OpenBSD-Powered Infrastructure.
Built for Self-Hosting & Sovereignty.
Sophia.host is a tilde community and shared Unix environment where you own your infrastructure. Industrial-grade services running on OpenBSD's legendary security and simplicity.
Explore the StackThe Tilde Philosophy
What We Are
Sophia.host is a shared Unix community built on OpenBSD—a collaborative space where users run their own services on battle-tested infrastructure. Like IRCNow and classic tilde communities, we believe in accessible self-hosting, where you control your data, learn real systems administration, and join a network of builders who value technical excellence over convenience.
Why OpenBSD
OpenBSD isn't just another Unix—it's a philosophy of radical simplicity and uncompromising security. With innovations like pledge() and unveil() providing privilege separation at the system call level, every service runs in a minimal sandbox. The base system includes production-ready DNS, mail, web, and network services that require no third-party packages. What others bolt on, OpenBSD builds in.
The Community Model
This isn't managed hosting—it's infrastructure you operate. Each member gets shell access to learn, build, and deploy. Our shared environment means collective knowledge: improvements to documentation, configurations, and tooling benefit everyone. Like the original Unix labs, we combine individual expertise into a greater whole, where your git repositories, IRC bots, websites, and experiments coexist on proven, minimal infrastructure.
Infrastructure Services
Enterprise-grade OpenBSD services for your self-hosted infrastructure. Each package leverages base system tools designed for security, reliability, and radical simplicity.
Authoritative DNS
Run your own authoritative nameservers with NSD, the industry's fastest DNS implementation, designed for high-performance zone serving.
- Host your own domains with full DNSSEC support
- Sub-millisecond query responses under load
- Unbound recursive resolver for private networks
- Split-horizon DNS for internal/external zones
- Zero-downtime zone updates and dynamic DNS
Email Infrastructure
Own your email with OpenSMTPD's elegant configuration and Dovecot's battle-tested IMAP/POP3 serving.
- Custom domain email with full SPF/DKIM/DMARC
- OpenSMTPD's readable 20-line configs vs. Postfix bloat
- Dovecot's proven scalability and sieve filtering
- Greylisting, spam filtering, and virtual domains
- TLS encryption enforced by default
Web Hosting Stack
OpenBSD's native web stack delivers security through simplicity—no Apache complexity, just clean, privilege-separated HTTP serving.
- httpd with pledge() and unveil() sandboxing
- relayd for TLS termination and load balancing
- Automatic Let's Encrypt certificates via acme-client
- FastCGI support for PHP, Perl, Python applications
- Static site hosting with Git-based deployment
Real-Time Communication
IRC isn't legacy—it's the most efficient real-time protocol for humans, bots, and machine-to-machine coordination.
- Private IRC server for teams and automation
- Bot development in any language (Python, Perl, C)
- AI agent integration for LLM-powered assistance
- Bridging to Matrix, Discord, Slack, and more
- Persistent logging and full message history
Network & Firewall
OpenBSD pioneered modern packet filtering with PF—now the foundation of firewall tech from macOS to FreeBSD.
- Stateful packet filtering with minimal ruleset syntax
- Advanced NAT, port forwarding, and traffic shaping
- WireGuard VPN support for secure remote access
- IDS/IPS capabilities with PF's adaptive rules
- Build enterprise-grade edge routers
Virtualization Platform
OpenBSD's vmm hypervisor offers Type-1 virtualization with the security and simplicity you expect—no KVM bloat.
- Native OpenBSD VMs with minimal overhead
- Privilege-separated VM management daemon
- Guest support for Linux, OpenBSD, Alpine
- PXE network booting for rapid deployment
- Isolated development and testing environments
Development Platform
Host your source code with Git over SSH, public repositories via cgit/stagit, and full CI/CD automation.
- Gitolite for multi-user repository management
- Stagit static Git frontend for public repos
- Git hooks for automated deployment and testing
- PostgreSQL/MariaDB databases for applications
- C, Perl, PHP, Node.js, Python environments
Shell Access & Tools
Direct SSH access to a real Unix system where you control every aspect of your infrastructure.
- Full shell access with tmux/screen persistence
- Shared /home with collaborative project spaces
- Base system tools: awk, sed, grep, make, cc
- Package management via pkg_add for userland tools
- Learn real systems administration on production gear
Protocol Support
Embrace lightweight protocols alongside modern web—Gopher for documentation, Gemini for minimal content.
- Gophernicus server for classic gopherspace
- Gemini capsules with native TLS
- Serve content in any protocol via inetd
- Build minimalist, distraction-free sites
- Escape the JavaScript surveillance web
The Sophia.host Stack
The sophia.host domain powers our entire infrastructure. Every service we offer runs on the same hardened OpenBSD environment we use for research, development, and daily operations. This isn't a demo—it's production-grade infrastructure in active use.
Our architecture is distributed and resilient, with specialized subdomains for different functions:
- wiki.sophia.host Internal knowledge base and documentation engine (PmWiki running on OpenBSD httpd).
- irc.sophia.host Real-time communication hub for coordination, development, and community support.
- gopher://sophia.host Classic protocol access to services documentation and community resources.
- mail.sophia.host Web email service.
When you join sophia.host, you're not just renting server space you're gaining access to a proven infrastructure stack maintained by engineers who believe in technical excellence, open-source principles, and the Unix philosophy.
Join the Community
Whether you're looking to self-host your services, learn OpenBSD systems administration, or join a community of builders—we're here. Reach out to discuss membership, technical questions, or collaboration opportunities.
Or email directly: geral@sophia.host
IRC: #main