Our approach
Comfyware
principles.
Software for a family, a group of friends, or a small community that wants a place of its own. The people who use it are the people it serves and the people who run it.
Comfyware borrows the personal spirit of the IndieWeb and the control of self-hosting. A family album, a shared notebook, or a board for the Sunday regulars can keep its own customs and a familiar face at the door.
“Software you’d let your kids use” means a place run by people you trust, under rules you understand. Each family picks the places that suit them, and each community sets its own rules.
Local sovereignty
The host and community set their own house rules. They decide who joins, what gets shared, and how to look after the place. The software makes those choices clear and gives hosts practical ways to keep them.
Human-scale governance
A person or a small group you can name looks after the place. Members know who runs it and how to raise a concern. Membership and moderation tools stay simple enough for the community to follow.
No engagement imperative
Your attention belongs to you. The software gains nothing from making people angry, hooked, or always online.
No recommendation algorithms, ranked feeds, infinite scroll, streaks, or popularity scores. Conversations stay chronological and pages have an end. Any notifications will be optional, and the person receiving them controls them.
Come back when you want to. The conversation will still be there.
Bounded community
The point is a place for your people. A good conversation, a plan coming together, or a memory kept safe matters more than audience size. An open community can still welcome newcomers, with a clear purpose and hosts who take responsibility.
Exit and ownership
Taking your data with you is a core requirement. People keep their contributions, and communities can move their shared place.
Exports should keep the context that gives things meaning: which replies belong to a conversation, which photos go with a memory, and who was meant to see them. An export should stay useful after the original server is gone. Ownership includes the freedom to leave.
Your community’s own judgment
The software gives hosts moderation tools and leaves the house rules to them and their members. Each community decides what it accepts and what sort of place it wants to be.
What we build toward
A new feature earns its place by serving the people who use it, respecting their attention, and keeping control in their hands. Personal, private, and open spaces each get the same care, local control, and freedom to move on.