What is a Nexus in Ballastra?

A Nexus is a community on Ballastra — the top-level space that people join. Each Nexus contains Spaces, which are topic channels for text or voice.

What is a Space in Ballastra?

A Space is a channel inside a Nexus, used for either text chat or voice and video. Spaces can be organised into categories and restricted with roles and permissions.

An Aero is a bot on Ballastra. Developers create Aeros in the Developer Portal and install them into a Nexus, where they receive a managed role so existing permissions apply to them unchanged. Aeros receive real-time events through the Aero gateway and act through the REST API.

Is Ballastra available on mobile?

Ballastra is available on the web today. An Android app is in public preview and distributed as a direct APK. An iOS app is not yet available.

Is Ballastra end-to-end encrypted?

Only where you choose it: 1:1 direct messages can be end-to-end encrypted when a participant turns it on. Group chats, Space messages, media and calls are not end-to-end encrypted, and Ballastra can read that content for moderation, reporting and search. The security page has the details.

Core use is free. Aether is an optional paid membership and Beacon is a paid boost for Nexuses; current pricing is shown in the app. Ballastra does not show ads.

Can I move an existing community to Ballastra?

Yes, by hand. There is no automated importer yet, so you recreate your structure as a Nexus, rebuild roles and invite your members. The migration guide walks through it.

The community platform for builders

Your community deserves a home.

Chat, voice, video and community management — organised around a structure built for the way your community works.

Open Ballastra See how it works

Free to start · Web today · Android APK · No iOS yet

A Nexus holds categories, and categories hold Spaces.

ballastra

Example

Ballastra

Announcements

news1

updates

Community

general4

introductions

feedback

Development

code

releases

Voice

coworking3

B

Ballastra

Open-source tooling collective

4 categories · 8 Spaces

BBallastrathe community
Announcementsnewsupdates
Communitygeneralintroductionsfeedback
Developmentcodereleases
Voicecoworking

Recent in #general

Priya v0.9 is tagged. Release notes are in #releases — thank you all for the reviews.10:02
Devon The new config loader cut our cold start in half on my machine.10:04
Aria Same here. @kai can you add the benchmark to the docs before Friday?10:05
Kai On it — pairing in #coworking if anyone wants to join.10:06

The problem

One community.
One home.

Most communities are split across apps: chat in one place, voice in another, profiles, announcements and moderation somewhere else. Ballastra brings them together, organised around the community itself.

What is Ballastra?

Ballastra is a community platform for builders. It brings text chat, voice and video into one place. People join Nexuses, which are communities. Each Nexus holds Spaces — topic channels for text or voice. Direct messages, group chats, replies, reactions and media work across all of them. Live presence, roles and permissions, and moderation tools are built in. Voice Spaces add calls, video and screen sharing without leaving the community. Developers build Aeros, Ballastra's word for bots, in the developer portal.

Ballastra runs on the web today and is in public preview. The Android app ships as a direct APK. There is no iOS app yet. Core use is free. Aether is an optional paid subscription, and Beacon is a paid visibility feature for Nexuses.

Nexus

Everything starts with a Nexus.

A Nexus is your community's home. Inside it, categories keep things organised and Spaces give every conversation a place to live.

How Nexuses work

ballastra / structure

Example

BBallastraNexus
- Announcements
- Community
- Development
- Voice

generalCommunity

NR

Noor Rahman09:58

Morning — anyone looked at the new plugin API yet?

DP

Devon Park10:04

The new config loader cut our cold start in half.

KM

Kai Mendes10:06

Devoncold start in half

Confirmed on my end too. Pairing in #coworking if anyone wants in.

Message #general

Spaces

Give every conversation a place to live.

Spaces are the rooms inside a Nexus. Each one has a type, and each type is built for a different kind of conversation.

01

Text

Threads
Replies
Reactions
Mentions
Media

02

Voice

Drop in
Talk
Video
Screen share

03

Announcements

Structured updates
Pinned by owners
Members react, only owners post

Category and per-Space permissions

Messaging

Conversations that keep their context.

Direct messages, group chats and Space conversations share one fast surface — so a reply stays attached to what it answers.

Direct messages
Group chats
Replies
Mentions
Reactions
Media & files
Polls
Editing
Pinned messages

1:1 direct messages can optionally be end-to-end encrypted. What that covers

Explore messaging

Real-time

Everything happens while it's happening.

Messages, reactions, typing and presence travel over a live connection, so everyone in the Nexus sees the same moment at the same time.

Lena joinspresence → online
Presence updateseveryone sees it
Typing indicatorlive, not polled
Message landsno refresh
Reaction appearsfor everyone at once
Notificationto the person mentioned

How real-time works

Voice & video

Talk without leaving the community.

Voice rooms are Spaces inside your Nexus. Join with a click, share your screen, then keep reading and replying — the call stays with you.

ballastra / coworking

Example

Ballastra

Announcements

news1

updates

Community

general4

introductions

feedback

Development

code

releases

Voice

coworking3

coworking3 people talking

KMACDP

Kai, Aria and Devon are in voice

Kai is sharing their screen

Voice Spaces & group calls
Mic controls & push-to-talk
Video
Screen sharing
Participant controls
Floating call bar

Everything in voice

Identity

Be yourself everywhere.

One profile follows you into every Nexus you join. Your role changes from community to community — you don't.

Avatar, banner and username
Status and presence
Badges
A role in every Nexus
Mutual communities

Profiles and presence

Example

Discover

Find your people.

Browse public Nexuses by interest and join in one click. The communities below are examples, not real Nexuses.

Public Nexuses

Can be listed in Discover for anyone signed in to find.

Private Nexuses

Never listed. People join with an invite only.

Example

N

Nightshift Devs

Engineering

Late-night pairing, code review and launch threads.

Public · open to anyone

F

Frame by Frame

Film & Photo

Critique rooms, gear talk and weekly edit challenges.

Public · open to anyone

T

Trailhead

Hiking

Routes, trip planning and a voice room for the drive.

Public · open to anyone

S

Synth Lab

Music Production

Patch swaps, mix feedback and live listening sessions.

Public · open to anyone

How Discover works

Control

Your community. Your rules.

Roles and permissions are part of the structure, not bolted on. Set them for the whole Nexus, then override them for a single category or Space.

Example

Permissions by role
Role	View	Send	Invite	Moderate	Manage	Admin
Owner	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed	Allowed
Moderator
Member
Newcomer
Aero					Never grantable	Never grantable

Select a cell to change what a role can do everywhere in the Nexus. The Owner always has every permission.

Aero roles can never be given Manage or Admin.

Audit history

ACAria timed out a member2m
PNPriya added an override on code1h
ACAria removed a message in feedback3h

2FA for moderation

A Nexus can require a fresh two-factor check before bans, kicks and role changes.

Roles, overrides and moderation

Aeros

Build on top of your community.

Aeros are Ballastra's bots. Create one in the Developer Portal, install it into a Nexus, and it works inside the same permission system as everyone else.

You run an Aero’s code wherever you like. It connects to the Aero gateway for real-time events and calls the Aero REST API to act inside the Nexuses it is installed in.

Every install creates a managed role. The installer decides what is granted, can only grant permissions they hold themselves, and an Aero can never hold Manage Nexus, Manage Roles or Manage Aeros.

01Developer PortalCreate an Aero and copy its token once.
02Create AeroName it, describe it, request the permissions it needs.
03Install into a NexusSomeone with Manage Aeros adds it from Nexus settings.
04Managed roleThe install creates a role tied to the Aero.
05Bounded permissionsCategory and Space overrides apply to it like any member.

Event delivery is best-effort today — build Aeros to tolerate a missed event.

Build an Aero

Security

Secure by default. Transparent by design.

Specific guarantees you can check, and a plain statement of what is not encrypted end to end.

Ballastra security guarantees and how each one works
Guarantee	How it works	Value
Short-lived sessions	Access tokens expire after 15 minutes. Refresh tokens are stored hashed and rotate on every use; replaying an old one revokes the whole session chain.	15 min
Server-side revocation	Revoked sessions are checked on every API request and every real-time connection, so "log out everywhere" takes effect immediately.	Every request
Signed media URLs	Reading media requires a short-lived signed URL, issued only after a membership check. Media nothing references any more is swept after a grace period.	1 h TTL
Breached-password checks	Passwords are checked against known breach corpora at signup and login using k-anonymity, so the password itself never leaves Ballastra.	k-anonymity
Scoped Aero tokens	Aero tokens are stored only as SHA-256 hashes and shown exactly once. Each install gets a managed role, so an Aero can never exceed the permissions it was granted.	SHA-256
2FA for moderation	A Nexus can require a fresh two-factor check before bans, kicks and role or permission changes. Owners with 2FA enabled confirm it again before deleting a Nexus.	Per Nexus

End-to-end encrypted (optional)

1:1 direct-message text

Not end-to-end encrypted

Group chats
Space messages
Media uploads
Voice & video calls

Group chats, Space messages, media uploads and voice or video calls are not end-to-end encrypted. Ballastra systems can read that content, which is what makes moderation, reporting and search possible there. Encrypted DM text is not included in search.

All traffic is encrypted in transit with HTTPS/TLS. Message bodies are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM.

Read our security guarantees Safety Child Safety Community Guidelines

What makes it different.

Most community tools are either too loose or too complex. Ballastra is shaped around how communities actually work.

Structure first: Nexuses hold categories, categories hold Spaces. Your community has a shape, and permissions follow it.
Voice belongs here: Voice rooms are Spaces inside the Nexus, not a separate app — and the call bar follows you while you browse.
One identity: One profile carries across every Nexus, with a different role in each.
Discoverable communities: Public Nexuses can be found through Discover. Private ones stay invite-only.
Built for builders: Designed around projects, makers and developer communities — with Aeros for automation.
Community control: Roles, overrides, moderation and audit history are built into the structure.

FAQ

Common questions.

All questions

Public Preview · Launching October 20, 2026

Start your Nexus today.

Free on the web. Set up your Spaces, invite your people, and talk.

Open Ballastra Take the tour

Web appLive now
Android appAPK, public preview
Public launchOctober 20, 2026
iOS appNot available yet

Your community deserves a home.

One community.One home.

What is Ballastra?

Everything starts with a Nexus.

Give every conversation a place to live.

Conversations that keep their context.

Everything happens while it's happening.

Talk without leaving the community.

Be yourself everywhere.

Find your people.

Your community. Your rules.

Build on top of your community.

Secure by default. Transparent by design.

What makes it different.

Common questions.

What is a Nexus in Ballastra?

Is Ballastra end-to-end encrypted?

Is Ballastra free?

Start your Nexus today.

One community.
One home.