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Arsene Huot
Arsene Huot

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I built an open-source Slack alternative you can self-host in minutes — OpenHive

#webdev #javascript #nextjs #opensource

Hey DEV community! 👋

I've been working on OpenHive, a fully open-source team messaging platform — think Slack, but self-hosted and free. I'm sharing it today because I need your help to make it better.

🔗 Links

What is OpenHive?

OpenHive is a real-time team messaging app built with Next.js, Supabase, and LiveKit. You can self-host it in minutes — just clone the repo, run npm run dev, and the setup wizard handles everything (database provisioning, tables, RLS policies, etc.).

No vendor lock-in, no hidden costs. Bring your own Supabase instance and you're good to go.

Features

Here's what's already built:

  • Real-time messaging — channels (public/private), DMs, group DMs, threaded replies
  • Rich text editor — bold, italic, code blocks, emoji picker (TipTap)
  • Video & audio calls — powered by LiveKit (open-source WebRTC), with screen sharing
  • File uploads — images and documents via Supabase Storage
  • @mentions with autocomplete
  • Slash commands — built-in (/shrug, /me) + custom webhook-based commands
  • Webhooks & bots — incoming/outgoing webhooks, bot framework
  • Email invitations — invite teammates via magic links
  • Activity feed — centralized notifications for mentions, DMs, reactions
  • Full-text search — Cmd+K quick navigation
  • Fully responsive — works on mobile, tablet, and desktop
  • Row Level Security — 23+ tables with fine-grained Supabase RLS policies

Tech Stack

Layer Tech
Frontend Next.js 16 (App Router), TypeScript
UI shadcn/ui + Tailwind CSS
Editor TipTap
State Zustand
Backend Supabase (PostgreSQL, Auth, Realtime, Storage)
Calls LiveKit (WebRTC)

Why open-source?

I believe team communication tools shouldn't lock you into expensive subscriptions or proprietary platforms. OpenHive is MIT licensed — use it, modify it, deploy it wherever you want.

We need contributors! 🙌

This is a community-driven project and every contribution matters. Whether you're a frontend dev, backend engineer, designer, or just want to improve the docs — there's room for everyone.

Some ideas for contributions:

  • Custom emoji support
  • Dark mode / themes
  • End-to-end encryption
  • PWA support
  • Internationalization (i18n)
  • Voice messages
  • Typing indicators

Check out the GitHub repo for the full roadmap, or just try the live demo and tell me what you think!

Star ⭐ the repo if you like the project — it really helps with visibility.

Thanks for reading, and happy coding! 🚀

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