I built Jelly: an SSH-only social space (no passwords, no emails)

Hey everyone. I’ve been building a small experiment and wanted to share it.

Jelly is a social space you join entirely through SSH. No web, no app, no login flow. Your SSH public key is your identity.

I wanted something that felt like early internet communities. Simple, no algorithms, no rage-bait, no scraping, no AI content. Just people talking in real time from the terminal.

What it currently does

Join with: ssh jellyssh.xyz

If you don't have a key: ssh-keygen -t ed25519

Public keys auto-create accounts

Global feed with real-time updates

Hashtags become channels (top 5 active topics)

ASCII profile pictures + profile themes

Guestbooks / Top 8 (MySpace nostalgia)

TUI built with Bubble Tea

SSH server powered by Wish

sqlite backend, no tracking or analytics

No passwords, emails, or personal data stored

It’s very early and rough around the edges, but stable enough to try. Still tightening up input handling, rate limiting, and crash-proofing.

If you check it out, I'd love your thoughts/feedback. It’s just me building this and I’m figuring it out as I go.

ssh jellyssh.xyz

Thanks for reading.