Chatto is Now Open Source!

I am thrilled to announce that Chatto, the team and group communication platform I've been developing over the last year, has officially gone Open Source. It is now available for anyone to deploy and self-host.

🚀 Quick Start

The most efficient way to get Chatto up and running is via Homebrew:

brew install chattocorp/tap/chatto
chatto init
chatto run

For a more comprehensive walkthrough, please refer to the official Getting Started Guide.

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A Better Way to Chat

Chatto was built with a simple goal: to be a group chat application that users actually enjoy.

"You know the ones... the app that rhymes with 'knack', the one that rhymes with 'beams', or the one that rhymes with 'this gourd'."

(It's a strange way to put it, but the open-source chat landscape has become quite eccentric!)

If you want to see the platform in action, feel free to visit the Chatto HQ Community!

Technical Highlights

Chatto is engineered for effortless self-hosting on your own hardware. In its simplest form, you just execute the binary and you're live.

• Performance: It is extremely resource-efficient and features what is likely the snappiest frontend you've encountered in this category.
• Privacy First: Data protection is paramount. All chat and personal information is encrypted at rest.
  • Encryption uses per-user keys.
  • When an account is deleted, these keys are $\text{shredded} \rightarrow \emptyset$.
• Architecture: Each server hosts one distinct community. There is no data federation between servers, and there is absolutely no third-party tracking or analytics.

Connection Logic

If you belong to multiple communities, the client establishes direct connections to each server independently.

Communication Features

Chatto includes integrated support for:

1. Voice Calls
2. Video Conferencing
3. Screen-Sharing

These calls are fully end-to-end encrypted (E2EE). The capacity for participants scales linearly based on your hardware: $\text{Capacity} \propto \text{Infrastructure Resources}$.

Availability: You can start for free today. Binaries are provided for:

• Linux (x86_64 and ARM64)
• macOS
• Windows

Check the Self-Hosting Documentation to begin.

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Introducing Chatto Cloud

For those who prefer a managed experience over manual hosting, I am excited to announce that Chatto Cloud will soon enter public beta.

Chatto Cloud is a straightforward service: we provide paid hosting for your Chatto servers, and that's it.

Note: Chatto Cloud launches with infrastructure located entirely in Europe, with additional global regions planned for early 2027. Because servers are 100% compatible, you can migrate your data in or out of the cloud at any time.

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Current Status & Roadmap

While I believe Chatto is stable enough for production environments, some key features are still in development.

Upcoming in Chatto 0.5:

• Enhanced safety tools (moderation and content reporting).
• Client-side polishing.
• Improved multi-server UX.

Warning: Because the project is evolving, there may be occasional breaking changes. If you self-host, please stay diligent with updates.

Get in Touch

This has been an incredible journey, and I can't wait to see where it goes.

• Self-hosters: I want to hear about your experience! Join us at the Chatto HQ community.
• Organizations: If you are interested in using Chatto for an Open Source project or a company, please reach out. I'd love to help you get configured.

Useful Links

• Chatto HQ Community (Check out the #self-hosting channel!)
• Self-Hosting Documentation
• GitHub Repository
• Chatto on Bluesky
• Newsletter: Subscribe to the announcements newsletter for beta notifications and release updates. It is very low-volume ($\approx 1$ email/month).