The official archive of your group chat.
Give your class, your team or your friends a records office of their own. Upload photos, PDFs, video and audio, vote on what matters and argue in the comments. You decide who gets in.
Free. You will need a Supabase project, hosted or on your own server. Setup takes about five minutes.
How every department starts
- § 1
Your database, not ours
Every department stores its files, members and comments in a Supabase project you own. Uploads go directly there. OpenDepartment uses your member session to render pages; it holds no permanent tenant administrator key.
- § 2
Invite only by default
A new department is unlisted and closed. People get in with an invite code you hand out. You can open membership later, ban members, delete exhibits and review reports.
- § 3
Your hosting plan
Your archive uses your own Supabase project. Storage limits and hosting charges depend on your plan and usage. Check them in your Supabase dashboard – there is no OpenDepartment subscription to buy.
Screenshots, scans, voice notes, and the whiteboard photo nobody can read
Every document a member files gets a docket number, a score and its own thread, and stays findable by text, subject and type.
Upload anything
Drag in photos, PDFs, video and audio, several at a time, or paste a screenshot straight from the clipboard.
Vote and discuss
Every exhibit gets a score and its own comment thread. Sort by top, newest or most discussed.
Find it again
Full-text search, subjects, categories and filters. Every file gets its own docket number.
You decide who gets in
Invite codes with limits and expiry dates, or open the doors to anyone. Moderate, ban and review reports.
Your files never pass through our servers
Uploads go from the browser straight into the department's own Supabase project. You choose where that project runs.
Supabase Cloud
- Where it runs
- supabase.com, in the region you pick
- Setting it up
- The setup wizard on this site walks you through it
- Public directory
- Optional. Unlisted until you choose otherwise.
- What it costs
- Supabase's own pricing, which includes a free plan
Your own server
- Where it runs
- Docker, on hardware you control
- Setting it up
- Your own copy of OpenDepartment, pointed at it with one setting
- Public directory
- None. No directory and no OpenDepartment account.
- What it costs
- Whatever your server costs to run
Either way it is the same schema file, and the rules about who may see what live in the database itself.
About five minutes, most of it in Supabase's dashboard
- 01
Name it
- 02
Create a Supabase project
- 03
Install the schema
- 04
Set up e-mail
- 05
Connect it
Your group already has the evidence. Give it a docket number.
OpenDepartment is free to use. If it is useful to you, you can buy me a coffee.