November 11, 2025
Prickly invites, spicier comments
Show HN: Cactoide – Federated RSVP Platform
No-login RSVPs wow readers, but they want date polls, calendars, and waivers
TLDR: Cactoide lets anyone create shareable event RSVPs with no account and a decentralized twist. The crowd loves the simplicity but clamors for date polls, clearer calendar features, a head‑to‑head with Mobilizon, and even built‑in waivers — proof that simple RSVPs just sparked big‑league feature demands.
Cactoide showed up to the party with a no-login, mobile-first RSVP tool that’s open source and runs on a “federated” network — think many small, independent sites that can share events without a single boss. You create an event, get a unique link, choose open or limited spots, even make it invite-only, and you’re done. It’s the “skip the account, just RSVP” dream, and the crowd loved the instant simplicity.
But the comments came in hot. The loudest chant: give us date polls so groups can vote on when to meet. Right behind that, calendar fans demanded the site brag about its iCal (calendar file) support on the homepage — because if it’s not obvious, did it even happen? Then came the showdown: one camp asked, “How does this compare to Mobilizon?” turning the thread into a friendly turf war between “new cactus” and the established alternative. A side quest popped up when a commenter flagged Smoke Signal on the ATProto network, nudging devs into a protocol and Rust geek-out.
And the spiciest curveball? Waiver forms. Yes, planners want built-in release signatures for the axe-throwing meetups and trampoline nights. Cue the memes: cactus emojis everywhere, “calendar or riot,” and “bring your lawyer, then RSVP.” Cactoide blooms — the community wants more thorns.
Key Points
- •Cactoide is a federated, mobile-first event RSVP platform with unique shareable URLs and no registration required.
- •The platform supports built-in federation to discover and share public events across a decentralized network of instances.
- •It is open source and designed to be easily self-hostable, with options to view source code and contribute.
- •Organizers can set unlimited or limited RSVP capacity and create invite-only events via special links.
- •The product emphasizes simplicity and speed, with a streamlined form and minimal learning curve, and claims adoption by thousands of organizers.