Block Buzz Jack Dorsey open source Slack GitHub rival AI agents Nostr
Block $XYZ launched Buzz, an open-source chat platform meant to challenge Slack and GitHub. Jack Dorsey says it runs on the decentralized Nostr protocol and lets AI agents join channels as full members, not bots bolted onto existing chat. Apache 2.0 licensed, free apps for macOS,
Block $XYZ, the company led by Jack Dorsey, launched a new workplace collaboration platform called Buzz on Tuesday. Positioned as a challenger to both Slack and GitHub, Block describes Buzz as an open-source workspace where channels, threads, direct messages, voice, media sharing, code repositories and automated workflows all live in one interface. Dorsey said on X that the platform is model-agnostic, decentralized, self-sovereign and open source, built on the Nostr protocol, a decentralized messaging standard. The most distinct design choice is how Buzz treats AI: agents can join channels as independent members in their own right, capable of sending messages, submitting and reviewing code, and triggering workflows, rather than functioning as bots that only respond when summoned. Buzz is released under an Apache 2.0 license, and free desktop versions are available now for macOS, Windows and Linux, either hosted by Block or run on a team's own infrastructure. Every major workplace chat tool so far has added AI as an assistant bolted onto existing channels. Buzz is built around the assumption that AI agents belong in the room as members from the start, which is the part that sets it apart from how Slack, Teams and similar tools have approached the same problem.