this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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GitHub - spacebarchat/spacebarchat: πŸ“¬ Spacebar is a free open source selfhostable discord compatible communication platform (github.com)
submitted 2 days ago by moonpiedumplings@programming.dev to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
43 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Has anyone tried this? It's discord reverse engineered.

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[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 72 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I set this container up yesterday. Technically it's running. But all the settings are in the fucking sql db, and I know fuck all about sql other than drop tables is funny meme from xkcd. But also, ignoring the settings, I would like to point out that there is effectively no client. I mean, there are two official ones - the depreciated one, and the alpha one, and the alpha one has a total of 4 releases with the newest being two years ago. How do you deprecate a client when the server is still in alpha? What the fuck? And on all pages it screams 'this is alpha testing software, do not use as a daily'. Also the docs are, uhh... rough. If rough was falling 4 stories into a bed of poisonous cacti. It took me 3 hours to get the container running properly and finally poking at the db. It's as organized as my bedroom ('it's somewhere in this dresser, I think...').

The idea, the potential, is brilliant. Literally everything about getting it working though...

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 34 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Lots of great software ideas out there. It’s always the execution, availability of resources, and the reality of capitalism getting in the way.

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 8 points 2 days ago

Until I get in the way of capitalism (with a shotgun)

[–] Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

You can use the WebCord app for Spacebar.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I don't see any options or mention of changing instances, beyond discord canary and public testing...? I might be blind

[–] CoreLabJoe@piefed.ca 66 points 2 days ago (4 children)

HHhhmm... Do container/docker install option. This is why it's probably stagnated in adoption from the selfhosted community.

It needs a container based install, no one likes installing dependencies and crud onto their pristine environments any longer.

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 35 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's just not mentioned prominently https://github.com/spacebarchat/docker

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

last commit 3yrs ago.. seems unmaintained

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 77 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Docker compose's don't really need to be maintained though. As long as the app doesn't need new components old docker composes should work.

EDIT: Oops, it does look like spacebarchat's docker images have last been updated over 2 years ago:

https://hub.docker.com/r/spacebarchat/server

EDIT2: Although this is outdated, I think their github repo has an action to autobuild docker images on pushes. Still investigating.

EDIT3: Okay, they don't seem to be actually ran.

But using nix to build a docker image is pretty cool.

EDIT4: Oh shit, the docker image build workflows were added just 2 hours ago. Of course they haven't been ran!

Docker support soon, probably.

EDIT5: the workflow ran, but it looks like it's private for now.

[–] Railcar8095@lemmy.world 65 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You got my heart racing with the twists!

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 19 points 2 days ago

Right? Reading that was like watching an action movie!

[–] rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Perhaps more relevantly, the Docker image itself has not been updated in over 2 years: https://hub.docker.com/r/spacebarchat/server

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 9 points 2 days ago

Faster than my edits, I see.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s weird that the server has a .dockerignore file without a Dockerfile.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

Seems like they’re working on Docker build actions right now according to some other comments

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

no one likes installing dependencies and crud onto their pristine environments any longer

It just depends, however, containers sure do make things a lot cleaner.

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago

I do. I just completed pulling the core piped components (piped-backend, -frontend and -prox as well as -html-proxy) from Docker to native installs from the AUR, as well as installing searxng without a venv. Spacebar (the server and client) even have AUR pkgs, but they're unmaintained... I'm gonna change that.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Why would one use this rather than just using something like Matrix or self-hosted Stoat? I'm not sure what it being "Discord compatible" really gets this project. Bot compatibility is nice, but aren't most Discord bots closed source anyway?

[–] Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Because Stoat is also riddled with problems and Matrix is a dysfunctional hot mess.

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 16 hours ago

I mean, if you want Matrix AND that it works, you just install ejabberd or prosody and go on with your life. But then there's nothing fancy to report or brag about, it just works.

[–] traxex@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How is Matrix dysfunctional?

[–] Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 2 days ago

Where do I even start…

  • The verification process constantly breaks
  • Sessions get randomly unverified
  • Pictures aren't being send occasionally
  • Their client is a UI/UX catastrophe
  • Room Events are incompatible (esp. w/ Element X)
  • The "experimental" voice rooms are total trash, settings are not working (e.g. auto-gain can't be disabled)
  • The Calls via Jitsi somehow have a worse UX than Skype had in its worst days
  • The verification via emojis uses different emoji styles, missing the point completely
  • Due to the session mess "Can't decrypt message" will be your best friend
  • Even if you got a verified session it sometimes fails to decrypt a message
  • The federation is SLOW. As in "wait many many minutes" slow.
  • The whole Spaces-with-detached-rooms concept is a mess
  • There're no proper moderation tools
  • There isn't even a god damn admin panel! For the longest time you had to MANUALLY CURL THE API. Even today you have to mess with third-party admin panels that usually don't have all options exposed
  • Encryption is nice, but Matrix leaking tons of metadata isn't.
  • They effectively stopped developing the Element client in favour of Element X, which isn't available in desktop. And also loves to break during verification.
  • Third-party clients sometimes work better, but certainly don't expect anything but text chats with pictures there.

I really tried to like it, I even attempted to move a community over, attempted to self-host, all the jazz. It's a steaming mess for years now with no end in sight, and literally everyone who tried it eventually left disenchanted. Don't even bother trying it.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In the proper timeline the superior proprietary platform Axon beat out Discord.

[–] Willdrick@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

The cumulative hours we've lost screwing around with the manual placement spacial audio on Axon... When it went tits up we switched to Mumble tho

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Well, Stoat sucks and has no vision or history of reasonably paced development. So, it’s more of a vaporware wish then actual software.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Decentralized (no abuse of power and doesn't have a single point of failure)

There is a direct server though, is it federated? The readme doesn't say it's federated at all

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It's not federated, just easy to self host and point custom clients at.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's too bad, that's a hard line for me, it has to have the option of federation.

Also, so it's a direct server, so it is centralized, there's nothing decentralized about it

[–] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It is decentralized in the respect that communities run their own servers, in comparison to discord where there is an overarching corporation managing everything

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 1 day ago

But that's not decentralized. It's the same as discord, only instead of a corporation now you have a server admin.

[–] Lumisal@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are you sure? Because they also seem to be behind Fermi which sounds federated

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 7 points 2 days ago

Fermi is just a custom client for discord/spacebar. It's not federated.

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

3 years of abandonment? Absolutely not.

[–] SleveMcDichael@programming.dev 8 points 2 days ago

Where are you getting three years of abandonment from? The branding repo OP linked was last updated 10 months ago, while the server repo appears to have had pretty steady development for the last month at least (as far back as I bothered checking on mobile)

[–] Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This wont go anywhere until they have an app that is easy to download. And then everyone says Revolt/Stoat but that doesnt even fucking work cause their verification system is ass (probably because they use gen AI to code) and also is difficult to download the mobile app

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Stoat has 3rd party clients that are easy to install, I already got the Clerotri app downloaded directly from Accrescent on GrapheneOS (although I believe they have an F-Droid release).

[–] Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Still has AI generated code. I tried setting up an account and despite it saying the email to verify your account would take up to 10 minutes, it actually would take hours. And I can't sign up with my proton email (managed to get it to work with my gmail), while my friend cant get it to verify with their gmail.

Edit: Also have I have not found clients on fdroid or aurora store. I could only find the old Revolt app by adding its own fdroid repository and it hasnt been updated in years

[–] Yttra@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Does any of that actually indicate AI generated code, or was that just unrelated/speculation?

I feel I can't really blame them for having horribly delayed verification, thanks to the sudden influx of users. I signed up nearly a year ago and it was normal then.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Ah on the storefront side, sorry. I made an educated guess, but I guess it's not a good one XD.

Here is the Stoat/Revolt wiki with a complete list of clients (official and 3rd party) that you can check btw: https://wiki.rvlt.gg/index.php/Stoat_Clients

I wasn't aware of the AI-generated code part, I'll take a look at source to verify.

[–] ulkesh@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Doesn't seem terribly well-maintained.

EDIT>> As was properly pointed out to me, I was judging based on the wrong repo. The server repo indeed has work being done on it, so it looks like this is getting updates and moving forward.

[–] priapus@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is just a link to the branding repo. There isnt much to maintain in there.

[–] ulkesh@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

I see, thank you. I withdraw my comment since the server repo certainly looks more maintained. The client repo seems stale, but the software does seem to be getting work on it, so that's great!

[–] rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago

The Spacebar alternative client, Fermi, is more actively maintained from my understanding

https://fermi.chat/ https://github.com/MathMan05/Fermi