matrix.on(RoomEvent.Timeline, (ev) => {
if (ev.getType() === 'm.room.message') relayToDiscord(bridgeMessage(ev));
});Notes from the bridge
- Matrix events are stateful; Discord messages are append-mostly. Mapping edits means replaying state, not letting events fall through.
- WebSocket reconnection makes or breaks it — exponential backoff is non-negotiable.
- Done in TypeScript because two SDKs in JavaScript would have been chaos.
It taught me more about protocol design than a month of specs. Battle scars: gaps in message history when the bridge breathes.