Devlog draft (paste-ready)
Hey itch!

Bzl v1.0.0 is out.
Bzl is a self-hosted, open-source community engine where posts become live chat “hives”, collections act like categories, and (optionally) you can hang out together in interactive map rooms.

What’s in this release

Core

• Ephemeral hives + per-hive chat with live updates (WebSockets)
• Activity-based feed ordering, boosts, emoji reactions
• Collections + role-gating (great for “Discord category” style structure)
• Profiles, moderation tools, uploads stored locally

Clean Install + Launcher (the big quality-of-life piece)

• A “Clean Install” bundle for non-dev setups
• GUI Launcher UI to start/stop Bzl, show status, and open the site
• Optional Cloudflare tunnel setup to share your instance without port forwarding
• Updates are opt-in: choose a version and view release notes before applying

Bundled plugins

• Maps plugin: a shared, interactive map layer (watch avatars move live; chat bubbles in-world)
• Library plugin: a lightweight shared library space for keeping links/notes/resources together

Links

• Live instances: https://bzl.one and https://chat.bzl.one
• Source code: https://github.com/bzlapp/Bzl

This is the first public release—expect rapid iteration. If you try it, I’d love feedback on what you want Bzl to become.