SpacebarChat - a selfhosted, Discord-compatible communication platform

⁨418⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Jozzo@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨selfhosted@lemmy.world⁩

https://github.com/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)

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Comments

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warmaster@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
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.

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- Evotech@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Discuss without voice, might ask use IRC
  
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  - interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Just use mumble for voice
    
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- chalupapocalypse@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Yeah I’d love to move my gang off discord but getting them to go back to team speak or vent is not happening
  
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  - Serinus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Mumble is another strong, open source, self-hosted option.
    
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  - Saff@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Same, if only teamspeak supported screen sharing / streaming, then it would be fine.
    
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helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
2 questions:

Does it stop all the incessant annoying pop-ups and fake notifications?

Does it prevent Discord from selling all of my personal information to ~~Open~~ClosedAI?
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- Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  As far as I can tell, it’s not Discord, but an open source alternative. So I don’t think it talks to regular discord servers, but you can use any Discord compatible client to talk to SpaceBarChat.
  
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  - helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    
    I don’t think it talks to regular discord servers
    
    So what does “Discord compatible” mean?
    
    I tried this back when it was “FOSSCORD” and it did indeed connect to Discord.
    
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- southsamurai@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Well, just glancing at it, it isn’t discord. It doesn’t connect to discord servers at all.
  
  What it does is replicate discord, in a way that allows users to still make use of things that discord users are already into. Bots in particular.
  
  So discord won’t have access to anything that goes on at all, unless you’re using something that also connects to discord.
  
  Pop-ups and fake notifications would have more to do with the client you’re using than the back-end would, so if you use a client that does those things, I wouldn’t bet on that changing.
  
  The caveat: I’m no dev of any kind, so I can’t say anything about the actual code, I’m basing this on their own description. I linked the page to my cousin that sometimes will give a quick scan for hinky shit for me, but there’s no telling if or when he’ll do so nd get back to me.
  
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parpol@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Why not just use Matrix? I thought it was the goto FOSS and decentralized Discord alternative.

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- scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  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
  
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  - Cenotaph@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Voice & screensharing seems to be the thing holding all of my friends chained to discord
    
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  - Ninmi@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    I think the original question is 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.
    
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  - JameUwU@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Did you try Cinny?
    
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  - milan@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    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?
    
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- Starbuncle@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Unusably laggy no matter what instance you use.
  
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  - milan@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    i cant confirm that. especially in the light of the new sliding sync implemented in elementx
    
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  - Ithral@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    My instance is pretty fast. Run Conduwuit as the server, problem solved
    
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- corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  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.
  
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simple@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
How does this compare to Revolt?

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- mystik@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Revolt is kinda “centralized”. You can host your own version, but they seem to actively discourage you from doing so.
  
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- AsudoxDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Very bad. Spacebar is nowhere as functional as Revolt.
  
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JameUwU@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
This looks interesting, and if they can get VC & E2EE it will definitely be something I’ll make the switch to from Matrix. As much as I love Matrix, it feels very messy and uncoordinated.

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HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
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.

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- Fredselfish@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Do you still have to use discord in order to use this?
  
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  - HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    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.
    
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Takeshidude@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Spacebar looks great, and is exactly what I want, but it doesn’t look close to production ready yet

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- Jozzo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  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.
  
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  - node815@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    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. :)
    
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recklessengagement@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
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.

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interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Cool, what are some alternative discord clients to use with it ?

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- Lemongrab@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  WebCord supports it.
  
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JoShmoe@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Why pick this over ArmCord?

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- 1boiledpotato@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Armcord is a discord client. Spacebar is a discord alternative (server+client)
  
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  - JoShmoe@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    So then no interaction with Discord?
    
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- keyez@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  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.
  
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  - Blxter@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    There is also vesktop on Linux aswell witch is what I use. But I’ve tried armcord and webcord before.
    
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milan@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
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…

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- shadeless@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  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)
  
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  - milan@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    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… .
    
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moonleay@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
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.

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- SirQuackTheDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  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
  
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  - moonleay@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    That would require a custom client and eliminate the drop in feature. Sadly just adding a toggle does not work :/
    
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corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
I’d look over the server install if the process had docs.

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- Jozzo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I found some here: docs.spacebar.chat/setup/server/#setup
  
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  - corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    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.
    
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UnspokenIdiot@lemmy.wtf ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
what about the screen sharing? muble for voice, matrix for communication but i cant find any suitable replacement for video

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