Swarm
Exhibition website builder
68 followers
Exhibition website builder
68 followers
Swarm is an exhibition website builder for Designers, Artists, and Visual Creators to showcase their work online. It is open-source and powered by Kirby CMS.
68 followers
68 followers
Swarm
👋 Hey everyone! I’m excited to launch Swarm — an open-source tool for building clean, elegant websites for group exhibitions.
I created Swarm because I noticed how clunky or overbuilt most CMS options are for simple, gallery-like presentations, especially for design schools, student showcases, or group exhibitions. Swarm is lightweight, fast, and easy to set up, powered by Kirby 4.
What makes it different?
👫 User registration page for website participants
🖼️ Built-in project categories
🎨 Content-first layouts with color customisation and clean typography
🔓 Fully open-source and customizable
I’m most proud of how easy it is to use while still feeling intentional and polished. If you’re a creative, teacher, or organiser who wants to launch a beautiful showcase without the usual overhead, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Check out the demo: https://swarm-demo.danilvladimir...
if I wanted to use this for a local art collective with multiple contributors, does Swarm support multi-user editing or any kind of collaborative workflow?
Swarm
@hamza_afzal_butt Hi Hamza! 👋
Sure! Swarm allows individual exhibitors to register and manage their own project pages. Once the admin in the Kirby panel enables the sign-up page, each contributor can sign up to create an account and access a simplified CMS interface, limited to just their own content. They can create, edit, and publish their projects independently, and return later to update them anytime.
At the same time, the exhibition admin retains full control and visibility over all content, including drafts and published work, making it easy to manage the entire site. 👍
Swarm feels like it was made by visual people for visual people — simple, elegant, and open-source. Love the use of Kirby CMS too!
Swarm
@supa_l Thank you for the good words! 🙌
The ∞ Bar
this is niche.
but can i use this exhibit the portfolio of my community (non-designers) too?
like their projects, or posts, something.
i think this is a community tool!
Swarm
@thecommunityman Sure! Swarm can also be used to showcase non-designers' work, as long as the content is visual. It’s ideal for any visually-driven project: photography, moving image, architecture, or even data visualisations, following text descriptions.
Would love to see it being used as a community tool! That's exactly the open and collaborative use I thought it could inspire. 🙌
This is such a great idea, Danil! The simplicity and clean design of Swarm are exactly what’s needed for group exhibitions and showcases. It’s refreshing to see a CMS that focuses on the essentials without overwhelming users with unnecessary features.
I really like the user registration page for participants - that’s a smart touch for organizing contributors. The built-in project categories and the ability to customize layouts make it easy to personalize the showcase while keeping it streamlined.
Are there plans to add collaborative features for contributors, like a way to allow multiple users to update their own projects within the same exhibition?
Swarm
@evgenii_zaitsev1 Thanks so much for the good words! 🙏 I’m glad you noticed the user registration feature - it’s a key part of how Swarm supports collaboration. Instead of a single admin uploading everything, Swarm allows individual exhibitors to register and manage their own project pages independently.
So while users can’t co-edit the same project yet, the whole exhibition becomes a collaborative space built together, each voice clearly represented. 🙌
Next3 Offload
Beautifully done, Danil! Swarm feels like the perfect no-fuss solution for creatives and schools wanting to showcase group work. Curious, do you plan to support media types beyond images, like video or audio embeds, in future updates?
Swarm
@shahriarthm Hi Shahriar and thanks for the good words! Swarm already supports video embeds (from YouTube and Vimeo platforms), so contributors can easily add moving image work to their project pages. Audio embeds aren’t supported yet, but that’s a great point — I’ll definitely keep that in mind for a future update! 👍
Swarm hits the sweet spot between artistic expression and technical accessibility. In an era of cookie-cutter portfolio sites, this open-source alternative could empower a new wave of digital exhibitions.