Building Gratonite, a privacy-first, open-source alternative to Discord.
Gratonite is a multi-platform community chat app with real-time messaging, voice/video, guilds, DMs, threads, E2E encryption, federation, moderation, gamification, and self-hosting support. v1.0.0 is live at gratonite.chat.
Built for communities that want more control over their platform.
- 109 database schemas, 91 API route modules, 51 frontend pages, 77 React components
- End-to-end encryption for all DMs and group DMs (ECDH P-256 + AES-GCM-256)
- Instance federation with Ed25519 HTTP Signatures — self-hosted instances can connect and list on Discover
- One-command Docker deployment with automatic HTTPS via Caddy + Let's Encrypt
- Full moderation suite, economy system, gamification, voice/video, and creative tools
| Repository | Description |
|---|---|
| CoodayeA/Gratonite | Main monorepo — all source code, Docker images, docs, and deployment config |
| api | Backend API — Express, TypeScript, Socket.IO, PostgreSQL, Redis, LiveKit, federation |
| web | Web client — React, TypeScript, Vite |
| mobile | Mobile client — Expo, React Native |
| desktop | Desktop client — Electron |
| Repository | Description |
|---|---|
| self-hosted | Self-hosting guide and quick-start reference |
| js-sdk | JavaScript SDK and shared TypeScript packages |
| admin | Admin and moderation tooling |
| gratonite.chat | Marketing site |
| dev-log | Development log and architecture notes |
| Repository | Description |
|---|---|
| ios | iOS-specific mobile work |
| android | Android-specific mobile work |
Run your own Gratonite instance in minutes. No coding required — everything runs in pre-built Docker containers.
git clone https://github.com/CoodayeA/Gratonite.git && cd Gratonite
cp deploy/self-host/.env.example deploy/self-host/.env
# Edit .env: set your domain, admin email/password, DB password
docker compose -f deploy/self-host/docker-compose.yml up -dDocker images: ghcr.io/coodayea/gratonite-api, ghcr.io/coodayea/gratonite-web, ghcr.io/coodayea/gratonite-setup
Full guide: Self-Hosting Guide
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Frontend | React, TypeScript, Vite |
| Mobile | Expo, React Native |
| Desktop | Electron |
| Backend | Node.js, Express, TypeScript |
| Database | PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM |
| Cache | Redis |
| Realtime | Socket.IO |
| Voice | LiveKit |
| Auth | JWT, Argon2id, TOTP MFA |
| Federation | HTTP Signatures, Ed25519 |
| Search | PostgreSQL full-text search |
| Metrics | Prometheus |
| Deployment | Docker Compose, Caddy, GitHub Actions |
- Website: gratonite.chat
- Main repo: CoodayeA/Gratonite
- Self-hosting: Self-Hosting Guide
- Federation: Federation Guide
- Releases: Docker Images
If you want to support Gratonite:
I'm currently covering hosting, infrastructure, and project costs personally, so any support helps keep the project online and moving.