Tigase XMPP Server

Tigase XMPP Server is a high‑performance, modular Java application designed for building scalable instant‑messaging and real‑time communication systems. Since its inception in 2004, Tigase has evolved into a lightweight yet feature‑rich platform that can run on a single JVM instance or be distributed across clusters. The core engine focuses on low‑latency message routing, efficient connection handling, and strict adherence to XMPP standards (XEP‑0045 for MUC, XEP‑0060/0163 for PubSub, etc.), making it suitable for both small deployments and enterprise‑grade services.

• Language & Runtime: Java 17+, compiled to a single executable JAR (~3 MB). The server relies on the JVM for garbage collection tuning, enabling fine‑grained control over memory usage.
• Core Modules: The architecture is split into components (MUC, PubSub, Socks5 Proxy) and connectors (TCP/SSL, WebSocket). Each component implements the XMPP protocol extensions via a plug‑in API, allowing developers to drop in new functionality without touching the core.
• Data Persistence: Tigase supports multiple backends—MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB (via the tigase-mongodb connector), and a lightweight embedded store. The persistence layer is abstracted through the StorageManager interface, enabling custom adapters.
• Event Bus & Sharding: Internally, Tigase uses a lightweight event bus for inter‑module communication. For horizontal scaling, it offers sharding through the XMPPCluster module, which coordinates session distribution across nodes via a shared datastore or an external cluster manager (e.g., ZooKeeper).

• XMPP Compliance: Full support for RFC‑6120/6121 and most XEPs, with optional modules that can be enabled at runtime. Developers can write custom components by implementing the Component interface and registering them in the configuration file.
• HTTP Management API: The tigase-http-api component exposes RESTful endpoints for user management, component lifecycle control, and statistics. A Jetty‑based variant (tigase-http-api-jetty) offers higher throughput for large clusters.
• Plugin System: The modular design allows adding or replacing modules via OSGi‑style bundles. The ComponentManager loads JARs from a specified directory, enabling hot deployment of new features.
• Webhooks & Callbacks: Through the HTTP API, developers can register webhooks for events such as user registration or message delivery. This facilitates integration with external services (CRM, analytics, notification systems).

• Self‑Hosting: Tigase requires only a JVM and the chosen datastore. The minimal footprint (≤ 3 MB) makes it ideal for containerized environments; official Docker images are available, and the server can be run as a systemd service.
• Scalability: Horizontal scaling is achieved via sharding and cluster coordination. Tigase can be deployed behind a load balancer (HAProxy, NGINX) with session stickiness or using the built‑in XMPP load balancer for WebSocket connections.
• Resource Efficiency: The engine uses non‑blocking I/O (NIO) and asynchronous processing, keeping CPU usage low even under heavy traffic. Memory consumption is tunable through JVM flags and optional off‑heap storage for session data.