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!
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.
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?
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?
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 feels like it was made by visual people for visual people — simple, elegant, and open-source. Love the use of Kirby CMS too!
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?
About Swarm on Product Hunt
“Exhibition website builder”
Swarm launched on Product Hunt on May 20th, 2025 and earned 114 upvotes and 19 comments, placing #20 on the daily leaderboard. 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.
Swarm was featured in Design Tools (259.6k followers), Website Builder (9.4k followers) and GitHub (41.2k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 57.6k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Swarm?
Swarm was hunted by Danil Vladimirov. 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.
Want to see how Swarm stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Danil Vladimirov
👋 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...