Forma in 74 seconds
Chat, tasks, a standup that writes itself, and AI agents with your own Claude key.
Read the transcript
Your team lives in chat. So why does the daily standup still need its own app, and its own bill?
Meet Forma. Open-source team chat that runs on your own server.
Channels, threads, reactions and search. Everything your team expects, delivered live, and never lost.
Turn any message into a task. My Work ranks what needs you most, and tells you why.
At the end of the day, Forma drafts each person's standup from the work they actually did.
You review it privately. Nothing is shared until you submit. No tracking, and no ranking people.
Then one summary posts to the team. Every day. Without an AI bill.
Bring your own Claude key, and add AI agents. Mention one, and it answers live, using only what your channel can see.
Or connect Claude Code straight into Forma, and let it post where your team works.
Forma Chat. Free, open source, and yours. Find it on GitHub.
The end of the day writes itself
Most standup tools ask people to remember and retype their day. Forma already knows what moved, because the work happened in Forma.
Work as usual
Turn messages into tasks, start them, finish them, flag what is blocked. Every change is recorded on the task.
Review a private draft
At the time you set, each person gets their own draft: finished, started, blocked and next. They edit it and decide what to share.
One summary, once a day
The standup bot posts a single summary to the team channel and honestly lists who has not posted. No AI bill, no tracking.
Private by design, not by promise
Drafts use only a person's own task activity. Work in personal tasks or private channels is offered to them as a suggestion and never put in a shared summary without their say.
No ranking of peopleThe focus list orders your own tasks, with the reasons shown, and only you see it.
No surveillanceNo keystrokes, screenshots or activity scores. Ever.
One permission policyMessages, search, threads and live updates all ask the same question: can this person read this?
Your data stays homeOne SQLite file on your server. No vendor control plane, no telemetry.
Everything your team talks about, in one place
The everyday features of modern team chat, built in the open and tested end to end in real browsers.
- Channels and DMsPublic and private channels, one-to-one and group messages, guests limited to what they are added to.
- Threads and reactionsReply in a thread, also send to the channel, react with any emoji, all live.
- Search that respects privacyFull-text search filtered by permissions before any result, snippet or count exists.
- Tasks from any messageAssign, prioritise, set due dates, comment, and see where each task came from.
- Activity, Threads, LaterMentions, reactions and replies in one feed; save messages for later.
- Never lose a messageMessages are stored before they are acknowledged and replay after a reconnect. Retries never duplicate.
- FilesAttach files by button, paste or drag and drop. Images show inline, and files follow the conversation's permissions.
- Edits, pins, draftsEdit with history, pin what matters, and drafts that follow you across devices.
- AI agents, your keyAdd Claude with your own Anthropic key, or connect your own Claude Code over MCP. Agents only see what the channel can see. How agents work
- On your phoneA real phone layout with bottom tabs and full-screen threads. Add it to your home screen and it opens like an app.
- No user limitNo seat caps, no paid tier, no licence server. Invite the whole company.
- Light and darkA keyboard-friendly interface with a jump-to switcher and screen-reader labels.
Run it in two minutes
One command with Docker. The server prints a one-time link to create the owner account.
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v forma-data:/data ghcr.io/pandeyvishwas51-oss/forma-chat
Or download a binary for Linux, macOS or Windows from Releases and run ./forma serve. To build from source you need Go 1.26+ and Node.js 22+:
git clone https://github.com/pandeyvishwas51-oss/forma-chat && cd forma-chat make setup build ./bin/forma serve
Want a populated workspace to explore? Run node scripts/demo.mjs after building.
Questions
Is Forma Chat free?
Yes. It is open source under Apache-2.0 with no paid edition, no per-seat fee and no licence server. You pay only for the server you run it on.
How do the automatic daily standups work?
At a time you choose, Forma drafts each person's update from their own task activity that day, plus their next priorities. They review and submit privately; the bot posts one summary per day and lists who has not posted. No AI provider is needed.
Can I self-host it?
Self-hosting is the only way to run it: one Go binary with the web app built in and a SQLite file. Put it behind Caddy or nginx for HTTPS.
Is it end-to-end encrypted?
No. Messages live on your server so they can be searched. Protect the server and its backups. Private channels are enforced on every route by one permission policy.
Is Forma a Slack clone?
It covers the same kind of work as Slack, Microsoft Teams or Mattermost, but it is independent code with its own design, not affiliated with Slack or Salesforce, and it does not run Slack apps.
Can I use AI agents or my own Claude?
Yes. Add an agent with your own Anthropic API key (Claude) or any OpenAI-compatible key, then mention it in a channel: it answers live, searching only what that channel can already see. Or connect your own Claude Code or Claude Desktop over MCP. Forma never charges for AI. How agents work.
Is it ready for production?
It is an early release. Messaging, threads, reactions, search, tasks, standups and AI agents are working and tested; files, huddles and an app platform are on the roadmap. See the honest feature status.