3mo ago

SpacebarChat - a selfhosted, Discord-compatible communication platform

github.com GitHub - spacebarchat/spacebarchat: 📬 Spacebar is a free open source selfhostable discord compatible communication platform

📬 Spacebar is a free open source selfhostable discord compatible communication platform - spacebarchat/spacebarchat

Spacebar is a free, opensource selfhostable discord-compatible chat, voice and video platform.

Discord-compatible (Use all your custom clients/bots with minimal changes)
Selfhostable (Server)
Open Source (GitHub Organization)
Configurable (Configure every aspect and limits to your needs)
Decentralized (no abuse of power and doesn't have a single point of failure)
Extendable (secure and cross-platform plugin system)
Themeable (cross-platform theme system with design editor)
Secure (publicly audited and hosted FOSS software for transparent foundation in terms of security)

78 comments

https://docs.spacebar.chat/faq/
Currently there is no voice or video support in any Spacebar instance. This is a very difficult feature to get working, especially given that we must implement it the exact same way as Discord.com for client compatibility. We would be incredibly thankful for any assistance.
Damn.
- Discuss without voice, might aswell use IRC
  
  Just use mumble for voice
- Yeah I'd love to move my gang off discord but getting them to go back to team speak or vent is not happening
  
  Mumble is another strong, open source, self-hosted option.
  
  Same, if only teamspeak supported screen sharing / streaming, then it would be fine.

Why not just use Matrix? I thought it was the goto FOSS and decentralized Discord alternative.
- Matrix doesn't offer the same experience as discord. I'm sorry but it doesn't. I set up my own to compare to see if my friend group would like it, and it was quite a step backwards. Even in it's best platform element it was missing a lot of stuff from discord.
  So, things like this I'd be very interested to watch. Revolt looked the most promising but it didn't offer federation, and I wasn't going to make everyone have a separate accountjust for our server
  So this will be interesting. I will need at least voice to get them to come over, but I'll watch this project closely
  
  Voice & screensharing seems to be the thing holding all of my friends chained to discord
  
  I think the original question could be about the protocol. Why not use Matrix as the protocol for the project? No one is doing the work to bring a Matrix-based Discord alternative because they're a) on Discord b) creatin IRC face-lifts like Element c) refusing to quit IRC d) making projects with bespoke protocols like this one. It's incredibly frustrating.
  
  i can agree with regards to a proper threads/forum feature which is not that amazing in element right now… but it appears we are moving fast towards element call integration everywhere. this means p2p video rooms if i am not mistaken. is there something else except user friendliness in ux that could be better?
- Unusably laggy no matter what instance you use.
  
  My instance is pretty fast. Run Conduwuit as the server, problem solved
  
  i cant confirm that. especially in the light of the new sliding sync implemented in elementx. it’s a nightmare for admins but for users it should be fine
- I looked at matrix but the server setup was janky -- enamoured of the current mayfly shine tools, and when I saw mumble install cleanly on my tiny arm box it was a sea change. No longer have the tiny arm box but I still run mumble.
  I'd be super happy if it and its polite codecs were brought into the fed but I haven't been paying attention.

How does this compare to Revolt?
- Revolt is kinda “centralized”. You can host your own version, but they seem to actively discourage you from doing so.
- Very bad. Spacebar is nowhere as functional as Revolt.

is there any sort of way to have the chat logs be public and searchable? the worst thing about discord being a walled garden is that all the info on it can only be accessed by a discord client.
- Do you still have to use discord in order to use this?
  
  I think the idea here is that you are running your own discord, and only people with modded clients can use it because its not approved by discord.

I've been trying to find a more privacy-friendy alternative to Discord but I keep coming back to the issue of screen sharing. No other platform does it as smoothly.
The best I've found is using Parsec with some virtual audio cables to avoid voice feedback.

Spacebar looks great, and is exactly what I want, but it doesn't look close to production ready yet
- Yep it's not near finished. This is one of those projects that's sat in my "keep an eye on it" bookmarks for a good while, I figured I'd post it to get some attention on it, because it does look very promising.
  
  I test installed it in Proxmox in a Debian 12 LXC for the sever part, it was fairly easy, just run three commands. The client was as well, but failed to do something with the email during registration. It has a while longer to go I think. But I put it in my bookmarks to visit every so often as well. :)

Why pick this over ArmCord?
- Armcord is a discord client. Spacebar is a discord alternative (server+client)
  
  So then no interaction with Discord?
- Just now heard of armcord which I'm going to give a shot on Linux here soon but looks like armcord is just a client, while this is a server as well.
  
  There is also vesktop on Linux aswell witch is what I use. But I've tried armcord and webcord before.

Cool, what are some alternative discord clients to use with it ?
- WebCord supports it.

I'd look over the server install if the process had docs.
- I found some here: https://docs.spacebar.chat/setup/server/#setup
  
  In 5 steps it violates ISO27002 3 times.
  I'd say any setup result is purely accidental on the way to something far more exciting.

This is cool to see, though I am sceptical, if it is a good idea to create a drop-in discord server, because this does not allow for the project to add E2EE "easily" without eliminating the drop-in capability.
- It's a convenience over privacy thing. If the api is discord compatible you lose the e2e on that channel / server, or make the api e2e but then existing bots need modifying
  I could see this being a toggle

what about the screen sharing? muble for voice, matrix for communication but i cant find any suitable replacement for video

is it… of value having something like this while matrix and element is a thing? i find these things interesting, but not sure if they are justifyable to deploy…
- For me, the benefit of discord is not the text chat but the voice aspect. With push to talk/voice activated transmission and low latency for gaming.
  The voice features of matrix are more of a conference call thing.
  Until this gets implemented in matrix (not sure if ever) I'll continue hosting mumble (or TeamSpeak)
  
  interesting... but i understand the appeal of quickly jumping into a voice room. other than that, of course not as fancy of a ux experience, mumble would be quite suitable here... .

78 comments