Inkverse is Open Source
Inkverse is an open-source webtoons platform. You can read the code, contribute a feature, or fork the whole thing and make your own comic app.
View on GitHubArchitecture
Frontend
Backend
Queues
Storage
Contributing
Quick Setup
If you want to tweak styling or make smaller feature upgrades, you can get the Inkverse web or mobile apps running locally in a couple of minutes, without running the backend.
Full Setup
If you want to add a brand new feature, you probably will need to run Inkverse's backend as well.
Tools We Use
Taddy Webcomics API
- To power the search functionality.
- To get a list of all comics that use the SSS open-standard.
- To get a webhook notification whenever a new comic or new episode is released.
The comicseries open-standard
All the comics on Inkverse are self-hosted and use the comicseries open-standard format (SSS). As long as a comic uses that exact format, it can be displayed on Inkverse.
FAQ
Is Inkverse open-source?
Yes! Inkverse is open-sourced under an AGPL license, ie) you can fork it, rebrand it, and tweak it however you want (including for commercial reasons). One important note with AGPL is that it is a copy-left license, meaning your updates must also be open-source. That is, if you are benefiting from using our open-source code, we are also asking you to open-source your updates.
Does Inkverse host comics?
Creators don't upload comics to Inkverse and Inkverse doesn't host any comics. Inkverse can display any comic that follows the open-source comic format.
Why use an open-source comic format?
An open-source comic format is creator-friendly. Creators keep all their IP rights and aren't locked into any one comic hosting platform (a creator can always leave their current hosting provider, host their own comic, and keep all their readers across all the comic reading apps).
As an analogy, this is the same distribution model used by podcasts (RSS) and is why you can listen to podcasts on any podcast app (Apple, Spotify, Overcast, PocketCast, etc) and why podcast creators aren't locked into any one tech content platform.
How does Inkverse make money? How would your comic app make money?
Right now, Inkverse does not make money. However, we plan to by building our own version of FastPass and adding support for Ads to unlock content.
FastPass: On many comic platforms, you can unlock the latest episodes with coins (FastPass), however, creators have to give up their IP rights and be exclusive to the platform to get access to FastPass. Our goal is to make FastPass for indie creators, where creators keep all their IP rights, creators keep 85%+ of all revenue, and hosting providers and comic apps split the remaining revenue (credit card and additional fees are transparent).
Ads: Instead of using coins, a creator can choose to allow readers to unlock exclusive episodes by watching an ad. Hosting providers and comic apps will take a rev-share on ad revenue.