Chirp – An Electron-Based Twitter Client for Linux

Twitter is arguably the biggest social media network after Facebook and that comes to us as no surprise since it is clear how it appeals to many users as not just a social site for exchanging photos but also as one to that helps one stay updated with online news and connected to various networking services.

Staying online to use Twitter was going to b a challenge because of its constant refresh schedules and the average price of data around the globe. But then Twitter Lite, a PWA, came in and put a smile on our faces.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web-based app that load constantly and still work over not-so-strong network connections, have support for push notifications, a modern UI/UX, and go easy on mobile data in general.

So Twitter Lite is such a PWA that lets Twitter users use as little as 1 MB of data even though it feels and functions like Twitter. Chirp, has now come onto the scene to provide Linux users with an easy means to use Twitter while maintaining a healthy data plan.

Chirp is a free and open-source cross-platform Twitter client built using Electron with support for basic edit options like copy, paste, undo; and web link and image previews in modal windows.

Features in Chirp

• FOSS – free and open-source.
• Cross-platform – run Chirp on Windows, MacOS and Linux desktops.
• Responsive window – looks nice irrespective of window size.
• Support for older browsers as it works without JavaScript.
• Support for assistive technologies e.g. braille.
• Support for major browsers – IE9+, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome.

While the application comes with a eye candy UI, it lacks a good number of features like shortcut commands to retweet, like, new tweet and Twitter Lite’s push notifications, meaning you shouldn’t expect to get live notifications about mentions, messages, replies, etc.

Chirp is available for 64-bit Linux only and is provided as a binary file from which you can extract the .zip file and double-click ‘Chirp’ to run it.

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Chirp is relatively new so I’m sure all its major missing features will come to it sooner or late.

In the mean time, however, tell me what Twitter desktop clients you use on your workstation and what you think about Chirp in the comments section.