Essens

Peer-to-peer microblog with multi-device support.
No servers, no accounts — just your keys.

English | 한국어 | 日本語

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Built on Hypercore for append-only feeds and DHT-based peer discovery, wrapped in a Tauri 2 desktop app.

Features

• P2P timeline — Posts propagate directly between peers over encrypted connections
• Follow model — Follow other users by their public key; their posts sync automatically
• Multi-device — Use the same identity across devices; each device gets its own feed that merges into a unified timeline
• Identity export/import — Move your identity between devices with a passphrase-encrypted bundle
• Device revocation — Revoke compromised devices; revoked feeds are excluded from the timeline
• Offline-first — Everything works locally; syncs when peers are available

Architecture

essens/
├── packages/
│   ├── core/        # Hypercore feeds, indexer, sync, crypto, networking
│   └── sidecar/     # Node.js process: RPC server bridging core ↔ Tauri
├── apps/
│   └── desktop/     # SvelteKit frontend + Tauri 2 shell
└── scripts/
    └── build-sidecar.sh

The desktop app runs two processes:

1. Tauri (Rust) — Window management, system tray, OS integration
2. Sidecar (Node.js SEA) — Hypercore networking, feed management, exposed via JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout

Download

Pre-built binaries are available on the Releases page:

Platform	File
Linux	.AppImage, .deb, .rpm
macOS (Apple Silicon)	.dmg
macOS (Intel)	.dmg
Windows	.exe (NSIS), .msi

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• pnpm 9+
• Rust (stable)
• Linux: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev, libappindicator3-dev, librsvg2-dev, patchelf

Setup

pnpm install

Run

# Build core library first
pnpm build:core

# Start desktop app in dev mode
pnpm dev

Test

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run core tests only
pnpm --filter @essens/core test

Build sidecar locally

./scripts/build-sidecar.sh

This creates a Node.js Single Executable Application (SEA) at apps/desktop/src-tauri/binaries/essens-sidecar-{target}.

Tech Stack

• Hypercore / Hyperswarm — Append-only logs, DHT peer discovery, encrypted streams
• Tauri 2 — Lightweight desktop shell (Rust + system webview)
• SvelteKit 5 — Frontend with runes-based reactivity
• Node.js SEA — Sidecar bundled as single executable via esbuild + postject
• Vitest — Testing

License

MIT