Armada Lab armada.buzz

Build for the Captain.

Armada is an encrypted, open-source Discord alternative. If we win the person who runs the group, the whole crew follows.

The Captain
★ Ideal customer

The Captain

Runs a Discord server of 15–300 friends (gaming, D&D, hobby) who voice-chat every week, and is being pushed off Discord by ID checks or bans.

  • Brings everyone. One Captain moved about 100 people.
  • Wants what we're best at: voice, streaming and no-ID signup.
  • Already arriving: the September migration wave.
Ready for them?
✓ Voice & streaming ✓ No-ID signup ✕ Notifications ✕ Roles & read-only channels ✕ Discord bridge (blocked) ✕ iOS
See quotes, readiness and what to fix →

The rest of the crew Click a persona to see more

The Deckhand
Must keep

The Deckhand

The friend the Captain invites. Not technical, not on Nostr.

Needs: it to just work, with no keys or relays to understand.
More →
The Navigator
Current base

The Navigator

A Nostr native who spreads Armada invite links everywhere.

Needs: invites that don't break, and no hidden defaults.
More →
The Harbormaster
Next segment

The Harbormaster

Leads a movement, a team or a language community of hundreds.

Needs: announcement channels, permissions, translations.
More →
The Shipwright
Multiplier

The Shipwright

A self-hoster and contributor who writes bots and PRs, and does support for free.

Needs: replies to PRs and a public roadmap.
More →
The Inspector
Influencer

The Inspector

A security skeptic or rival dev who critiques our claims in public.

Needs: honest claims and a clear security FAQ.
More →
★ Ideal customer

The Captain

The "app guy" of a friend group. Runs or co-runs a Discord server of 15–300 people who chat daily and voice-chat or stream weekly. Something pushed them to leave: ID and age checks, a regional crackdown, or a ban or ToS scare.

Why they're the ICP
  • One win brings many users. One Captain brought about 100 people; others moved D&D groups, families and gaming circles.
  • What we do best is what they need. Voice and streaming is our best-loved feature, and the Discord bridge is what users praise unprompted.
  • They're already arriving. The September wave came from age verification and Brazil's Discord restrictions; about 75 servers have been bridged.
  • The competition fails them. Matrix is too hard for their members, and the hosted options ask for ID or have no E2EE.
In their words
Most people are enjoying a LOT Armada, already brought around 100 ppl to here :) they are loving it. Not a single person has reached for OBS, twitch, youtube, to stream to each other any more. had to migrate here due to recent social events but so far this is a way better alternative for vc and chatting ~2 weeks of notifications not working on mobile or windows when my entire group uses mobile and windows is about to have us switch entirely the channel roles are holding me back from actually onboarding my existing community
Are we ready for them?
Voice & streamingStrength"crisp mobile vc". Windows screen-share audio is still buggy.
No-ID signupStrength"literally 3 clicks of the mouse"
NotificationsChurn riskThe #1 complaint in every source and every month
Roles & permissionsBlockingNo read-only or announcement channels; waits on the Concord spec
Discord bridgeBlockedDiscord's bot cap has turned newcomers away since about Sep 26
Joining & syncFragileInvites break after rekeys; communities vanish
iOSMissing"My soul for armada ios"
Fix in this order
  1. Notifications that hold, with a self-test button and a "background service killed" warning
  2. Read-only & announcement channels and per-channel permissions
  3. Invites that survive rekeys, plus a "repair community" action
  4. Bridge capacity: get the Discord bot verified or shard it
  5. iOS: a native app, or rock-solid PWA push
  6. One downloads page and signed Windows builds
Messaging

"Bring your whole server. Keep your voice channels. Nobody asks for your ID." Lead with streaming quality and the migration story.

What loses them: Nostr jargon in onboarding, absolute crypto claims critics can rebut, jokes about "AI slop", forced reinstalls ("Please never do this again.").
Must keep

The Deckhand

The friend, partner or guildmate the Captain invites. Uses Discord daily but has never heard of Nostr. Often on a phone, sometimes an iPhone or a budget Android with limited data. Doesn't choose the app, but if they don't stick, the group goes back.

In their words
I would rather have the freedom of this app than the ability to see my messages in Marvel Rivals props to the dev for funding and buying artwork for the default icons, immediately made me trust them nope, I'm not a nostr guy even simple x does not make my device soo hot
Loves
  • No email or ID
  • It feels like Discord
  • Voice quality
Pains
  • Missed notifications
  • Key and relay prompts
  • "Anonymous" default name
  • Battery, heat and data (~7 MB/min)
Do this
  • Never show "relay" or "nsec" during signup
  • Make key backup a nudge later, not a gate up front
  • A notification self-test, and a warning when the background service has been killed
  • Cut battery, heat and data use
Current base

The Navigator

Already on Nostr, often through Bitcoin or freedom tech. Runs topic and language communities (German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, Monero, Linux, faith groups) and posts invite links everywhere. Our loudest public advocates: about half of non-team Nostr mentions are positive.

In their words
They actually created a full Discord, but on Nostr armada is aweseom. Discord is dead to me! Best Concord client so far
Loves
  • Concord and cross-client interop
  • No company that can ban them
  • Fast shipping
Pains
  • Invites breaking after key rotation
  • Amber, bunker and Clave signer loops
  • Soapbox defaults and curated Discover read as centralization
Do this
  • Fix the signer loops
  • Show all of Discover by default; make curation opt-in
  • Make default relays visible and removable
  • A Matrix bridge and bots, both frequent requests
Next segment

The Harbormaster

Leads a movement, a company team or a language community of hundreds, for example the Bitcoin Army leaving X Communities, an educator replacing Telegram channels, or a company moving its chat. Needs announcements and structure more than hangouts.

In their words
Armada, and in general your projects, are greatly loved by the technical communities here in Italy I'm spearheading armada for company use, but for examole our harness can't be used by anyone / any channel.
Loves
  • "Unbannable": no platform can delete them
  • E2EE plus self-hosting
  • Forums, polls, moderation bots
Pains
  • No read-only or announcement channels
  • No translations yet
  • Spam raids; ban evasion
Do this
  • Announcement channels and per-channel posting permissions
  • Ship the translations contributors already sent
  • Make bans actually rekey; add spam-raid defenses
Multiplier

The Shipwright

A sysadmin or Matrix veteran who self-hosts the whole stack, ports games to Mini Apps, writes bots and bridges, and sends PRs. Often a Captain too. A handful of them wrote dozens of merged PRs and answer most newcomer questions.

In their words
WebXDC is so powerful I was working on one but abandoned it since your changing the spec before I even have all the tools lol But the on-boarding experience should be 1:1 across all apps
Loves
  • An open protocol they can self-host
  • Mini Apps
  • Same-day fixes
Pains
  • PRs left without a reply
  • Spec churn breaking their tools
  • No dev room or roadmap
Do this
  • Answer every PR, even with "no"; 13+ are waiting
  • A public roadmap and a dev room
  • Deprecation windows for spec changes
  • Treat them as partners. Their goodwill is our support capacity.
Influencer · not a buyer

The Inspector

A privacy purist, rival protocol developer, or Hacker News or Reddit skeptic. Rarely becomes a user, but shapes what Captains read before they try us.

In their words
zero forward secrecy or post-compromise security. it's a slightly more private version of nip-29. this is not e2ee messaging. Horribly vibe-coded like most of the Nostr projects out there. concord doesnt have ratchet though so i dont think armada is the best if your only goal is secure communication
Respects
  • Candid tradeoffs
  • A published spec, audited crypto libraries
  • Paying human artists
Attacks
  • "No host required" while defaults are ours
  • "Nobody can read your chats" without forward secrecy
  • AI-written code
Do this
  • A security FAQ: forward secrecy, metadata, defaults, audit status
  • Precise claims instead of absolutes; a known-limitations page
  • Calm, factual replies. Candor ends these threads.