[opensourcedex]

Wire is a free, open source data security & privacy project written in several languages and released under GPL-3.0. It has 2,549 GitHub stars, 180 forks and 173 open issues, and was last pushed 9 months ago. On this registry it ranks #12 of 14 tracked projects in Data Security & Privacy, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 2 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

What is Wire?

What it is

Wire is an open-source secure collaboration platform whose GitHub overview repository gathers code for clients, encryption, audio/video/signaling, server components, and protocol definitions. It lives in the security and privacy ecosystem, specifically data security and privacy.

The project addresses the concrete problem of building and operating encrypted communication software across mobile, desktop, and web environments. It provides a public code base and documentation path for people who need to inspect, compile, or contribute to Wire clients and backend components under GPL-3.0.

Key capabilities

  • Wire is described as a secure collaboration platform with end-to-end encryption.
  • The project points to separate client code bases for iOS, Android, desktop, and web.
  • AVS provides the audio, video, and signaling library in ANSI C/C++, with cross-compilation for Android, iOS, and web/desktop through WASM.
  • Core Crypto contains the encryption layer, including the Axolotl protocol implementation and other cryptographic and utility libraries written in Rust.
  • Server components are located in the wire-server repository.
  • Protocol buffer definitions standardize communication between clients and between clients and the backend through generic-message-proto and backend-api-protobuf.
  • Privacy and security whitepapers explain the encryption algorithms and protocols used by the platform.

Who uses it and how

  • Developers building custom Wire clients can start from wire-ios, wire-android, wire-desktop, or wire-webapp.
  • Contributors working on media and signaling can use the AVS repository and the Java or Objective-C wrappers.
  • People studying or extending the cryptographic layer can use the core-crypto repository.
  • Backend users can inspect the wire-server repository for server components.
  • Teams that compile Wire open-source software and connect it to Wire servers must follow the Open Source App terms.

Getting started

The README does not list Docker images or package managers; it tells readers to build their own client from the linked repositories and to find server components in wire-server. Contributors must sign the Contributor Agreement before submitting source code, and bug reports go to support.wire.com.

When to use it — and when not to

Use it when you need a GPL-3.0 overview of Wire's open-source clients, encryption, AVS, server, and protocol definitions. Avoid it if you expect this repository alone to provide a ready-to-run deployment, because the README points to separate component repositories and gives no database, storage, SMTP, Docker, or package-manager instructions. If you connect a compiled client to Wire servers, you must accept Open Source App restrictions, including not changing server interactions, not weakening security, not storing unrelated data, and maintaining your own updates.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Wire™

Wire logo

Open source

The privacy page and the privacy and security whitepapers explain the details of the encryption algorithms and protocols used.

For licensing information, see the attached LICENSE file and the list of third-party licenses at wire.com.

If you compile the open source software that we make available from time to time to develop your own mobile, desktop or web application, and cause that application to connect to our servers for any purposes, we refer to that resulting application as an “Open Source App”. All Open Source Apps are subject to, and may only be used and/or commercialized in accordance with, the Terms of Use applicable to the Wire Application, which can be found at https://wire.com/legal/#terms. Additionally, if you choose to build an Open Source App, certain restrictions apply, as follows:

a. You agree not to change the way the Open Source App connects and interacts with our servers; b. You agree not to weaken any of the security features of the Open Source App; c. You agree not to use our servers to store data for purposes other than the intended and original functionality of the Open Source App; d. You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any and all updates to your Open Source App.

For clarity, if you compile the open source software that we make available from time to time to develop your own mobile, desktop or web application, and do not cause that application to connect to our servers for any purposes, then that application will not be deemed an Open Source App and the foregoing will not apply to that application.

No license is granted to the Wire trademark and its associated logos, all of which will continue to be owned exclusively by Wire Swiss GmbH. Any use of the Wire trademark and/or its associated logos is expressly prohibited without the express prior written consent of Wire Swiss GmbH.

Build your own Wire client

iOS

See wire-ios

Android

See wire-android

Desktop

See wire-desktop

Wire for Web

See wire-webapp

Components

AVS

The audio, video, and signaling (AVS) library of Wire is developed in ANSI C/C++. The code is cross compiled for Android, iOS and web/desktop (WASM). Wrappers for interaction with upstream modules are written in Java for Android and Objective-C for iOS.

Repositories

Core Crypto

The encryption layer of Wire, which contains the Axolotl protocol implementation and other cryptographic and utility libraries. These are developed in Rust, then cross-compiled for iOS, Android and web/desktop (WASM).

Repositories

Server

The Wire server components can be found in the wire-server repository.

Common definitions

Protocol buffer definitions are used by all clients to communicate with each other and with the backend.

Repositories

  • generic-message-proto: Protocol buffer definitions that are part of the cross-platform client communication protocol
  • backend-api-protobuf: Protocol buffer definitions that are part of the backend communication protocol

Contributions

You can contribute to Wire in several ways:

Finding bugs

If you find a bug in how Wire apps work, please submit a ticket to our support and we will keep you informed about the progress.

Contributing to the code

If you wish to contribute source code to one of our repositories you have to sign our Contributor Agreement first.

We accept only bug fixes and code improvements. We cannot accept new features, UI or UX changes – these are decided on and built by the Wire development team.

When you submit your first pull request, you can sign the agreement electronically by filling in the required information. You will not have to sign it again for subsequent pull requests from the same GitHub account.

Translating the apps

You can help with the crowdsourced translations of Wire apps on Crowdin.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wire free to use?

Wire is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Wire do?

Secure collaboration platform with end-to-end encryption

What is Wire written in?

Wire's source is publicly available at https://github.com/wireapp/wire, with 2,549 GitHub stars.