A new kind of workplace messaging platform for macOS designed to create a more social remote workplace that respects everyone's attention and mental health, all while offering a beautiful experience that's a joy to use.
Hey Product Hunt! 👋
I'm Josh, the solo founder and engineer behind Vela - a new kind of workplace messaging platform designed to bring back human connection in remote teams while respecting your attention and productivity.
As a remote software engineer for the past 4 years, I've experienced firsthand how existing messaging platforms can lead to isolation, notification fatigue, and poor work-life balance. That inspired me to build a solution for myself and others who are exhausted by the de-facto standard communication methods we have as remote workers.
Here's what makes Vela special:
🎙️ Natural Conversation
• Drop-in virtual rooms with push-to-talk voice chat
• Open your "door" to join the conversation, including receiving push notifications
💬 Contextual Threading
• Taggable conversations for easy reference
• End-to-end encrypted workspace communication
🫡 Respects Your Attention
• No direct messaging
• No online/offline presence
⚡️ Lightning-Fast Native Experience
• Built natively for macOS in Swift (no Electron)
• Global hotkey access via floating panel (like Spotlight/Raycast)
• Fully keyboard-driven interface for power users
• Minimal UI that stays out of your way
Vela is currently available for macOS as a closed beta, which you can sign up for via waitlist on the website.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Feel free to ask me anything in the comments here on ProductHunt, or privately through the website's contact page.
About Vela on Product Hunt
“Workplace messaging that fosters human connection”
Vela launched on Product Hunt on January 20th, 2025 and earned 126 upvotes and 13 comments, placing #11 on the daily leaderboard. A new kind of workplace messaging platform for macOS designed to create a more social remote workplace that respects everyone's attention and mental health, all while offering a beautiful experience that's a joy to use.
On the analytics side, Vela competes within Mac, Messaging and Remote Work — topics that collectively have 159.3k followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how Vela performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted Vela?
Vela was hunted by Josh Nies. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
For a complete overview of Vela including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.
Josh Nies