Polyphony Cyberwitchery & Software
Providing free, open source communications technology and standards
A free and open source communications suite. Federated, decentralized, delightful to use.
About
Proprietary chat services suck. The Polyphony project aims to change that by developing polyproto, a federated identity and trusted message exchange protocol, as well chat software and -standards built on top of it.
With polyproto, users get a portable identity that works across servers. Your identity is cryptographically verified through your home server, meaning foreign servers you might chat on cannot impersonate you. If your home server shuts down or becomes untrustworthy, you can migrate to a new one without losing all your posts, messages, connections or other data. polyproto is designed to handle real-world problems first and foremost.
Our Goals
- Build a protocol that puts usability first: polyproto gives you a portable identity. Your home server issues cryptographic identity certificates that let you prove who you are on any server, without unauthorized entities being able to forge your identity. The protocol is extensible by design: polyproto-chat adds chat functionality on top of the core identity layer, and anyone can build and share their own extensions.
- Create modern, reliable and easy to use chat software: We are building sonata (a polyproto home server for identity federation), symfonia (a chat server implementing polyproto-chat), and a client to tie it all together. Our goal is a federated chat experience that feels at least as polished and easy to use as proprietary alternatives.
- Be open, stay open: Through the MPL-2.0 license, we ensure that our software can be used by anyone, for any(-ish) purpose. The only major thing we ask is that improvements and changes to our software stay open source as well. Our software should benefit the public, not corporations. Additionally, our Code of Conduct is a modified version of the Contributor Covenant, explicitly including otherkin and plural individuals and explicitly banning AI contributions.
Repositories
Here is an overview of some of the most interesting things we are currently working on:
| Repository | Description |
|---|---|
| polyproto-rs | Rust library for implementing polyproto-core. Handles identity certificates, message signing, and the core protocol logic. |
| sonata | Reference implementation of a polyproto-core home server. Manages user identities, issues certificates, and handles federation. |
| symfonia | Chat server implementing the polyproto-chat extension. Works alongside a polyproto-core home server, such as sonata. |
| client | Cross-platform desktop and mobile client for Polyphony. Currently on hold while we focus on the servers and protocol. |
| chorus | A Rust library for interacting with Spacebar-compatible services, such as Spacebar and Discord. |
| design | Open source design files and assets for the project. |
| polyproto-dot-org | Website source code & protocol specifications. |
Contributing
Contributions are always welcome! Please read the code of conduct and the contribution guidelines first. If you have any questions or would like to stay up to date on development progress, feel free to check out the below "Communications" section.
Communications
Zulip
We use Zulip to organize, chat, have banter and discuss. Join by clicking on this text! All the Zulip channels and topics revolving around Polyphony, polyproto and project governance are web-public, meaning that you can view them without having to sign up.
Codeberg
Codeberg is the Git Forge of our choice. We always get notified of new issues, PRs and comments on any of our repositories. Codeberg Issues are also an excellent place to voice your opinion, request features, ask questions, etc.!
Sponsors
We'd like to thank Zulip for providing our organization with their "Standard" tier paid hosting plan for free.
🏳️⚧️ Trans rights are human rights. Be gay, do crime and punch Nazis!
