Feature nFamily - nself-org/cli GitHub Wiki

Feature: ɳFamily

ɳFamily is a planned private social media platform for families, built on ɳSelf. It provides a self-hosted space for family members to share photos, updates, and conversations without any data leaving your own server.

Status: Planned (not in current development scope) Repo: TBD Relationship to Flock: Independent. ɳFamily is an ɳSelf product. Flock is a Unity (unyeco) product. They share no code or infrastructure. The privacy boundary between the two projects is intentional.

Concept

Most families share photos and updates across a mix of iMessage, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Google Photos. None of these are private. None of them give you ownership of your data. ɳFamily is a self-hosted alternative where:

You own the server. All photos, posts, and messages stay on hardware you control.
No ads, no algorithms. The feed is chronological. No engagement optimization.
Invitation only. Family members join via invite codes. No public profiles, no discoverability.
Multi-generational. Simple enough for grandparents. Parental controls for kids.
One subscription. The ɳFamily plugin bundle runs on your existing ɳSelf server. No per-user pricing.

Planned Features

Photo Sharing

Upload photos and albums from any device
Automatic organization by date and location
Face detection and grouping (local processing, no cloud)
Shared albums with comments and reactions
Original quality preservation (no compression)

Activity Feed

Chronological timeline of family activity
Posts with text, photos, and location
Reactions and threaded comments
Birthday and anniversary reminders

Messaging

Real-time family group chat
Direct messages between family members
Photo and video sharing in chat
Voice messages

Content Moderation

Parental controls per family member
Content filtering for younger members
Activity reports for parents
Screen time awareness (not enforcement, that is the device's job)

Privacy

All data stored on your server. Zero cloud dependencies.
No analytics, no tracking, no telemetry
End-to-end encryption for direct messages (planned)
Granular sharing controls (who sees what)

ɳFamily Plugin Bundle

The ɳFamily bundle uses these ɳSelf Pro plugins:

Plugin	Purpose
`social`	Activity feed, posts, reactions, follows
`photos`	Photo upload, organization, face detection
`activity-feed`	Timeline aggregation and display
`moderation`	Content filtering and parental controls
`realtime`	WebSocket connections for live updates
`cms`	Content management for family pages/blogs
`chat`	Real-time messaging

These plugins are shared with other ɳSelf products. The ɳFamily client app combines them into a family-specific workflow.

Architecture

ɳFamily follows the same pattern as other ɳSelf reference apps:

Flutter client app (iOS, Android, Web) communicates with the ɳSelf backend via Hasura GraphQL.
ɳSelf backend runs the ɳFamily plugin bundle. Plugins handle photo processing, feed generation, real-time messaging, and moderation.
MinIO stores photos and media at original quality.
Auth handles family member accounts, invitations, and role-based access.

No dedicated server is required. ɳFamily runs alongside your other ɳSelf apps on the same server.

Pricing

ɳFamily will be available as a plugin bundle at $0.99/mo or $9.99/yr. The ɳSelf+ subscription ($49/yr) includes ɳFamily along with all other plugin bundles.

Relationship to Flock

Flock (unyeco/flock) is a separate family app built on Unity infrastructure. ɳFamily and Flock are completely independent:

	ɳFamily	Flock
Organization	ɳSelf (nself-org)	Unity (unyeco)
Backend	ɳSelf CLI stack	Unity shared backend
Hosting	Self-hosted by user	Unity servers
Data ownership	User owns everything	Unity-managed
Target	Privacy-first families	Social families
Status	Planned	Active

The separation is by design. ɳFamily serves users who want complete data ownership. Flock serves users who prefer a managed workflow.

Feature-Plugins -- plugin system overview
Plugin-Licensing -- bundle pricing

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