Documentation & Help

How SpeakSpeak works — every chatbox feature at a glance.

Contents

• Getting started
• Messages & formatting
• Attachments, media & voice messages
• Emoji, reactions & soundboard
• Voice & video channels
• Whisper via hotkey
• Translation & link previews
• Forums & boards
• Direct messages & groups
• Mentions & notifications
• Roles, permissions & moderation
• Settings
• API

Getting started

• Register: during the closed beta you'll need a serial number, an email address, a username and a password. Once you've confirmed your email, you're ready to go.
• Join or create a server (community): use the server rail on the left to create a new community or join one via an invite link.
• Channels: within a server there are text, forum, voice and video channels, which can be grouped into categories and freely reordered.
• Platforms: SpeakSpeak runs as a web app as well as a desktop (Windows, Linux) and mobile app (Android) — the same design everywhere.

Messages & formatting

Type your message in the chatbox below and send it with Enter (new line with Shift + Enter).

• Formatting via Markdown codes:
  • **bold** → bold
  • *italic* → italic
  • ~~strikethrough~~ → strikethrough
  • `code` → inline code, plus ``` blocks for multi-line code
  • > quote for quotes
• Mentions: @Name mentions a person, @Role an entire role. Mentioned users are highlighted and (depending on settings) notified.
• Replies: right-click (desktop) or long-press (mobile) a message to reply to it directly.
• Reactions: react with an emoji without writing a new message.
• Editing & deleting: your own messages can be edited (with version history) or deleted. Deleted content becomes invisible to others; for moderation and legal reasons it isn't immediately purged for good (see Privacy Policy).

Attachments, media & voice messages

• Attach files: images, videos, audio and any other files via the paperclip icon in the chatbox. Images, videos and audio play/display right in the chat.
• Voice messages: hold the microphone icon to record a voice note — including a waveform preview.
• 3D models: .stl, .obj and .3mf files can be viewed directly in chat as a rotatable 3D preview.
• Security: uploaded files are scanned for malware and stripped of metadata (e.g. location data in photos). They're never publicly accessible — access is only granted through access-checked, time-limited links.

Emoji, reactions & soundboard

• Emoji picker: via the smiley icon in the chatbox — with search.
• Custom server emoji: server admins can upload custom emoji, usable in chat and as reactions. Pro users can use their emoji across servers.
• Soundboard: short sounds played for everyone in a voice channel — both server-wide and personal sounds.
• Join sound: a personal sound played when you join a voice channel — global across all servers, or a different one per server (from your sounds or the server's sounds), resettable to the default at any time.

Voice & video channels

• Joining: clicking a voice channel connects you instantly. Multiple people can talk at once.
• Controls: mute your mic, turn on your camera, adjust volume per person.
• Screen sharing: share your screen or a single window; others can choose to watch.
• Noise suppression: under Settings → Voice you can turn on noise suppression — from basic hiss reduction to AI-powered filtering of keyboard clatter, fan noise and background sound, so your teammates hear only you.
• Direct, no detours: voice/video transmission runs directly to the servers (low latency).
• Speaker overlay (desktop): an optional overlay shows who's currently talking even over a full-screen game (Windows & Linux) — toggled from the tray icon.

Whisper via hotkey (like TeamSpeak)

With push-to-whisper you can briefly speak privately to a specific person, a group or a channel — without leaving your current voice channel. Just like whispering in TeamSpeak.

• Assign a hotkey: under Settings → Voice you can set up to five whisper keys. Each key is its own whisper target.
• Hold & talk: hold the key → only the chosen recipients hear you; release → back in your normal channel.
• Targets: a single person, a custom whisper group you define, or an entire channel.
• Permissions: server admins decide whether whispering to users and/or channels is allowed.

Translation & link previews

• Translate: foreign-language messages can be translated directly in chat on request — via a self-hosted translation service, with no external cloud AI.
• Link previews: an optional preview card is shown for posted links (can be disabled per user).

Forums & boards

Alongside classic chat channels there are forum and board channels for topic-based posts with comments — ideal for longer discussions, announcements or collections of knowledge. Posts support the same attachments, emoji and mentions as chat.

Direct messages & groups

• Direct messages (DMs): private 1:1 conversations with friends.
• Group DMs: private conversations with multiple people — with the same chat features (attachments, reactions, mentions).
• Calls: start a voice or video call straight from a direct message or group. It rings on the other side — with accept and decline; missed, ongoing and ended calls show up as a note in the history.
• On mobile: incoming calls appear on Android as a full-screen call over the lock screen — accept or decline without opening the app.
• Friends: use your friends list to send and manage friend requests and see online status.

Mentions & notifications

• Mentions inbox: every place you've been mentioned, gathered in one spot — with an unread-mentions counter. Individual entries can be dismissed by swipe (mobile) or click.
• Who can mention @everyone & roles: server admins decide per target (@everyone, @here and each role) who's allowed to ping it — everyone, specific roles only, or admins only. This keeps mass pings under control.
• Notifications: system notifications for mentions, direct messages and friend requests. In settings you choose per category whether and with what content (preview or just "new message") you're notified.
• Muting: individual channels or DMs can be muted.

Roles, permissions & moderation

• Roles & permissions: server admins assign roles with finely tunable permissions (e.g. send messages, react, manage channels) — globally and per channel.
• Voice channel moderation: with the right permission you can moderate people in a voice channel via right-click — server-mute, deafen, move to another channel, or disconnect from voice.
• Reporting: users can report messages and people via the report function.
• Moderation: admins can remove content, warn, restrict features or suspend accounts. Central responsibility for legally required measures lies with the provider.

Settings

• Theme: a consistent dark theme across all platforms.
• Language: German and English.
• Timezone: timestamps are shown in your timezone.
• Notifications & sounds: categories, content and sounds are freely configurable.

API

🚧 In progress. A public, documented API for bots and integrations is planned but not yet available. This page will be updated once the API is ready.

Still have questions?

Write to us at contact@speakspeak.net.