Project · community-platform
OurBlock
- How you run it
- not recorded
- Holochain version
- 0.6.0
- Activity
- maintained
- Checked
- 29 October 2026
What is OurBlock and what is it for?
OurBlock is an app for giving a neighborhood its own private online space, built on Holochain rather than run on a company's servers. It is meant for the people who actually live near one another: sharing updates, planning events, lending tools and asking for help.
OurBlock is an app for a neighborhood's own private online space, aimed at the people who live near one another rather than a public audience. The project describes itself as a self-hosted, decentralized neighborhood community platform, and it is built on Holochain instead of a company's servers.
A neighborhood arranges its own hosting. The documented design has two parts: a hub, a small always-on computer that one neighbor runs and that holds the shared data, and the neighbors' own devices, which reach that hub from a browser on the same network. Invite codes decide who gets in.
The documentation describes modular pieces a neighborhood can switch on, among them a block feed for local updates and alerts, an events board with RSVPs, a shared tool library, and a request board for helping one another. The Home Assistant add-on is the documented way to host a hub, and installation and design notes sit in the project's DEPLOYMENT.md and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
How to get it
Desktop app
- Install the Holochain Launcher for your platform.
- Download the our_block.webhapp file from the project's releases page.
- In the Launcher, choose "Install new app" and select the file.
- Open OurBlock from the Launcher; it opens in your default browser.
Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Pixel-Pilot28/OurBlock/main/DEPLOYMENT.md
In a browser
- Host a hub: in Home Assistant, add the repository https://github.com/Pixel-Pilot28/OurBlock under Add-on Store repositories, then install the OurBlock Hub add-on and start it.
- From a device on the same network, open the hub's web interface at https://ourblock.local:4443 or https://<home-assistant-ip>:4443.
Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Pixel-Pilot28/OurBlock/main/infra/ha-addon/README.md
Questions people ask
- Does OurBlock need a server?
- It needs one always-on computer in the neighborhood. The maintainer documentation describes a hub node that a single neighbor runs, with the Home Assistant add-on as the documented hosting route, and other neighbors reaching it from a browser on the same network. source
- How do neighbors join an OurBlock neighborhood?
- By invite code. The architecture notes describe codes carrying the neighborhood's identifier and a signature from its hub, and a private neighborhood can also require an existing member to vouch for the new person. source
- Is there a mobile app?
- The repository describes a React Native mobile app as coming soon. The two paths its documentation covers today are the Holochain Launcher install and a hub's web interface in a browser. source
From 4 public sources, checked 23 September 2026.
Try OurBlock
- Code on GitHubOpen on GitHub ↗Last change 19 January 2026.
- ReleaseNo GitHub release recorded.
- The project's own files do not say how it is run.
Details & sources
- Source
- Pixel-Pilot28/OurBlock
Evidence
- Last change
- api.github.com/repos/Pixel-Pilot28/OurBlocklisted by a third party · seen since 20 October 2026 · github.repository@1
- Activity
- api.github.com/repos/Pixel-Pilot28/OurBlocklisted by a third party · seen since 20 October 2026 · liveness@1
Compatibility
- hdk
- 0.6.0 · Cargo.toml @ 882eac8
- hdi
- 0.7.0 · Cargo.toml @ 882eac8
- holochain-client
- 0.20.0 · ui/package.json @ 882eac8
- happ.yaml
- present · workdir/happ.yaml @ 882eac8
- web-happ.yaml
- present · workdir/web-happ.yaml @ 882eac8