Open by design — your data, your instance, no tricks
Modern social media is a shopping mall where every surface is optimized to sell you something. Kookey is software to watch and listen with friends. We are building it to stay that way.
Notice: Planned Product Feature
This document outlines the design and architectural principles planned for the hosted Kookey social platform, targeting release in Q1 2027. The current public website is a static presentation and waitlist.
1.What "open by design" means here
Open by design is not a marketing phrase for a product that is technically open-source but practically locked into one platform. It means the software can be inspected, the hosting choices can be understood, and the data can be moved.
In practice: a software license that grants clear reuse rights, a self-hosting option for people and organizations that want to run their own instance, and a data model that does not trap your content on one platform by making export technically impossible or practically unusable. These are goals for the hosted service, not features of the current static website.
2.Self-hosting
A supported self-hosted release is not available yet. When it is, an independent operator can run their own Kookey instance with their own domain, storage, and community rules. That operator is responsible for their instance’s security, moderation, privacy notice, and user support. Running a server is not free and it is not simple; we will publish an honest setup guide that describes the maintenance costs alongside the control benefits.
An independently operated instance is not governed by Kookey’s hosted-service policies unless that operator adopts them. Each instance is its own service with its own operator.
3.Software license and source code
Kookey has not published a software license or canonical source release. Reuse rights for the original code are not established until we do. We will publish the software license and third-party notices when the reuse terms are confirmed. The source repository link will appear here when it is maintained and ready to share.
Until then, do not assume a particular license applies to Kookey’s original code, text, or brand assets.
4.Data ownership in practice
Data ownership means being able to download your content in a format you can actually use elsewhere, and being able to delete your account without leaving a residue of data that persists across backup cycles. The hosted service has not confirmed its export format, download scope, backup timing, or deletion guarantees. We will describe all of those before registration opens.
Ownership also means the service does not take a broad license to do things with your content that you did not agree to. The Terms describe the license the service needs to operate — hosting, displaying, encoding — and what it does not include.
5.No dark patterns
Dark patterns are design choices that push users toward decisions that benefit the platform rather than the user: opt-out defaults buried in settings, cancellation flows designed to make you give up, privacy controls that require seventeen steps to reach, subscribe prompts that reappear every time you try to close a dialog, free tiers crippled just enough to create upgrade pressure.
If a setting exists, it should be reachable. If something is optional, refusing it should be as easy as accepting it. If the service changes in a way that affects you, you should hear about it before it takes effect. That is not a high bar. Most platforms still fail it.
6.What is available today
The hosted social service is in development with a target release in Q1 2027. The current website is a static presentation and waitlist. Software license, source link, self-hosting guide, export format, and data deletion details will be published as they are confirmed.