nmrih-crosschat-webrelay

PHP relay for nmrih-crosschat, the cross-server chat plugin for SourceMod servers.

Overview

The relay is a single self-contained PHP endpoint that buffers chat messages and serves them to every polling game server. It stores messages in a local JSON file with exclusive locking — no database, no Redis, no dependencies beyond PHP itself.

Data files carry a PHP guard prefix, so direct web access to them returns 404 regardless of web server configuration. The auth token is generated as a UUID v7 on first run and persisted automatically.

Requirements

• PHP 8.5 or newer (enforced at runtime, older versions are rejected with HTTP 500)

Installation

1. Download and extract the attached archive.
2. Upload api.php and config.php to any directory of your PHP host — the site root or any subdirectory both work.
3. Make sure the directory is writable by PHP (a data/ folder is created automatically next to api.php).
4. Open the relay once in a browser, e.g. https://your.domain/api.php — an invalid token response confirms it is alive.
5. Read the generated token from data/token.json.php (open the file on the server; a browser only shows 404) and set it as sm_crosschat_token on every game server.

Optionally deny web access to the data/ directory at the web server level for defense in depth:

location /data/ {
    return 404;
}

Configuration

All settings live in config.php:

return [
    // Shared secret token. Leave empty to auto-generate a UUID v7 token:
    // the relay creates data/token.json.php on first access; copy its value
    // into sm_crosschat_token on every game server.
    'token' => '',

    // Maximum message length in characters (plugin truncates first, relay rejects larger)
    'max_message_length' => 128,

    // Maximum player name length in characters
    'max_name_length' => 64,

    // Maximum server id length in characters
    'max_server_id_length' => 32,

    // Seconds before messages expire from the buffer (must exceed fetch interval)
    'message_retention' => 600,

    // Hard cap of buffered messages (protects memory under flood)
    'max_buffer_size' => 1000,
];

You may set your own token instead of using the generated one — any string works, UUID v7 recommended.

API

The endpoint accepts POST or GET, form-encoded:

Action	Parameters	Response
send	token, sid, name, auth, msg	{"ok":true,"id":N}
fetch	token, sid, since	{"ok":true,"last":N,"msgs":[{"i":N,"s":"S2","a":123,"n":"Name","m":"text"},...]}

fetch returns only messages newer than since that were not sent by the requesting server itself. auth=0 marks a server console message; positive values are player Steam IDs.

HTTPS is strongly recommended — the token travels with every request. The plugin verifies certificates against the CA bundle shipped with the REST in Pawn extension.

Version Compatibility

The relay and the plugin share a protocol. Always deploy versions from the same release on both sides.

License

This project is licensed under the GPL-3.0 License.