Your community.
Your hardware. Your rules.
A Discord-style platform you actually own — messaging on Matrix, files on IPFS, running on a computer you control. One command to install. No domain required, no account with anybody, no landlord.
v0.1.0 alpha — chat, files, invites & moderation work; voice and E2EE are next
Three lines and about ten minutes
On any spare computer — an old laptop, a Raspberry Pi, a mini PC in a closet. The installer generates every password, sets up the database, and tells you where to point your browser.
git clone https://github.com/Formicaria/SOVRGNnet.cc.git sovrgnnet
cd sovrgnnet
./install.sh
It asks one real question: whether this is just for your house, or
whether friends should reach it over the internet. Pick the second and
you get a public https:// link in about a minute —
with no account anywhere and no domain of your own.
Full walkthrough →
Why sovereign?
Every major chat platform rents your community back to you. SOVRGNnet takes the parts worth keeping — servers, channels, the flow of a good conversation — and puts them on foundations nobody can take away.
Runs on your metal
Docker Compose or plain systemd services — your choice. A homelab node, a Proxmox container, or a small VPS is all it takes.
Open protocol underneath
Every message is a Matrix event on your own homeserver. Federate with the wider Matrix network — or don't. It ships closed.
Identity you control
Accounts live in your database, not a third-party auth cloud. Passwords are scrypt-hashed; sessions are httpOnly cookies.
Files without a middleman
Attachments pin to your own IPFS node and stream back through the app with membership checks. No upload service, no dead links.
Familiar where it counts
Server rail, channel list, message pane, member list. Invites, roles, reactions, editing. You already know how to use it.
MIT, end to end
The whole platform is open source. Read it, fork it, run your own instance for your own people.
How it works
A thin, opinionated layer over boring, proven pieces. The app owns identity and community structure; Matrix owns message transport; IPFS owns file content. Postgres indexes it all.
1 · A server is a Space
Creating a community creates a Matrix Space on your homeserver;
every channel is a room inside it, starting with
#general.
2 · The server is the client
The browser never touches Matrix directly. The app provisions a Matrix account per user and acts on their behalf — one identity, permissions enforced server-side on every read and write.
3 · Nothing listens on your router
Public access, when you want it, runs over an outbound-only tunnel. No forwarded ports, no exposed home IP.
The longer version, including what's deliberately not there →
What it isn't, yet
Worth knowing before you trust it with anything that matters.
Also missing today: voice and video channels, password reset by email, and mobile apps. This is alpha software written in the open. The roadmap says what's coming and in what order.
The stack
Chosen for longevity and self-hostability, not fashion.