5chan is a serverless, adminless, decentralized and open-source imageboard built on the [Bitsocial protocol](https://bitsocial.net). It features the classic imageboard directory structure, but with a crucial difference: **anyone can create and own boards, and multiple boards can compete for each directory slot**.
Unlike traditional imageboards, 5chan has no global admins or central authority. Anyone can create unlimited boards using their own [bitsocial node](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/bitsocial-cli). Each board owner runs their own P2P node that users connect to peer-to-peer, giving them complete control over their board's content, moderation, and rules.
5chan maintains the familiar imageboard directory structure (Japanese Culture, Video Games, Interests, Creative, etc.), but introduces competition: **multiple boards can compete for each directory slot**. For example, there can be unlimited "Business & Finance" boards, but only the highest-voted one appears in the directory on the homepage.
Currently, directory assignments are temporarily handpicked by developers through GitHub pull requests. In the future, each directory will have its own voting page, and only users who purchased 5chan Pass will be able to vote.
- **Future System**: Each directory will have its own voting page listing the boards competing for that slot. Only users who purchased 5chan Pass will be able to vote on which board is assigned to the directory.
- **Accessing Boards**: Users can access any board at any time using its address, regardless of directory assignment. Boards can be accessed via the search bar, by subscribing to them (which adds them to the top bar), or by directly navigating to their address.
Creating boards directly from the 5chan web app (5chan.app) is planned. This requires connecting via RPC to a bitsocial node—technically already possible, but there's no default connection configured. A default connection would require a public RPC service (similar to what Infura provides for crypto wallets, but for bitsocial nodes). This would allow all users to be connected to a P2P node by default using a free tier subscription in the background, potentially monetized via ads injected in the RPC service-owned boards.
Directory voting pages are planned for each slot on 5chan. These pages will list the competing boards for that directory, and only users who purchased 5chan Pass will be able to vote.
- **Desktop version** (full P2P bitsocial node, seeds automatically): Available for Mac/Windows/Linux, [download from the release page](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/5chan/releases/latest)
- **Mobile version**: Available for Android, [download from the release page](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/5chan/releases/latest)
In the bitsocial protocol, a 5chan board is called a _community_. To deliver the expected 5chan imageboard UX, a board should run on a bitsocial node together with [5chan Board Manager](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/5chan-board-manager). The board manager applies imageboard-style lifecycle rules that bitsocial communities do not enforce by themselves: thread limits, bump limits, archived-thread retention, and purging of author-deleted content.
4. Run 5chan Board Manager against the same bitsocial node and add your community to it. The recommended setup is the Docker Compose flow in the [5chan-board-manager README](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/5chan-board-manager#standalone-bitsocial-cli-already-running) for an existing bitsocial-cli daemon.
Once created, anyone can connect to your community using any bitsocial client (such as 5chan) by using the community address. The address is not stored in any central database—bitsocial is a pure peer-to-peer protocol.
Without 5chan Board Manager, a community can still be opened in 5chan, but it will not behave like a conventional imageboard board: old threads will not be archived when they fall past the last page, bump limits will not be enforced, archived threads will not be purged after the retention window, and author-deleted content will not be automatically purged.
2. Open a pull request on GitHub by editing the [5chan-directories.json](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/lists/blob/master/5chan-directories.json) file
**Note**: Even if your board isn't assigned to a directory, users can still access it at any time using its bitsocial community address. Directory assignment only affects visibility on the homepage.
The dev server normally runs at https://5chan.localhost via [Portless](https://github.com/vercel-labs/portless), which gives each Bitsocial project a stable, named URL instead of a random port. Portless 0.11 serves this URL through an HTTPS proxy on port 443, so the first `yarn start` after install or proxy reset may prompt for sudo; accept the prompt so the URL can stay portless. On non-`master` branches, or when another legacy process is already holding the canonical route, `yarn start` will automatically use a branch-scoped `*.5chan.localhost` URL instead of failing. To bypass Portless and use a plain Vite dev server, run `PORTLESS=0 yarn start`; it will start at `http://localhost:3000` and automatically fall forward to the next free port if `3000` is already in use.
-`yarn start:android-usb` starts Vite bound to `127.0.0.1` and runs `adb reverse`, so the phone can load the dev site at `http://localhost:3000`. When the server is up, it opens that URL in each connected device’s default browser via `adb`. Set `ANDROID_USB_OPEN_BROWSER=0` to skip auto-open. Requires [Android platform-tools](https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools) (`adb` on your `PATH`), USB debugging enabled, and the device showing as `device` in `adb devices`.
Bitsocial communities can require users to solve one or more anti-spam challenges before a publication is accepted. 5chan already supports multiple challenge types, including `url/iframe` challenges so [Mintpass](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/mintpass) communities can run their iframe flow directly inside a modal. The modal first shows a hostname confirmation (showing only the host for mintpass.org, full URL otherwise), then opens the HTTPS iframe with the current theme, replaces `{userAddress}` tokens with the signed-in address, and submits automatically when the user finishes.
The Linux/Windows/macOS/Android build scripts are in [.github/workflows/release.yml](https://github.com/bitsocialnet/5chan/blob/master/.github/workflows/release.yml)
5chan is open-source software (GPL-3.0-or-later) with no owner—anyone can host their own instance on any domain. The operator of any domain is merely hosting the web app and does not own, create, moderate, or control 5chan or any board content, which is stored peer-to-peer and generated by board owners and users.
