# sharp

> sharp is an open-source, self-hosted Slack alternative. One Rust binary serves team chat,
> collaborative docs, Excalidraw whiteboards, flexible idea boards, a calendar, LiveKit voice/video calls
> with screen sharing and a permission-aware AI assistant — backed
> by Postgres, deployed as a single container, licensed AGPL-3.0 with no paid tier.

Version 0.3.0 · last updated 2026-07-26 · https://sharp.davideghiotto.it

Key facts:

- License: AGPL-3.0. Software cost $0, no seat count, no feature gates, no commercial edition.
- Stack: Rust (axum, sqlx) + React/Vite SPA served from the same binary; Postgres 16 with
  pgvector; optional Redis for multi-replica WebSocket fanout.
- Deploy: `docker compose up -d` from `deploy/`. Migrations run automatically on startup.
  Bundled Caddy issues TLS. Setup takes about five minutes.
- Clients: web app (any modern browser, responsive on phones), native Tauri 2 desktop builds
  for macOS, Windows and Linux. A React Native mobile app is in development.
- Calls: self-hosted LiveKit SFU. Limits are 25 participants, 16 cameras and 1 screen share per
  room. Screen sharing carries system/tab audio. Picture-in-picture, guest join links,
  optional transcription and meeting notes.
- Privacy: zero telemetry, zero tracking, no outbound calls of its own. Optional end-to-end
  encrypted DMs with per-device X25519/Ed25519 keys — the server performs zero cryptography
  and stores only opaque ciphertext (no forward secrecy). Encrypted DMs are never embedded
  for AI retrieval.
- AI assistant ("Sharpy"): retrieval-augmented over workspace messages and docs using
  pgvector. Every retrieval re-checks channel membership and doc roles, so it can never
  surface content the asker cannot already read. Works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint,
  including local models. Entirely absent unless `AI_API_KEY` is set.
- Boards: a flexible, shared entry point for ideas before committed execution moves to Jira,
  Linear or another external issue tracker.
- Optional integrations are inert until configured, and the feature disappears from the UI:
  Redis, S3/MinIO, LiveKit, AI/embeddings/transcription, Google Calendar, social sign-in,
  Resend or SMTP email, web push, Apple APNs.
- Not included: multi-workspace tenancy (single workspace in v1), thread nesting beyond one
  level, a hosted SaaS option.

## Docs

- [Architecture and API contract](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp/blob/main/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md): invariants, wire types, REST endpoints, WebSocket events
- [Design system](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp/blob/main/docs/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md): UI primitives and tokens
- [Deploy guide](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp/tree/main/deploy): docker-compose topologies, Caddy and Dokploy
- [Environment reference](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp/blob/main/deploy/.env.example): every variable and what goes inert without it

## Product

- [Landing page](https://sharp.davideghiotto.it): features, comparison table and FAQ
- [Pricing](https://sharp.davideghiotto.it/pricing.md): machine-readable — self-hosted, $0
- [Full page content](https://sharp.davideghiotto.it/llms-full.txt): the landing page as plain markdown
- [Downloads](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp/releases/latest): macOS, Windows and Linux desktop builds

## Legal

- [Privacy policy](https://sharp.davideghiotto.it/privacy): covers this website and the one
  hosted instance the operator runs; self-hosted deployments send nothing to anyone
- [Terms of service](https://sharp.davideghiotto.it/terms): governs those two services only —
  the software itself is governed by AGPL-3.0, which these terms cannot narrow

## Source

- [GitHub repository](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp)
- [AGPL-3.0 license](https://github.com/davide97g/sharp/blob/main/LICENSE)