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Self-Hosted Communication Community Messaging Chat Real-Time Discord Alternative

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Last Updated: 01-01-2023 12:00 AM (UTC)

Stoat

Stoat delivers a complete Discord-like community chat experience that organizations can self-host on their own infrastructure with full data ownership. The platform provides text channels organized in categories, real-time voice calls powered by LiveKit, file sharing with automatic media proxying, custom emoji support, bot framework, GIF search, server invites, and granular role-based permissions — all wrapped in a polished web UI that feels immediately familiar to Discord users. The architecture separates concerns across dedicated Rust binaries handling the REST API, WebSocket real-time events, file storage with S3-compatible backends, push notifications, and media proxying, backed by MongoDB for persistence and Redis for caching. Web, desktop, and mobile clients connect through the same API, ensuring consistent experience across platforms. Unlike federated alternatives such as Matrix, Stoat provides a single-server deployment model focused on the Discord-style community experience: server invites, channel categories, member management, and an invite-first onboarding flow that communities expect. The Docker Compose deployment stack handles all microservices with Caddy providing automatic TLS via Let's Encrypt. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. AGPL-3.0 licensed.

Stoat
Stoat
Stoat
Stoat
Stoat

Benefits

  • Complete Discord Alternative
  • Provides text channels, voice calls, file sharing, custom emoji, bots, server invites, and role permissions in a familiar interface requiring zero retraining from Discord users.
  • Full Data Ownership
  • Self-host your community's messages, files, and member data on infrastructure you control with no third-party access to conversations or analytics data.
  • Performant Rust Microservices
  • High-performance Rust binaries handle API, WebSocket events, file storage, push notifications, and media proxying with minimal resource consumption per concurrent user.
  • Native Cross Platform Clients
  • Access your community from web, desktop, and mobile applications all connecting through the same API with consistent feature parity and real-time synchronization.

Features

  • LiveKit Voice Channels
  • Real-time voice and video communication powered by LiveKit server integration with per-channel join permissions and automatic codec negotiation.
  • Role-Based Permissions
  • Granular permission system with server-wide and channel-specific roles controlling message access, moderation actions, file uploads, and voice participation.
  • Bot Framework
  • Build custom bots using the WebSocket API and REST endpoints for automated moderation, notifications, integrations, and custom command handling.
  • Media Proxy
  • Automatic proxying of external images and links through the server to protect member IP addresses and provide consistent content previews across all clients.
  • Docker Compose Deployment
  • Single-command deployment with Docker Compose managing all microservices, Caddy reverse proxy, MongoDB, Redis, and automatic Let's Encrypt TLS certificate provisioning.