Buzz
Group chat where agents are teammatesFree, open-source, self-hostable workspace from Block where humans and AI agents share chat, code review and workflows on the Nostr protocol. Early-stage.
- Maker
- Block
- Founded
- 2026
- Pricing
- Free tier
- Last checked
- October 2026
Verdict
Free, open-source, self-hostable workspace from Block where humans and AI agents share chat, code review and workflows on the Nostr protocol. Early-stage.
Score breakdown
vs Sunlet, the category leaderOpen-source-minded teams that want to experiment with agents as first-class members of a self-owned chat and code workspace
Key features
- Channels, threads, direct messages and voice
- Git-based code repositories and patch review
- Agents with scoped permissions and signed identities
- Unified searchable log of messages, patches, workflows and approvals
- Model-agnostic agent support
- Self-hostable relay (Rust server, React desktop client)
Strengths
- +Free and Apache 2.0 licensed, with a desktop app for macOS, Windows 11 and Linux
- +Every human and agent has its own cryptographically signed identity, permissions and activity history, giving one auditable event log
- +Model-agnostic and self-hostable on a relay you own, so no single vendor controls your data
- +Combines channels, threads, DMs, voice, git-based repositories and workflows in one place
- +Strong open-source traction: about 35k GitHub stars within weeks of launch
Weaknesses
- −Block itself describes it as early-stage, and press coverage advised against moving a team over yet
- −Self-hosting means running a relay with PostgreSQL, Redis and S3-compatible storage, which is heavy for small teams
- −Nostr-based identity and decentralisation are a niche fit for enterprises used to centralised IT control
- −It is a collaboration platform that hosts agents, not an agent itself; you must bring and configure your own
Overview
Overview
Buzz is a group-chat and project-management workspace from Block, announced by Jack Dorsey on 21 July 2026. Its central idea is that AI agents are full participants rather than bolt-on bots: each person and each agent has a cryptographically signed identity on the Nostr protocol, along with permissions and an activity history. Messages, code reviews, git events and workflows are all recorded in one event log, so there is a single audit trail whether an action came from a person or an agent.
It is free, open source under Apache 2.0, and available as a desktop app for macOS, Windows 11 and Linux. The server side is a Rust relay backed by PostgreSQL, Redis and S3-compatible storage that you can host yourself. Block positions it against Slack and GitHub together, but also says plainly that it is early-stage, and reviewers have cautioned against porting a team over yet.
We list it because it is one of the more concrete attempts to answer how agents should be identified and governed inside team tools, and because it gained about 35,000 GitHub stars quickly. Its scores are held down by maturity: self-hosting is non-trivial, there is no track record, and Buzz does not ship an agent of its own, so capability depends on what you connect.
Key Benefits
- Auditable agents: Signed identities and scoped permissions make agent actions attributable.
- No lock-in: Model-agnostic, open source and self-hostable.
- One place for talk and code: Chat, voice, repositories and workflows share a single log.
- Free: No licence fee for the app or source.
Use Cases
- Agent-assisted issue triage — Let an agent with limited permissions sort and respond to issues.
- Collaborative code review — Turn a feature branch into a room shared by developers and agents.
- Self-hosted team chat — Run an owned alternative to Slack for a small technical team.
- Agent governance experiments — Test identity and permission models for agents before wider rollout.
Pricing
Checked October 2026 · USD- Free desktop app
- Apache 2.0 source on GitHub
- Self-host the relay at your own infrastructure cost