Effortless self-hosted cloud with peer-to-peer sync

Open it in your browser: no account, no server, working offline in one click.

--------

Spacewave runs [in your browser] with no servers: a private, encrypted workspace running entirely on your own machine: no account, no setup, no server to run. Syncs peer-to-peer between your devices and works offline.

As your work grows, the workspace becomes a Space: shared encrypted state for files, notes, apps, layouts, devices, and workflows. Spaces are multiplayer: invite people into one and work in it together, live.

You choose where your data lives and how it moves. Store it on your machines, in your browser, on your own server, or in a cloud you pick, and sync over any network your devices can reach. A paid account adds managed cloud storage and relay, $8/month for 100 GB; the app works without one, and the cloud never owns your work.

Make it your own with the same machinery the app is made of: a Go, TypeScript, React, and WebAssembly stack where every app is local-first, multiplayer, and encrypted by default.

Features:

• Spaces: One shared place for your files, notes, apps, devices, and workflows
• Multiplayer: Invite people into a Space and work in it together, live
• Peer-to-Peer Sync: Sync directly between your devices and keep working offline
• Any Network: Connect over WebRTC, WebSocket, LAN, or relay - whatever your devices can reach
• Pluggable Storage: Keep data on your machines, in your browser, or in any backend you choose
• End-to-End Encrypted: Storage, sync, and collaboration are private by default
• Open-Source Full Stack: Build your own apps and plugins with Go, TypeScript, React, and WebAssembly

- Files, databases, notes, and document collaboration - Chat and messaging - Terminal access and remote control of your devices - [SkiffOS] for building and managing Linux devices

[in your browser]: https://spacewave.app [Spacewave App]: https://spacewave.app [SkiffOS]: https://skiffos.com

Getting Started

Where would you like to start?

• I want to use or self-host Spacewave: [Open Spacewave to get started]!
• I want to modify Spacewave or build my own plugins: see running from source
• I want to develop my own app with Spacewave Stack: see [Bldr]

You can try Spacewave instantly in your web browser, just [click here].

[click here]: https://spacewave.app

Running from source

To start the Spacewave app:

# Install dependencies
bun install
uv sync --frozen --all-groups
Start the desktop app
bun run start:desktop
Start the web app with GoScript browser Go plugins
bun run start:web
Start the web app with standard Go/WASM browser Go plugins
bun run start:web:wasm

To run the test suite:

# All tests
bun run test
Go tests only
bun run test:go
Lint
bun run lint
Typecheck
bun run typecheck

Spacewave uses Protobuf for message encoding.

You should re-generate the protobufs after changing any .proto file:

# generate the protobufs
bun run gen

Why Spacewave?

Traditional web-apps store and process data on servers and cloud infrastructure. Developers write API calls to access the user data, and the frontend just displays the response. Recent trends towards server-side rendering have increased dependence on servers and the cloud even more.

This works great for static websites and services that require an internet connection. But what if we want apps that work offline, are open-source, or use features traditionally expensive to scale like multiplayer sync?

Imagine if every video game you played was rendered fully server-side. That game would be way too laggy to play smoothly, right? This is how our modern web apps are designed and built. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Modern web browsers come with WebAssembly, WebWorkers, ServiceWorkers, SharedWorkers, IndexedDB, and WebRTC. These features enable building **fully self-sufficient** apps running fully on the client side.

Spacewave utilizes these features to provide resources to apps with an abstraction layer smoothing the differences between platforms. For example, an app can allocate a SQL database and store it in Redis, s4db, or IndexedDB, all without changing a single line of code when switching backends.

We look forward to building a new generation of apps that are both open-source and cloud-enabled, without requiring users to jump through hoops to self-host and manage their own servers.

Architecture

The goal is to build software that runs anywhere with any storage backend.

Spacewave runs the app logic in WebWorkers/SharedWorkers in the web browser and as native processes on desktop. This brings the entire Go ecosystem to the browser while enabling true [local-first] apps.

[local-first]: https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/

Components:

• [Bifrost] - Network over any transport

• [Hydra] - Store data anywhere w/ p2p sync

• [Bldr] - Build and run on any OS or browser

• [GoScript] - Compile Go to TypeScript for the web browser

• [SkiffOS] - Build and run on any device (w/ Linux)

• [Forge] - Continuous integration and automation

• [Auth] - Authentication methods and credential flows

• [Identity] - Identity and domain primitives

[Bldr]: ./bldr [Bifrost]: ./net [Hydra]: ./db [Forge]: ./forge [Auth]: ./auth [Identity]: ./identity [GoScript]: https://github.com/s4wave/goscript [SkiffOS]: https://github.com/skiffos/skiffos [esbuild]: https://esbuild.github.io/ [vite]: https://vite.dev

All components are designed to be used in multiple ways:

• As an application: each component has its own CLI
• As a library: all Go packages are documented as libraries
• As part of Spacewave: controller configuration with YAML/JSON

The current repository is a monorepo. The root app layer sits alongside the component directories:

• net/ - Bifrost
• db/ - Hydra
• bldr/ - Bldr
• forge/ - Forge
• auth/ - Auth
• identity/ - Identity
• app/, core/, sdk/, web/, cmd/ - the Spacewave application layer

Space: The Final Frontier

Let's take a moment to look far into the future. We're sending the first people to Mars. What OS are they using on their laptops and phones? What apps are they using to share files, collaborate, and communicate?

The latency of a one-way message from Mars to Earth varies between 2 to 24 minutes. HTTPs does not work with this much latency, and even begins to break with round-trip times over one second, let alone two minutes. Our existing internet apps would not work in this environment.

Spacewave solves this problem with a local-first p2p architecture. Regardless of internet latency or equipment failure, users can access their workspaces and apps, without the need for cloud, servers, or on-call engineers.

Peer-to-peer networking works even when the internet doesn't.

License

Spacewave is licensed under the permissive Apache-2.0 license.

All dependencies are [verified] to be equally permissive, one of:

• 0BSD
• Apache-2.0
• Apache-2.0 OR MIT
• BSD-2-Clause
• BSD-3-Clause
• CC0-1.0
• ISC
• MIT
• MPL-2.0

[verified]: https://github.com/s4wave/spacewave/actions/runs/24951306003/job/73061745956#step:8:1

Support and Community

Spacewave is a community project to build the most powerful collaborative workspace and self-hosting tool.

We welcome contributions in the form of GitHub issues and pull requests.

Please open a [GitHub issue] with any questions / issues / suggestions.

[GitHub issue]: https://github.com/s4wave/spacewave/issues/new

... or feel free to reach out via [Email] or [Discord]!

[Email]: mailto:[email protected] [Discord]: https://discord.gg/KJutMESRsT