Block adds an experimental self-hosted Git forge to Buzz

Block Inc. has added an experimental self-hosted Git forge called Buzz Projects to its open-source workspace Buzz, enabling users to host Git repositories, code reviews, and discussions on a user-controlled relay. The feature, pitched by Block CEO Jack Dorsey as a 'self-sovereign GitHub alt,' extends Buzz into territory occupied by GitHub and GitLab, with identity from Nostr keys and signed events distinguishing agent work from human authorization. Git hosting over Smart HTTP and NIP-34 specification are available now, while multi-repository binding, merge coordination, and other features remain under construction.

Jack Dorsey @jack https://x.com/jack/status/2089773372716544195 pitched Buzz Projects as a "self-sovereign GitHub alt" on Tuesday, pointing to a new Block Engineering post https://engineering.block.xyz/blog/projects-in-buzz that details how Buzz can host Git repositories, code reviews and the conversations around them on a user-controlled relay. The feature extends Buzz, Block's open-source workspace for humans and AI agents, into the territory occupied by GitHub and GitLab. Repositories, issues, pull requests, agent activity and team discussions sit under one project rather than being divided among a code forge, chat service and agent interface. Dorsey's involvement fits a broader open-source push inside Block. Manik Surtani, Block's head of open source https://block.xyz/inside/meet-manik-surtani-block-head-of-open-source , said Dorsey recruited him in 2024 to make open source central to Block and consolidate its projects under a dedicated program office. Buzz turns that policy into a workplace product built around Dorsey's long-running preference for portable identities and user-controlled infrastructure. The relay becomes the software forge Thomas Petersen https://www.linkedin.com/in/thompete , a principal designer and builder at Block, wrote that the team designed Projects to preserve the chain connecting an idea, its discussion, the code produced from it and the eventual review and release. That history becomes usable context for agents working inside the same Buzz community. A Buzz Project can group multiple repositories with related channels and activity. Block says users can host standard Git repositories on their own relay and fetch, clone, pull or push over Smart HTTP without installing a proprietary wrapper or connecting a GitHub account. Identity comes from Nostr keys. The same key that signs a person's messages can authenticate a code push, while an agent receives its own key and contribution history. Buzz records pushes, reviews, approvals and merges as signed events, giving operators a way to distinguish work produced by an agent from the human authorization behind it. That distinction is becoming material as coding agents move beyond autocomplete and begin opening pull requests, reviewing patches and running release workflows. Existing development platforms generally treat an agent as an integration acting through a service account or a user's credentials. Buzz gives the agent a separate identity inside the workspace, with channel membership controlling what it can reach. Users can browse files and commits, inspect diffs, leave inline comments and merge changes from the Buzz interface, according to Block's post. A project can also bind repositories to the channels where work was discussed. An agent assigned an issue can open a pull request that links back to the originating conversation, then notify a human when a review or decision is required. Git works today; much of the forge is still being wired up Block is labeling Projects as an experiment, and the distinction matters. The public Buzz repository https://github.com/block/buzz lists the relay, desktop application, Git event support and Git hosting backend as working. Mobile clients and workflow approval gates remain under construction. Buzz's more detailed Projects design document https://github.com/block/buzz/blob/main/VISION PROJECTS.md draws an even firmer line. Git hosting over Smart HTTP and Nostr's NIP-34 specification ships today, while multi-repository project binding, the merge coordinator, NIP-34 issues and a portable reputation system are listed as designed work rather than finished capabilities. The result is an early forge rather than a feature-for-feature GitHub replacement. Block has the repository transport, signed event model and agent workspace in place. The harder layer - mature issue management, merge automation, access controls and the operational reliability expected from a system holding production source code - remains the work ahead. Buzz also carries the normal rough edges of a young self-hosted developer product. The GitHub page says the Windows desktop build is unsigned, while running a relay from source requires Docker and a pinned development toolchain. The latest packaged desktop release https://github.com/block/buzz/releases , version 0.5.14, was published on August 15th. Block wants the project history, not just the repository Buzz's competitive bet rests on context. GitHub already stores code, reviews and issues, while workplace conversations and agent instructions often remain in separate systems. Buzz puts those records into one signed event log and one search index, allowing an agent to retrieve the discussion that produced a patch rather than inferring intent from the code and ticket alone. Self-hosting also changes the point of control. A team can operate the relay under its own domain, retain the underlying events and move compatible Nostr identities or repository metadata to other clients. Block's design document says standard NIP-34 clients can still read the individual repositories even when they ignore Buzz-specific project groupings. The portability claim will depend on adoption outside Block's own client and relay implementation. For now, Buzz Projects gives Dorsey and Petersen a working demonstration of the thesis: code, workplace discussion and autonomous agents can share an identity system without routing the entire development record through GitHub. The experiment still has to prove that teams will accept the operational burden and unfinished tooling that come with owning the alternative.