IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Show HN: Dock – Slack minus the bloat, tax, and 90-day memory loss

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

The discussion surrounding the new chat application, Dock, reveals three predominant themes among Hacker News commenters.

1. Skepticism Regarding Pricing and Business Model

Many commenters expressed distrust regarding the promise of "unlimited" and "forever" features, often citing past experiences with SaaS providers who later change terms or pricing. The flat-rate pricing model, while attractive, raises questions about long-term sustainability and potential hidden costs or limits.

yadavrh: "Gmail has been free forever :) even when google wasn't the behemoth it is now" unsnap_biceps: "I don't trust anything that says 'Free Forever' or 'Unlimited'. Give a real limit and figure out the transition."

2. The Critical Importance of Integrations and Ecosystem

Users emphasized that the value of a communication tool lies heavily in its ability to integrate with existing workflows (e.g., GitHub, Jira, CI/CD). Commenters noted that Dock currently lacks the extensive integration library that competitors like Slack possess, which creates significant lock-in and migration friction.

1123581321: "That ability to integrate is the core of Slack’s identity. That’s the main reason to use Slack instead of its predecessors." ryanSrich: "How are you going to replace the 30+ in-house apps I've built that automate 50+ workflows?"

3. The Viability of a "Local-First" Architecture

There was significant technical debate regarding the product’s infrastructure, specifically its reliance on Cloudflare and "local-first" architecture to reduce costs. While the founder argued this enables low pricing and offline capabilities, some engineers remained skeptical about the long-term scalability and cost-effectiveness compared to traditional infrastructure.

yadavrh: "We trade 'raw metal' efficiency for 'operational' efficiency, which is where the real savings are." danpalmer: "I stand by this being your Achilles heel, it's a very expensive way to run the infra, and when you're delivering 1m messages a second, that's approaching a $1m/month bill just for request processing."

🚀 Project Ideas

Retention-Configurable Chat Platform

Summary

  • A modern team chat application that allows administrators to set granular retention policies per channel or conversation (e.g., 90 days, 1 year, or indefinite).
  • Solves the frustration of losing valuable long-term documentation stored in chats or conversely, being forced to keep ephemeral chatter forever.
  • Core value proposition: Legal and operational compliance through flexible, per-channel data governance without sacrificing the usability of a modern chat app.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Legal, compliance, and engineering teams at small-to-medium companies (5-50 people) who need strict data retention policies.
Core Feature Admin panel to set message retention limits (e.g., 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, indefinite) for specific channels or direct messages.
Tech Stack Go (backend), React/TypeScript (web), React Native (mobile), PostgreSQL.
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Per-seat pricing with a generous free tier for small teams.

Notes

  • Addresses the user jms703: "Can I configure 90 retention limit? Chat with > 90 day retention becomes my documentation and I don't want that." and dbcurtis on varying legal requirements.
  • Practical utility: Many industries (finance, healthcare) have strict data retention laws, while engineering teams need to preserve technical decisions. Separating these concerns is a key differentiator from Slack’s global settings.

Cross-Platform WebRTC Meeting Launcher

Summary

  • A lightweight browser extension or desktop app that normalizes video call links (Zoom, Teams, Meet) into a single, reliable standard for the user.
  • Solves the frustration of browser compatibility issues (Safari vs. Chrome) and the "euuuugh" reaction to receiving a specific platform's link.
  • Core value proposition: "It just works" video conferencing regardless of the link provider or the user's browser, leveraging the best of WebRTC without the bloat.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Freelancers, remote workers, and cross-company collaborators who frequently join meetings on different platforms.
Core Feature Intercept meeting links (Zoom, Teams, Meet) and open them in a dedicated, optimized WebRTC wrapper that bypasses browser-specific permission issues.
Tech Stack Electron (desktop wrapper), WebRTC APIs, Rust (for native media handling if needed).
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby: Free for personal use. Revenue-ready: Enterprise license for teams.

Notes

  • Addresses the user asdff: "The thing kept shutting off my webcam every two seconds... Zoom just works on the other hand." and calvinmorrison on the "euuuugh" reaction to Zoom/Teams links.
  • High potential for discussion: Solves the "browser monopoly" argument by creating a neutral ground that functions better than the native web apps on Safari or Firefox.

Open Protocol Chat Client (XMPP/Matrix Bridge)

Summary

  • A consumer-grade desktop and mobile client for existing open protocols (XMPP/Matrix) that prioritizes UX polish and media handling over federation complexity.
  • Solves the "walled garden" and lock-in issues of Slack/Teams while avoiding the confusing setup of existing open-source clients.
  • Core value proposition: Freedom from vendor lock-in and data ownership, wrapped in a modern, intuitive interface.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Privacy-conscious developers, open-source communities, and teams wanting to avoid SaaS lock-in.
Core Feature Unified inbox for XMPP and Matrix accounts with a focus on media previews, thread management, and easy onboarding.
Tech Stack Flutter (for cross-platform native feel), Rust (backend for protocol handling).
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby: Free and Open Source. Revenue-ready: Paid hosting for managed servers.

Notes

  • Addresses the users koziserek ("can someone tell me why won't a matrix server suffice... what is lacking?") and Imustaskforhelp ("I really enjoyed [Zulip]... but I am gonna be honest that Closed source services make more money").
  • Practical utility: Bridges the gap between the reliability of proprietary apps and the data sovereignty of self-hosted tools, a major concern for TkTech and jacquesm regarding US-based data hosting.

Workflow-Native Chat API

Summary

  • A chat platform built specifically around "async workflows" rather than "real-time chatter," featuring deep integration hooks for CI/CD, ticketing, and project management.
  • Solves the fragmentation where engineering notifications, product updates, and general chatter mix in one noisy stream.
  • Core value proposition: A chat interface that acts as the "status dashboard" for your tools, reducing the need to context-switch to other apps.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Engineering teams and DevOps who rely heavily on automated notifications (GitHub, Jira, PagerDuty).
Core Feature "Decision Inbox" and structured message types (not just text) that integrate natively with external APIs without complex webhook setups.
Tech Stack Elixir (for high-concurrency real-time connections), React, PostgreSQL.
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Usage-based pricing for API calls/notifications, free for internal team chat.

Notes

  • Addresses the user 101008: "something very important are integrations... They use probably Slack API that you can replicate, but the integrations are native in other services." and ryanSrich's need to replace custom workflows.
  • Potential for discussion: Challenges the "feature bloat" narrative by focusing on a specific set of high-value integrations that are currently bolted onto Slack rather than baked in.

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