[kichuku]

This does not directly answer your question. But there is a way using third party software.

You can use "https://telegram.org" telegram messsenger.

It works flawlessly from the cli.

Yes, you cannot use it if you don't want your chats to pass through a third party server. But maybe you can try out the "secret chat" feature with auto destroy feature.

The traditional options have already been listed by others here. I just wanted to tell something which is easy to setup and also reliable.

[dorfsmay]

Doesn't telegram require that you use a cell phone number to register? OP wants to have ssh as the only requirement.