Show HN: Hollow – A Customizable Digital Workspace

[ryu-suke]

The project is a modular, fully customizable digital workspace designed for those who want complete control over their tools. Instead of being locked into predefined workflows, it lets you create, style, and organize tools as cards that seamlessly integrate into your workspace.

- How the Project Works

    Tools - the app's core functionalities are it's tools, for example a notebook, kanban, webview...
    Limitless Customization - Styling the tools as i refer to each instance of it a 'card' is a another core feature, from minimalist setups to complex multi-card workflows.
    Plugin System - Extend functionality with plugins, making it adaptable to your needs, developer can use the app's api to make plugins/tools for the app.

- Why This Project?

Unlike traditional productivity apps, this project doesn’t force a specific structure. It’s an open-ended system where you build your own tools, layouts, and workflows instead of adapting to someone else’s design choices. Whether you need a note-taking space, a task manager, or something entirely unique, the project adapts to you.

- Check it out: https://github.com/hollow-app

Would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, or feedback!

Thanks a lot.

[abstractbeliefs]

"Currently, the app isn’t open source, as I felt it didn’t need to be."

No open source, not selling me as a customer.

If you make your entire product about customisation, you're doing me a disservice to not let me adjust the code as suits my needs, asides from the ethical position on free software.

[samrolken]

Not just that, but even:

> However, tools developed for Hollow will need to be open source to be approved

Weirdly contradictory.

[ryu-suke]

Another user point that as well, English is not my first language so i think i miss used the word 'approved', if a plugin is open source it will be labeled as verified otherwise it will be unverified, in both cases they will be available in the app's plugin section for installation.

[ryu-suke]

customizability lies in its plugin and theme system, not in modifying the core source code. The goal is to give users complete control over their experience without needing to edit the underlying codebase. You can create plugins to extend functionality, design themes to change its look and feel, and tweak everything to fit your workflow, yet i do understand how important for apps to be open source, therefore i wont guarantee that happening any time soon

[abstractbeliefs]

It's not one-or-the-other. You can achieve all that customisability without having to edit the code, while also leaving it as an option for those who want to take it further.

[traverseda]

>Hollow is intended to be driven by a community of developers, Whether you’re using the core tools or adding new ones through plugins, you’re part of a growing ecosystem of creativity and flexibility.

>"Currently, the app isn’t open source, as I felt it didn’t need to be."

It has to be real good before I'm willing to work for you for free. How much better are you than logseq, or even other closed source competitors like obsidian or roam research?

You want me to put my brain into this thing that I don't own?

>However, tools developed for Hollow will need to be open source to be approved as verified tools.

You want us to work for free, follow a specific license, but you're not willing to follow that license yourself? That borders on being disrespectful in my opinion.

[ryu-suke]

it's not about getting people to "work for free", it's about enabling people to create freely. The reason verified tools need to be open source is to ensure transparency and trust for users who install them, and for me to label them as verified, not to impose a one-sided standard. Users should know what a plugin does before they integrate it into their workspace. That said, nothing stops developers from making private or commercial plugins if they choose to, it will still be available on the app's plugin list but it won't be labeled as verified

[traverseda]

>The reason verified tools need to be open source is to ensure transparency and trust for users who install them

Is that not true of the code you've written here as well? I don't understand why you have different rules for yourself or for people developing for your platform.

[ryu-suke]

I get where you’re coming from, but the distinction is pretty straightforward: Hollow is the platform, and plugins are extensions that users install separately. The open source requirement for verified plugins isn’t about fairness between the platform and developers, it’s about ensuring transparency for users when they install third-party extensions.

That said, not all plugins have to be open source, developers are free to create private or commercial plugins, and they will still be available inside the app. They just won’t carry the verified label, which exists purely to help users make informed choices.

[traverseda]

You don't get to decide whether it's about fairness or not. It is going to be about fairness for a bunch of your early adopters. This is actually the kind of product I suspect I'd go for, I'm pretty firmly in your target audience. I'm the kind of person who has hacked python support into logseq for example. I'm telling you that fairness is a concern, and that I find requiring verified add-ons to be open source while not open sourcing your own code to be unfair.

Some big companies can do unfair stuff like this. Somehow obsidian manages. I don't think you can with what you have right now. You make a compelling enough project, spend enough money on marketing, you probably can. If you want grassroots support it's not happening with that model. At least not from me.

You could consider sharing the source under the business source license. That might still give you whatever protections you're looking for but that you're not stating outright. You have sort of dodged the question as to why it's not open source, and you're not saying what your future plans are that mean it can't be open source. That concerns me.

Give the BSL (business source license) some serious consideration. I don't think you're going to get a bunch of developer early adopters if they don't have some ownership over the product.

[edoceo]

Arguing with prospective users on why their opinion is wrong is an indicator that you don't "get where they are coming from"

[rosseitsa]

Hey, I downloaded and played around with the app a bit and it feels promising. It looks like obsidian in the sense of aspiring to be an "everything" app.

However, I am much more likely to use and contribute to the ecosystem of an app that is open source, in order to avoid a rug pull (relevant article https://howtomarketagame.com/2021/11/01/dont-build-your-cast...).

I read in the website that it is not open source because it does not need to be, could you elaborate on this?

[ryu-suke]

The decision to keep Hollow closed source isn’t about restricting users, it’s about ensuring stability while maximizing customization through plugins and themes. you can extend it freely using the plugin system, much like how browsers allow extensions without requiring users to alter their source code.

I understand concerns about long term sustainability and rug pulls. Unlike subscription based models or cloud locked apps, Hollow is 100% local, and the app remains fully usable regardless of future updates. The goal is to foster a plugin driven ecosystem rather than requiring contributors to maintain the core software.

And Thanks for trying out Hollow, really glad to hear you find it promising.

[rosseitsa]

"The decision to keep Hollow closed source isn’t about restricting users, it’s about ensuring stability while maximizing customization through plugins and themes."

I am not sure if the above is marketing speech but of course you can open source it while not accepting PR that would harm the stability of the app.

Most developers interested in such software would not invest time and effort towards projects that may be abandoned soon, or that may have their future versions require subscriptions.

I am not going to be using Hollow, it is unusable in its current state and I do not see any security in helping the app grow.

[ryu-suke]

That’s fair, I understand that open source is a deciding factor for some people. I also get concerns about sustainability right now, there will be no subscriptions as i said in the site it will be free no matter what, The financial side of the app is purely based on donations, and the focus is on growing an ecosystem of tools that developers can build on freely.

Thanks again for considering it, and for your feedback

[traverseda]

Why would I give you my code for free if you're not going to give me your code for free?

[compootr]

> The decision to keep Hollow closed source isn’t about restricting users, it’s about ensuring stability while maximizing customization through plugins and themes. you can extend it freely using the plugin system, much like how browsers allow extensions without requiring users to alter their source code.

This is the worst take about open source software I've seen in a while.

First impressions are everything, and as it stands, I 100% do not trust you as a sole developer. Like seriously, as a dude truing to get adoption of your project, WTF is wrong with you? why are you scared of the boogieman of releasing source code?

do you write code badly and will feel attacked by others reading it?

[fimdomeio]

On FF: Just to let you know when I enter the site it makes a request to: https://hollow-space.web.app/[object Object]

Also clicking explore does change the url to https://hollow-space.web.app/#0 but makes no visual difference. I have a feeling that quite a bit of the website is not working for me.

[ryu-suke]

Thanks for the heads-up, they are from the original Next.js template i used that haven’t been fully adapted yet, I’ll be fixing these soon

[jph]

Think about adding screenshots of people using it, or explainer videos, or before/after comparisons, etc.

You'll likely land more people if you can provide context. For example, is it kind of like Notion, or Airtable, or HyperCard, or Trello? Is there a specific kind of person, or role, or task that is an especially good match?

[ryu-suke]

Great points, The ideal users are those who want a highly customizable digital workspace without being locked into a rigid structure, and i do have plan on releasing some videos about that. thanks for the suggestion, definitely something I’ll be doing!

[rootsudo]

I love the idea, but digital workspaces are already a published, polished ecosystem that locks you in via Google, Zoho, Microsoft M365, etc.

Being closed source, feels that it isn't truely complete control, and predefined workflows usually solve or fix common business issues which make/reward being in a digital workspace.

[ryu-suke]

Thanks for the feedback.

I always describe it as a digital workspace as i see that as much of a global definition for the app, yet when i first started what i was working on is something similar to obsidian and notion but without it being natively a note taking app. Something empty that can be customized fully and supports plugin system, all that to make something that doesn't require to be constantly modernizing.

thanks again for the support.

[tabarnacle]

Really interesting project! Could you share some screenshots or examples of how it works in practice?

[ryu-suke]

Thanks, I released a simple Play video a while back showing an earlier version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ShchM6MDIU. and what i would say changed a lot from that version is the notebook, i would recommend reading the changelog of the new version after watching that video https://hollow-space.web.app/changelog

[nvllsvm]

"Currently, the app isn’t open source, as I felt it didn’t need to be."

I would have happily created an Arch Linux AUR package for Hollow if it were open source.

[rosseitsa]

I have a feeling that the only one reading the comments is the ChatGPT that is giving the answers, no point in engaging further IMO

[postepowanieadm]

https://hollow-space.web.app/

[jitl]

Your link takes me to a github org, is there a specific repo where the project itself lives?

[ryu-suke]

Hollow isn’t open source, so there’s no public repo for the core project. If you’re looking for more details about how Hollow works, I’d recommend checking out the website https://hollow-space.web.app/

[zamalek]

Why link to GitHub at all? Not being open source is fine, but using GitHub as your primary entry point seems disingenuous.

[ryu-suke]

I get why that might seem a bit off. I linked to the GitHub org because i was only presenting the project's idea and hoping for feedback and support, the website was also provided there.