Announcements
CoSeeker is now open source.
A contemplative social platform, built on an open protocol, with its code now open to everyone. Here is what we are releasing, and why a project like this should be transparent by default.
CoSeeker is a social platform for seekers. A quieter place to share and find contemplative work, built for your attention rather than against it. From today, its source code is open.
We want to say plainly what that means, and why we did it.
What we are releasing
CoSeeker is open at github.com/k4m2a/social-app, under the MIT licence. It is built on the AT Protocol, the open networking protocol that also underlies Bluesky, and the platform began as a fork of Bluesky's code. Being on an open protocol already meant something important: your identity and your data are not locked inside CoSeeker. Opening our own code is the next step. The software that runs the platform is now something anyone can read, check, run, and improve.
The repository includes the client app, the onboarding flow, the moderation and report taxonomy, and setup instructions.
This is not a stripped-down public version with the real product kept private. It is the platform.
The release
No advertising, no engagement targets, no recommendation system tuned to keep you scrolling.
Why open, for a project like this
Most social platforms keep their code closed because their advantage is the machinery that holds your attention. That machinery is the thing they cannot afford to show you.
CoSeeker is built the other way around. It is run by the K4M2A Foundation as a nonprofit. There is no advertising, and no incentive to maximize the time you spend scrolling. A contemplative space that quietly optimized against your attention would be a contradiction in terms. Open code is one way we keep ourselves honest about that. If we ever build something that works against the people it is meant to serve, anyone will be able to see it.
There is a simpler reason too. CoSeeker is small and runs on no budget. It will be a better platform if the people who care about it can help build it, and you cannot meaningfully contribute to something you are not allowed to read.
Open source is sometimes announced as if it were a finish line. This is closer to an invitation.
The code being public does not make the platform finished, and it does not mean we have everything right. We are early. The feed design, the onboarding, and the way reports and moderation work are all still being worked out, and we would rather work them out in the open, where you can watch and push back.
If you want to take part
Read the code
Clone it from github.com/k4m2a/social-app, run it locally, or just read it.
Contribute
If you build software, the contributing guidelines and open issues are in the repo. We wrote them to be humble and specific, not a gauntlet to get through.
Shape it without code
Request an invite, come to a Coffee with CoSeeker gathering in Pune, or follow the weekly recommendations at Books.CoSeeker.org.
CoSeeker was always meant to belong to the people who use it more than to the people who build it. Opening the code is one concrete way of meaning that.
The parts that should belong to everyone, we open.
CoSeeker is one of several projects the foundation stewards in public. The rest are listed with their licences and repositories.