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Echowire is a self-hosted, open-source chat platform developed by Proudlock Technology LLC, currently available at version 1.20.0, with two versions released to date. Designed for communities that want full control over their data without compromising on features, the platform delivers a communication experience comparable to mainstream hosted services while keeping infrastructure and data ownership entirely in the hands of its operators. Echowire provides Discord-style guilds, channels, and threads, allowing communities to organize conversations hierarchically and keep discussions focused. In addition to text-based communication, the platform supports voice and video calls powered by WebRTC, custom soundboards, scheduled events, and direct messages, covering the core real-time and asynchronous collaboration needs of modern online communities. A distinguishing capability of Echowire is its support for federation between instances, meaning independently operated servers can interconnect, enabling users to communicate across organizational or community boundaries while each instance retains its own hosting and governance. Security-conscious deployments benefit from passkey authentication, which offers a modern, phishing-resistant sign-in mechanism. As a self-hosted solution, Echowire is suited to privacy-focused communities, organizations with data residency or compliance requirements, and administrators who prefer to manage their own communication infrastructure rather than relying on third-party providers. Its feature set places it within the team communication and collaboration software category, alongside community chat and messaging platforms. The software is distributed under the AGPL-3.0 license, which grants users the freedom to inspect, modify, and redistribute the source code while requiring that network-deployed modifications also be made available, ensuring the platform remains openly auditable and community-driven. With its combination of guild-based organization, multimedia communication, event scheduling, and federated architecture, Echowire offers a comprehensive, community-controlled alternative to proprietary chat services.
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