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)
  • warmaster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.showEnglish
      44·
      2 months 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.

    • southsamurai@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      22·
      2 months 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.

  • parpol@programming.devEnglish
    383·
    2 months ago

    Why not just use Matrix? I thought it was the goto FOSS and decentralized Discord alternative.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      691·
      2 months 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

      • Cenotaph@mander.xyzEnglish
        25·
        2 months ago

        Voice & screensharing seems to be the thing holding all of my friends chained to discord

      • Ninmi@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        121·
        2 months ago

        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.

        • teawrecks@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          This one is clearly made to look like slack, which is great I need to try this out. Just wish someone would make one that looks like disc. And then matrix needs screensharing support.

            • teawrecks@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              3·
              2 months ago

              TBH both disc and slack have their downsides, disc more so, so I’m fine if they just take the best of all worlds.

              But yeah, screensharing is the deciding factor for me. As much as all my friends hate discord, we use screensharing all the time (it’s just a bit jankier getting it working on Linux).

      • Milan@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        1·
        2 months 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?

      • Milan@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        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

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      2 months 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.

    • mystik@lemmy.worldEnglish
      221·
      2 months ago

      Revolt is kinda “centralized”. You can host your own version, but they seem to actively discourage you from doing so.

      • rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
        81·
        2 months ago

        Can you explain your opinion of the differences? A friend and I are interested in learning more about Discord alternatives that we can get our less tech-savvy friends to switch to.

          • teawrecks@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            21·
            2 months ago

            Does it work now? I tried it around a year ago and couldn’t get voice to work at all. It even had a message saying they were in the process of rewriting their voice streaming backend, and the legacy path may just be broken.

            • cevn@lemmy.worldEnglish
              3·
              2 months ago

              When I tried it seemed to work but I was by myself so not a very good test. Screen sharing was not working tho and their approach to self hosting (don’t do it or use our 200 docker containers) turned me off.

  • HappyTimeHarry@lemm.eeEnglish
    10·
    2 months 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.

      • HappyTimeHarry@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        2 months 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.

  • recklessengagement@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    2 months 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.

  • Takeshidude@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    Spacebar looks great, and is exactly what I want, but it doesn’t look close to production ready yet

    • Jozzo@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months 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.

      • node815@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 months 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. :)

  • UnspokenIdiot@lemmy.wtfEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

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

  • moonleay@feddit.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 months 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.

    • SirQuackTheDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 months 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

      I could see this being a toggle

      • moonleay@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        That would require a custom client and eliminate the drop in feature. Sadly just adding a toggle does not work :/

  • Milan@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    46·
    2 months 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…

    • shadeless@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      2 months 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)

      • Milan@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        2·
        2 months 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… .