The story of how I made KikiWeb because I thought it would be convenient to listen to Discord from a browser

Hello, this is Yosotsu.

This might be sudden, but when you're in a Discord VC,

don't you ever think, "I don't intend to speak, I just want to listen to the VC"?

don't you ever have moments like that?

I do. I really do.

Maybe you want to listen while working, listen on a different device while gaming, or you just don't want to keep Discord open.

That's when I thought:

So, I started building it.

It's called KikiWeb.

Table of Contents

What is KikiWeb?

To explain it very simply,

it's a service for listening to Discord VCs from a web browser.

It is.

You invite a dedicated bot to your Discord server, connect via KikiWeb, and you can hear the VC audio in your browser.

It's basically a way to be a "listener-only" participant from outside the Discord app.

It works on PCs, of course,

"It's not really worth opening Discord on my phone for this..."

I'm aiming for it to be a service you can use when you think things like that.

Why did I decide to make it?

The very first reason is quite simple.

“Because I would use it if it existed.”

For personal development, this is probably the strongest motivation.

I run a Discord server, and I use VC quite often.

However, there are times when opening Discord just to join a VC feels a bit much.

“It would be easier if a list of VCs appeared in the browser and I could just listen by clicking on one.”

I thought that and tried looking for one, but...

What I found was a little different from what I wanted.

So then...

“I'll build it.”

That's what happened.

Personal development projects usually start like this.

“Why not just listen on Discord?”

Yes.

That is a valid point.

Article over.

…That is not going to happen.

What I want to do with KikiWeb is not to replace Discord itself.

Discord is an incredibly high-performance service that allows for chat, VC, and streaming.

In that regard, KikiWeb,

specializes solely in 'listening to VC'.

I think this is quite important.

For example,

• you don't want to open Discord with another account

• you want to listen quickly from a browser

• you want a screen dedicated to listening

• you want to manage multiple Discord servers

• you want a simple UI just for listening to VC audio

situations like these.

You don't need all of Discord.

'Just give me the audio!'

It's for people who say that.

Actually, even 'just listening' is quite difficult

At first, I also thought,

'Just put a bot in the VC and stream that audio to the browser, right?'

I thought it was that simple.

I was naive.

Since it handles audio in real-time,

latency

There is a final boss like that.

If someone on VC says,

"There's a Creeper!"

and you hear it 5 seconds later,

it has already exploded.

In Minecraft, it might still be a funny story, but even in normal conversation, a delay of just a few seconds is quite uncomfortable.

That's why with KikiWeb,

I've put a lot of thought into how to deliver audio to the browser with as little latency as possible.

I've thought about that part quite a bit.

Even though it's a personal project, I realized I was fighting against audio streaming.

How did it come to this?

I also want to support multiple servers.

KikiWeb is being built not just for one Discord server, but

as a service that can be used on multiple servers.

I value this quite a bit.

If it were a tool just for my own server, it would be relatively easy, but then others couldn't use it.

Since I'm going to the trouble of making it,

I want to make something that makes people think,

"Maybe I'll try adding this to our Discord too."

I want to make something that people will think that about.

Install a bot and use it from the web.

That is the form I am aiming for.

Origin of the name

Regarding the name 'KikiWeb',

there is a super grand origin...

there is not.

'Listen-only'

↓

'Listen'

↓

'Kiki'

↓

Use on the web

↓

KikiWeb

is it.

It is exactly that.

But personally, I like it quite a bit because it is easy to remember.

When it comes to service names, if people remember them, you have already won.

Probably.

Since this is a personal project, it will naturally have bugs.

I'll state this upfront.

KikiWeb is not a service built by hundreds of people at a large corporation.

It is a personal project.

Therefore,

"It's not working"

"VC isn't showing up"

"I can't hear any sound"

These kinds of things are quite likely to happen.

Every time that happens,

Investigate the cause
↓
Fix it
↓
Something else breaks
↓
"Why????"

I am holding the customary personal development event of going through that cycle.

However, I plan to make it easier to use little by little.

What do I want to achieve in the end?

I think it would be interesting if I could make KikiWeb into a service where,

"When you want to listen to Discord VC, you can just use this,"

is the general consensus.

It doesn't need to replace Discord.

In fact, it is a service that only exists because Discord exists.

There are tons of useful Discord bots out there, but

"Making Discord more convenient from outside of Discord"

I think there are still many things that can be done in that direction.

KikiWeb is one of them.

Try using KikiWeb

KikiWeb

You can use it directly from your browser.

Google Chrome version

Firefox version

Install the Bot

I wonder what I should implement next...