Websites that are fully yours. Built on SpaceClub, with no vendor lock-in. 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/feed.xml TalkingSites 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/posts/talkingsites-new-version-of-spaceclub/

Our own website now runs on SpaceClub 2, the same platform we build every client site on. Here's what's new.

<p>Our website has had a long overdue rebuild. It now runs on the new version of SpaceClub, the open source platform we build all our sites on.</p> <h2>What's new in SpaceClub</h2> <p>SpaceClub started as a template you copied for each new site. That worked, but every site drifted a little further from the others, and fixes had to be made one site at a time.</p> <p>The new version is a package. A site's own repository holds just two things: its content, and a settings file called <code>spaceclub.json</code>. The layouts, styles, search, feeds and editor all come from SpaceClub itself, so <code>npm update</code> brings every site the latest features and fixes.</p> <p>Here's what every SpaceClub site gets now:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Spacedash</strong>, an editor in the browser at the site's <code>/admin</code>, where every change is saved as a reviewable update</li> <li><strong>Content types</strong>: make the lists your site needs, like a team, members or questions, each with its own page and feed</li> <li><strong>RSS and Atom feeds</strong> for posts, events and every content type</li> <li><strong>Search</strong> across the whole site</li> <li><strong>WebMCP</strong> tools, so AI agents in the browser know what the site can do</li> <li><strong>llms.txt</strong>, a plain summary of the site for AI tools</li> <li><strong>Your own look</strong>: colours, light and dark modes and navbar layouts from one settings file</li> </ul> <h2>Why we moved our own site</h2> <p>We've been building client sites on SpaceClub for a while: <a href="https://coop888causeway.sites.talkingsites.org/">888 Causeway</a>, <a href="https://galactic-horizons.sites.talkingsites.org/">Galactic Horizon</a> and more. Our own site was still an older app that only we could edit. It made sense to run TalkingSites on the same thing we recommend to everyone else.</p> <p>It also means this site shows what you'd get. Try the search, follow the <a href="https://talkingsites.org/feed.xml">feed</a>, or have a look at our <a href="https://talkingsites.org/work/">work</a>.</p> <h2>Try it yourself</h2> <p>SpaceClub is free and open source. The code is on <a href="https://github.com/TalkingSites/spaceclub">GitHub</a>, and the <a href="https://spaceclubwiki.talkingsites.org/">docs</a> show how to start a site with one command.</p> 2026-11-10T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/posts/spaceclub-no-lock-in/

Most website builders keep your site on their platform. SpaceClub sites are files you own, with the modern features built in.

<p>When you build a website on most hosted platforms, the site lives inside their system. Your pages, your design and often your content can't easily come with you. If prices go up or features go away, the choice is to pay or start again.</p> <p>We think a website should work the other way around.</p> <h2>Your site is your files</h2> <p>Every SpaceClub site is a folder of plain files in a Git repository that belongs to you. Pages, posts and events are Markdown. Settings are one JSON file. Anyone with a bit of web knowledge can read them, and any host that serves static files can run them.</p> <p>That gives you a few things for free:</p> <ul> <li><strong>A full history.</strong> Every change is saved, with who made it and when.</li> <li><strong>Easy moves.</strong> Change host, change developer, or take it in-house, and the site comes with you.</li> <li><strong>No surprises.</strong> The platform is open source (GPL), so nobody can take it away.</li> </ul> <h2>But still easy to edit</h2> <p>Owning your files shouldn't mean editing code. Spacedash, SpaceClub's editor, runs in the browser at your site's <code>/admin</code>. You write, add photos and press save, like any site builder. Behind the scenes it saves to your repository.</p> <h2>And up to date</h2> <p>Owning your site also shouldn't mean falling behind. SpaceClub sites come with the standards we think every site should have:</p> <ul> <li><strong>RSS feeds</strong>, so people can follow you without a social network deciding what they see</li> <li><strong>Search</strong> across the whole site</li> <li><strong>WebMCP</strong>, so AI agents in the browser can use your site properly (<a href="https://talkingsites.org/posts/webmcp-on-your-website/">more on that here</a>)</li> <li><strong>llms.txt</strong> for AI tools</li> <li><strong>Analytics you own</strong>, with Matomo instead of an ad company</li> </ul> <p>Want to see it running? Every site on our <a href="https://talkingsites.org/work/">work page</a> is a SpaceClub site.</p> 2026-11-09T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/posts/webmcp-on-your-website/

WebMCP lets a website tell AI agents exactly what it can do. Every SpaceClub site has it built in. Here's how localAI uses it.

<p>More and more people ask an AI to find things for them. Usually the AI has to guess what's on a page by reading it like a person would, and it often gets it wrong.</p> <p>WebMCP is a new way for a website to offer tools to AI agents running in the browser. Instead of guessing, the agent asks the site: what can you do? The site answers with a list of tools, such as list the events, search the site, or open a page.</p> <h2>Built into SpaceClub</h2> <p>Every SpaceClub site has WebMCP turned on. It offers tools for the site's own content, like listing upcoming events and searching pages and posts, and a <code>/webmcp-data.json</code> file with the same information.</p> <p>There's nothing to set up. Add an event in Spacedash, and the next build tells AI agents about it.</p> <h2>localAI: an AI chat that uses it</h2> <p>The <a href="https://localai.xdeca.com/">localAI</a> website shows what this makes possible. Few browsers can use WebMCP tools yet, so localAI added <a href="https://localai.xdeca.com/posts/localai-chat-webllm-webmcp/">localAI Chat</a>, a small AI model that runs inside the browser with WebLLM. Nothing is installed and nothing leaves your computer.</p> <p>Small models don't know anything about localAI, and they'll happily make things up. So the chat asks the site first:</p> <ul> <li><strong>&quot;What's on next?&quot;</strong> calls the <code>list-events</code> tool and answers with the real date and place</li> <li><strong>&quot;How do I join the group chat?&quot;</strong> calls <code>get-community-links</code> and gives the real links</li> <li><strong>&quot;Take me to the events page&quot;</strong> calls <code>go-to-page</code> and goes there</li> </ul> <p>The answers come from the site, not the model's memory.</p> <h2>Why it matters for your site</h2> <p>As AI agents become part of how people browse, sites that describe themselves clearly will be the ones that get used properly. With SpaceClub, yours already does.</p> <h2>Add it to any website</h2> <p>Not on SpaceClub? We've written a guide your AI assistant can follow. Give it this: <strong>&quot;Read https://talkingsites.org/webmcp/ and follow it to add WebMCP tools to my website.&quot;</strong> The <a href="https://talkingsites.org/webmcp/">guide</a> explains it for people too.</p> 2026-11-08T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/posts/case-study-electron-workshop/

A community tech workshop's website, plus one login for files, meetings and partner groups, all open source.

<p><a href="https://electronworkshop.org/">Electron Workshop</a> is a community tech workshop. It runs events, workshops and the Canberra and Melbourne Un-forums, and it's home to groups like Linux Victoria, Melbourne Tech Guilds, MelbPC and localAI.</p> <h2>What they needed</h2> <p>A website was only part of it. Each group needed somewhere to share files, a place to meet online, and a way for new members to join without someone setting up accounts by hand. As a community organisation, it all had to be affordable and stay in its own hands.</p> <h2>One login for everything</h2> <p>Everything hangs off <strong>Authentik</strong>. Each member has one account, and the groups they belong to decide what they can see. When someone joins Linux Victoria in Authentik, they get Linux Victoria's things everywhere else, without anyone touching the other tools.</p> <h2>Shared files that follow the groups</h2> <p><strong>Nextcloud</strong> reads people's groups from Authentik when they log in, over OpenID Connect. Each group has a team folder shared with it, so a new member sees their group's files straight away, and someone who leaves stops seeing them. Only the groups on an approved list are synced, so internal groups stay internal.</p> <h2>Meetings and newsletters</h2> <p><strong>BigBlueButton</strong> gives groups rooms for hybrid workshops and online meetups, opened from the same login. <strong>Mautic</strong> sends the newsletters, and <strong>Matomo</strong> counts visits to the website without sharing the data with anyone.</p> <h2>Onboarding a partner group</h2> <p>When a group like MelbPC comes on board, it gets its own invite link. Opening it walks people through sign-up, asks their name, picks a username for them and puts them in the right group. From that moment they can see their group's folder and join its meetings. Single-use invites are deleted as soon as they're opened.</p> <h2>The website</h2> <p>The website is built with Eleventy, so it's fast and plain to host. Events come with a calendar file, so people can add them to their own calendar in one click.</p> <h2>Why it works</h2> <p>Everything is open source and runs on servers we manage, so there are no per-seat fees as the community grows. Nothing is locked to one vendor, and Electron Workshop can move any part of it whenever it wants.</p> <p>Want something like this for your group? <a href="https://talkingsites.org/contact/">Talk to us</a>.</p> 2026-11-07T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/posts/case-study-inspire9/

A coworking space's staff platform, newsletters and automations, connected with one login.

<p>Inspire9 is a coworking space in Richmond, Melbourne. Running it means room bookings, day passes, enquiries, tours, members' mail and newsletters, and much of that was spread across separate paid tools and spreadsheets.</p> <h2>A platform built around how they work</h2> <p>We built a staff platform for the team. It opens on a dashboard of what's on today and tomorrow, with day passes, room hire, events and hot desks at a glance. From there the team handles room bookings, enquiries, members, mail and tasks.</p> <p>Each process, like a member moving in or mail arriving, is written up with the team first, then built, so the software follows how Inspire9 actually works instead of the other way around.</p> <h2>Logins and roles</h2> <p>Staff log in with <strong>Authentik</strong>. Their Authentik groups decide their role in the platform, so giving someone access is one change in one place, and the same login works for any tool added later.</p> <h2>Keeping existing tools in step</h2> <p>Inspire9 already took room bookings in Skedda. Rather than switch overnight, the platform keeps itself in step with Skedda in both directions, so both stay correct while the team moves across.</p> <h2>Newsletters and automations</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Mautic</strong> sends the newsletters, with separate lists for members, alumni and the wider community.</li> <li><strong>n8n</strong> handles the small jobs that used to take time: an email reminding people on the morning of their tour, and a follow-up draft ready for the team that afternoon.</li> </ul> <h2>Ready for AI tools</h2> <p>Every action in the platform, like finding a booking or drafting an email, is written once and offered three ways: in the app, to scripts, and over <strong>MCP</strong> so AI tools can use it. Changes always show a preview and ask to confirm, and every action is logged.</p> <h2>Hosted and owned</h2> <p>It runs in <strong>Docker</strong> on servers managed with <strong>Coolify</strong>, using open source tools wherever possible. Inspire9 isn't locked into any one vendor, and the monthly bills for separate services shrink as each one is replaced.</p> <p>Want something like this for your business? <a href="https://talkingsites.org/contact/">Talk to us</a>.</p> 2026-11-06T00:00:00Z https://talkingsites.org/posts/recent-remakes/

A look at the sites we've rebuilt on SpaceClub this year, and what each one gained.

<p>This year we've been rebuilding sites onto SpaceClub. Each one keeps its own look, and gets the same editor, feeds, search and WebMCP as every other SpaceClub site. Here are a few.</p> <h2>888 Causeway</h2> <p><a href="https://coop888causeway.sites.talkingsites.org/">888 Causeway</a> is co-working you co-own, in the Melbourne CBD. Its site uses SpaceClub content types for membership levels, members and the board, so the co-op can update them in Spacedash without touching a page layout.</p> <h2>Galactic Horizon</h2> <p><a href="https://galactic-horizons.sites.talkingsites.org/">Galactic Horizon</a> is a 12-week accelerator for early-stage founders. It has a big space look of its own, built as layouts on top of SpaceClub, with its questions kept as a content type the team can edit.</p> <h2>Linux Victoria</h2> <p><a href="https://linuxvictoria.org/">Linux Victoria</a> was the first site we tried Spacedash on. The group adds its own meetings and news, and every change goes in as an update someone can review.</p> <h2>localAI</h2> <p><a href="https://localai.xdeca.com/">localAI</a> is where WebMCP got its biggest workout, with an AI chat that runs in the browser and answers from the site's own tools. <a href="https://talkingsites.org/posts/webmcp-on-your-website/">More on that here</a>.</p> <h2>Software Freedom Day</h2> <p><a href="https://sfd.org.au/">Software Freedom Day</a> keeps this year's events online alongside the past ones.</p> <p>See them all on our <a href="https://talkingsites.org/work/">work page</a>.</p>