Sprouts

Sprouts is a web server program that can serve templated static content.

It is easy to install on any linux server, and can serve your website from a cheap linux box at $5/mo from any VPS provider.

It comes with an easy to use companion gui program, "Gardener", making it possible to own your web presence without being locked in to a cloud vendor.

This very website is being served from a Sprouts instance!

• Server installs in seconds
• No linux sysadmin knowledge required
• Your own website, on your custom domain
• Automaic HTTPS support via let's encrypt

Note: custom domain and HTTPS support provided via HoTCo:RE.

Rough pre-alpha demo

Here's a demo of setting up a fresh Linux server from Vultr at $5/mo

It takes about 20 seconds from hitting the "Install Sprouts" button to having a fully working instance up and running.

Next we put some dummy content on an html file locally and deploy it to the server, and it's live on the internet within seconds!

Note: DNS entries were setup separately, prior to this demo.

Introduction

I started working on this project because I wanted to run my own website without having to play around with server configurations and command line tools and complex infrastructure.

I also would very much prefer not to have my internet presence to be locked to one specific provider.

The things I wanted can seem very contradictory:

• Use any linux box from any cheap VPS
• No cryptic commands
• No cloud techno jargon
• No vendor lock-in

As far as I can tell, there's nothing in existence that satisfies all these conditions.

You either have:

• Cloud providers that take away all the technical jargon while charging you tons of money and locking you in to their infrastructure.

• Jargon filled, so called "self hosting" tools, that just help you create a confusing "cloud environment" on your own servers.

This project does something completely different.

• The server infrastructure is so simple, it's trivial to automate, allowing us to create a user interface that is very easy to use.

• User friendly application that runs on your machine and lets you manage your website like it was truely yours, because it is.

• No sysadmin knowledge required. Very few concepts to learn.

Although the initial release of Sprouts will focus on templated static content, the vision is to enable interacting with visitors and fostering a community, because that's the core value of the internet: a two-way communication medium.

• Comments on published content
• Engaging discussion forums
• Chat rooms with browsable archive

In addition, we want to enable individuals creators to run their online business more or less just on Sprouts.

• Analytics
• Email subscriptions
• Calendar bookings
• Paywalled content
• Members-only area

The idea is to have all of this on your own website, not as a bunch of different integrations with external services.

Why this matters

The internet is becoming more and more centralized.

• You don't own your data

• BigTech can shut you down

The obvious answer to this is to host your own website and be in control of the data on it.

Unfortunately, existing "self hosted" systems are all needlessly complex and require a high level of technical expertise to operate.

• Setup is difficult
• Maintenance is difficult
• Scaling is difficult

When something is difficult to do, very few people will do it.

It doesn't matter if some open source solution exists that lets you in theory do all of the above, when that system is confusing and difficult to use.

The fact that it is "open source" contributes almost nothing!

Open source cannot solve this problem.

Open source projects are perpetually half-done, and they usually get abandoned, becasuse their makers cannot sustain themselves providing free stuff forever.

The ones that manage to keep going are usually aimed for enthusiasts and technical users. They would have a very high bar of required technical knowledge, and almost never prioritize ease of use or peace of mind.

Sprouts is going to be a paid product.

This problem is important, and the solution to it must be sustainable.

The initial release of Sprouts will be free for individual use and for small businesses to publish their own websites (for themselves, not for clients).

Being centered around static content, it falls short of our vision, so we would rather spread the word. Get people to try it out and use it, even if for free.

Getting the word out and building trust is more important in the initial phase.

Future releases with analytics and discussions will be free only for individual personal use and free community websites for hobbyists, such as open source projects, designers and makers communities, fan communities for games and anime, etc.

Business related use will require a paid license.

Features related to running an online business will always require a paid license, even for personal use.

The source code will be available, but under a license that does not allow redistribution. Reviewing the code and modifying it for your own use will be allowed though.

Why the situation persists

Companies have no enonomic incentive to make it easy for you to own your web presence on your own terms free from vendor lock-in.

The incentive is to make it difficult and jargon filled, so they can charge you premium subscription fees.

Not that there's anything wrong with that per se. It is what it is.

We have a different vision.

We want a world where self hosting your online presence, whether for personal or business use, is so easy and friction-free, that most people would prefer to do it themselves.

How you can help

This project is still in its early stage, and it is not going to survive and persist if no one is interested enough to pay for what it provides.

If you are running an online business, and you care about owning your web presence enough to be willing to pay for a product that helps you achieve that, I want to talk to you and listen to your needs.

Casually shoot an email to contact@judi.systems.