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.
👋 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!
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?
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. 👍
@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?
@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. 🙌
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?
@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! 👍
As a digital artist who's struggled to find the right platform to showcase my work, Swarm is exactly what I've been looking for. Been using it since launch to build my portfolio, and it's beautifully designed for visual creators.
The fact that it's open-source and built on Kirby CMS is fantastic - I was able to customize the gallery layout for my specific needs. Yesterday, I set up a virtual exhibition of my latest series, and the way Swarm handles large-format images while maintaining performance is impressive. The navigation between pieces feels natural and gallery-like.
What sets it apart is how it understands the needs of visual creators. I love how it automatically adjusts the layout based on image orientation and aspect ratios. When I uploaded a mixed-media collection this morning, it intelligently arranged the pieces to create a cohesive flow, something that would have taken hours to do manually on other platforms.
Pro tip: Use their GitHub repository to customize the templates. I added a custom viewing mode for my 3D works, and the documentation made it surprisingly straightforward. The fact that it's free is incredible for what you get.
For any artists or designers frustrated with traditional portfolio sites, this is a game-changer. Would love to connect with other creators using this - particularly interested in seeing how others are customizing their exhibitions. Having a tool that actually understands how to present visual work makes such a difference.
This is really a great Webpublishing Tool for Artist Groupshows and Designers. I would love to see the possibility to add an Event Calendar for Galleryshows and Performances. I'll follow the devlopment.
Replies
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! 🙌
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. 🙌
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! 👍
great concept - how much customization is there?
Chance AI
As a digital artist who's struggled to find the right platform to showcase my work, Swarm is exactly what I've been looking for. Been using it since launch to build my portfolio, and it's beautifully designed for visual creators.
The fact that it's open-source and built on Kirby CMS is fantastic - I was able to customize the gallery layout for my specific needs. Yesterday, I set up a virtual exhibition of my latest series, and the way Swarm handles large-format images while maintaining performance is impressive. The navigation between pieces feels natural and gallery-like.
What sets it apart is how it understands the needs of visual creators. I love how it automatically adjusts the layout based on image orientation and aspect ratios. When I uploaded a mixed-media collection this morning, it intelligently arranged the pieces to create a cohesive flow, something that would have taken hours to do manually on other platforms.
Pro tip: Use their GitHub repository to customize the templates. I added a custom viewing mode for my 3D works, and the documentation made it surprisingly straightforward. The fact that it's free is incredible for what you get.
For any artists or designers frustrated with traditional portfolio sites, this is a game-changer. Would love to connect with other creators using this - particularly interested in seeing how others are customizing their exhibitions. Having a tool that actually understands how to present visual work makes such a difference.
This is really a great Webpublishing Tool for Artist Groupshows and Designers. I would love to see the possibility to add an Event Calendar for Galleryshows and Performances. I'll follow the devlopment.
Also it would be great to upload PDF Files and Audiofiles (Foto/Video/PDF/Audio-mp3).