JC BrandAs someone who's been working for years on pretty much exactly what you're talking about, I think you might be severely, underestimating how much work this really is.
Especially if you don't have much experience with modern web dev.
Why not get involved with an existing project?
If you don't like the Converse.js UI/UX and want something different, you can still use it in "headless" mode and build your own UI on top of it.
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