Counter

An open source social platform. Like Threads, but fully transparent — open codebase, open algorithm, zero individual tracking, no paywalls, no dark patterns.

The API is the product. The web client is a thin read/write layer over it; every other client (iOS, macOS, third-party) talks to the same endpoints. No client holds special privilege.

Principles (enforced in code, not just docs)

• No tracking of individuals. A post view is an anonymous aggregate tick — no user id, no IP, no session id ever attached. See post_views in packages/db/src/schema.ts.
• Public by default. All posts and profiles read without authentication.
• Insights from post one. No follower gate on analytics, ever.
• Open algorithm. The exact ranking weights are served at GET /algorithm and shown at /algorithm — the same constant the feed ranks with.
• Everything open. No proprietary layer. If it runs, it's in this repo.

Stack

Layer	Choice
Runtime	Cloudflare Workers (local dev + tooling via Bun)
API	Hono (Workers), Drizzle + postgres-js over Hyperdrive
Database	PostgreSQL (self-hosted/managed) — fronted by Hyperdrive
Web	SvelteKit + @sveltejs/adapter-cloudflare (SSR — every page works without JavaScript)
Auth	Hand-rolled JWT (access + refresh), bcrypt, revocable sessions
Validation	Zod (shared between API and client)

Layout

core/
  apps/
    api/        Hono on Workers (wrangler)   → http://localhost:3000
    web/        SvelteKit on Workers          → http://localhost:5173
  packages/
    db/         Drizzle schema, migrations, client, seed
    types/      Shared Zod schemas + TypeScript types
    config/     Env validation, constants, the ranking algorithm

Both apps run on Cloudflare Workers. The API reaches Postgres through a Hyperdrive binding (env.HYPERDRIVE.connectionString); each request opens a short-lived postgres-js connection carried via AsyncLocalStorage. Passwords are hashed with WebCrypto PBKDF2 and refresh tokens are SHA-256 hashed — no Node/Bun-only crypto. Migrations and seeding still run locally on Bun against your Postgres directly (DATABASE_URL).

Run it locally

Prerequisites: Bun (tooling/migrations) and a PostgreSQL you can reach. wrangler dev runs the Workers locally via workerd.

# 1. Create the DB + env (generates JWT secrets, copies them to the API's .dev.vars)
createdb counter && cp .env.example .env && \
  sed -i '' "s|^JWT_SECRET=|JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)|; s|^JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=|JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)|" .env && \
  printf "JWT_SECRET=%s\nJWT_REFRESH_SECRET=%s\n" \
    "$(grep ^JWT_SECRET= .env | cut -d= -f2-)" \
    "$(grep ^JWT_REFRESH_SECRET= .env | cut -d= -f2-)" > apps/api/.dev.vars

# 2. Point the API's Hyperdrive *local* connection at your Postgres
#    Edit apps/api/wrangler.jsonc → hyperdrive[0].localConnectionString
#    (workerd requires a password segment even for trust-auth: postgres://user:any@host:5432/counter)

# 3. Install deps, run migrations, seed sample data
bun run setup

# 4. Start the API (wrangler dev) and web (vite) together
bun run dev

Open http://localhost:5173. Seeded logins: ada, linus, or grace — password password123.

On Linux use sed -i without the ''. The API reads secrets from apps/api/.dev.vars (gitignored); the web reads PUBLIC_API_URL from .env.

Deploy to Cloudflare

# 1. Create a Hyperdrive config pointing at your Postgres, then put its id in
#    apps/api/wrangler.jsonc → hyperdrive[0].id
wrangler hyperdrive create counter-db --connection-string="postgres://user:pass@host:5432/counter"

# 2. Set the API secrets in production
cd apps/api && wrangler secret put JWT_SECRET && wrangler secret put JWT_REFRESH_SECRET

# 3. Run migrations against your Postgres (from your machine)
bun run db:migrate            # and optionally: bun run db:seed

# 4. Deploy both Workers
cd apps/api && wrangler deploy
cd ../web   && bun run deploy   # vite build + wrangler deploy

After deploy, set the web's PUBLIC_API_URL (in apps/web/wrangler.jsonc vars) to the API Worker's URL, and the API's PUBLIC_API_URL to its own URL.

Cloudflare doesn't host Postgres — bring your own (Neon, Supabase, RDS, …) and front it with Hyperdrive for pooling + edge caching.

Useful scripts

Command	What it does
bun run dev	Run API (wrangler) + web (vite) together
bun run dev:api / bun run dev:web	Run just one
bun run db:generate	Generate a migration from schema changes
bun run db:migrate	Apply migrations to DATABASE_URL
bun run db:seed	Reset + seed sample data
bun run typecheck	Typecheck every package

API

Base URL http://localhost:3000. JSON everywhere. Errors are always { "error": { "code", "message" } }. Pagination is cursor-based (?after=<id>&limit=<n>, default 20, max 100). Every response carries X-RateLimit-* headers. Auth via Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Endpoint groups: /auth, /users, /posts, /search, /tags, /notifications, /insights, /themes, /algorithm. Public endpoints work unauthenticated and never redirect to login.

Theming

The design language is liquid glass, expressed entirely as CSS custom properties in apps/web/src/app.css. A theme is just an override map of those variables — validated server-side, never executed. Browse and apply community themes at /themes.

License

Counter is licensed under the Counter Social License (CSL) v1.0 — see LICENSE.md for the full text. It is source-available, not a standard open source license: you may use, study, modify, and deploy it, but network deployments must publish their full source, every deployment must carry the "Built with Counter" attribution, and individual tracking, profit extraction, and closed forks are prohibited outright.

Every source file carries the CSL notice header. Data collection is documented in full — every category, its purpose, and its retention — in documents/DATA-MODEL.md. The ranking algorithm and its complete change history are public at /algorithm.