Spaces
Every conversation gets a place to live.
Spaces are the rooms inside a Nexus. Pick the type that fits the conversation, put it in a category, and set who can use it.
What you can do
01
Text Spaces
Threads, replies, reactions, mentions and media.
02
Voice Spaces
Drop-in rooms with video and screen sharing.
03
Announcements
Structured updates that only announcers can post.
04
Per-Space permissions
Override category rules for a single Space.
In practice
A study group across three courses
One category per course, each with a Text Space for questions and a Voice Space for evening sessions. A single Announcements Space carries deadlines everyone needs to see.
Text Spaces: where discussion happens
A Space is a channel inside a Nexus — a place for one kind of conversation. Text Spaces carry the daily discussion: threads stay nested so a busy topic does not bury everything else, replies and mentions keep people aimed at the right message, and reactions, media and pinned notes all work inside the Space.
Because Spaces are owned by the Nexus, they are organised into categories. A community for a product might have categories like Announcements, Feedback and Community, each holding the Spaces that belong there. The structure is the owner’s to design — that is what keeps a Space list short and obvious even when a Nexus is large.
Voice Spaces: talk without leaving the community
Voice Spaces are the same idea for real-time conversation: drop into a room, talk, share your screen, and leave — all inside the Nexus rather than in a separate call app. For builders this is the difference between "we have a chat" and "we have a place to work together". A voice Space feels like a room that is always there, not a meeting that has to be scheduled. The voice product page covers rooms, video and screen sharing in depth.
Voice runs in the browser. The first time you join a Voice Space, the browser asks for microphone or camera permission, and that is the whole setup — no client to install, no separate account. Video and screen sharing are part of the same Space, so walking someone through a design or a bug does not mean switching to a different tool.
Announcements: what everyone needs to see
Some messages are events, not conversation: releases, schedule changes, the new invite link. Announcement Spaces exist for exactly that — structured, prominent updates that stay pinned where they matter instead of drifting away in a chat scroll.
Because announcements are a Space like any other, the Nexus’s permissions apply: owners and moderators can post, members can react, and a role can be given read-only access. The update gets the attention it deserves without turning every Space into announcement noise. The control page explains how roles and per-Space permissions make this work.
Categories and per-Space permissions
Categories are the glue of a Nexus. They group related Spaces so members always know where to look, and they can carry permission overrides of their own. The same structure that keeps 200 people readable also keeps permissions sane: a role can be broad in one category and restricted in another, all defined in one place.
A common pattern — and a good test of whether a community platform is serious — is a members-only or moderators-only Space inside a public community. On Ballastra that is just a permission override on a Space. No second community, no workaround, no way for a member to see what a role is not allowed to see.
Common questions
A Space is a channel inside a Nexus. It is either a text Space for discussion or a voice Space for talking and screen sharing. Spaces are grouped into categories so related conversation stays together.
Yes. Spaces respect the roles in your Nexus, and permissions can be overridden per Space, so a moderators-only or members-only Space works without creating a separate community.
Add as many as the community needs, organised into categories. The category structure exists precisely so a Nexus with many Spaces stays readable.
Give every conversation a place.