Your Community Engine
Your Imagination.

What is Bzl?

Bzl is a self-hosted community platform built around boards and live chat rooms — designed to give the host full control over how their space works.It’s not a SaaS.
It’s not algorithm-owned.
It’s not ad-driven.
It’s not paywalled into usefulness.You install it.
You run it.
You decide what it becomes.At its core, Bzl gives you:• Board-style posts (“Hives”) that each contain their own live chat
• Collections (curated categories/tabs)
• Roles and moderation tools
• Profiles with bios, pronouns, theme songs, links
• Reactions, mentions, DMs
• Media uploads (images, GIFs, audio)
• Optional TTL (time-based auto-expiration, if your community wants it)
• Walkie Talkie mode (audio-only chat rooms)
• Password-protected rooms
• Read-only modes
• Full moderation logs
• Self-hosted persistenceIt’s a lightweight, community-first foundation.The ephemerality? Optional.
Permanent rooms? Allowed.
Private gated collections? Yes.
Invite-only? Yes.
Small creative circle? Yes.
Larger moderated server? Also yes.

• Source Code on GitHub
• Get Bzl on Itch.io
• Go to Official Bzl Instance

Then There’s Plugins.

The plugin system turns Bzl from “a platform” into “a toolkit.”Plugins can:• Add new UI panels
• Add new WebSocket events
• Add new moderation capabilities
• Add new rendering systems
• Add new interaction layersThat’s where things like:– The Maps system
– TTRPG Mode
– PDF Viewer
– Collaborative Notes
– Mini-games
– Study tools
– Dev tools
– ARG overlays
– Federation bridges…come in.The base app is stable and usable on its own.Plugins are how the community stretches it.

Our Philosphy

Bzl exists because control matters.Not in a dystopian way.
Not in a power-trip way.
In a creative way.If it’s your community, your friends, your study group, your weird niche obsession — you should be able to shape the space around it.Most platforms today give you a template and say, “Here. You can customize this much.”
Bzl says, “Here’s the engine. Build the rest.”

Why Self-Hosted?

Why Self-Hosted?Because ownership changes behavior.When you host your own space:There are no surprise policy shifts.No algorithm deciding what gets seen.No ads creeping in.No feature gating.No “this is now premium.”It’s your server.
Your rules.
Your responsibility.That means yes — you assume the hosting cost.
Yes — you manage your moderation.
Yes — you decide who enters.And that’s the point.Autonomy isn’t free. But it’s powerful.

Why Open Source?

Because trust shouldn’t require blind faith.You can read the code.
You can fork it.
You can change it.
You can remove parts you don’t like.
You can extend it in ways I never imagined.Bzl isn’t meant to be a product you consume.It’s meant to be infrastructure you build on.If someone improves it? Amazing.
If someone makes a wild plugin that pushes it further? Even better.
If someone rewrites half of it for their own needs? That’s part of the design.The idea is bigger than any single build.

• Details

Why Free?

Because the core should never be paywalled.Bzl doesn’t charge you to:Create roomsModerate your communityCustomize your spaceAdd pluginsRemove limitationsThere’s no “Pro tier” for basic autonomy.If you want to support development, that’s welcome.
If you want to commission plugins from other developers, that’s cool too.
But the foundation stays free.Freedom shouldn’t be metered.

What Bzl Believes

• Small communities matter.
• Weird niche spaces deserve infrastructure.
• Software should be extensible.
• Hosts should control their own environments.
• Features shouldn’t be artificially gated.
• A platform can be a tool, not a trap.Bzl isn’t trying to replace every social platform.It’s trying to give you one that’s yours.