Why I built Simbioza as a self-hosted alternative to Confluence

Description and use

Simbioza is a self-hosted wiki/CMS built to migrate Confluence content, preserving macros as native elements and providing advanced editing features.

Problem

Confluence moved to the cloud, and existing Confluence content needed a self-hosted migration solution that preserved functionality.

Outcome

Simbioza successfully imports Confluence content, preserving macros as native elements, and offers a standalone self-hosted wiki/CMS solution.

Workflow

• 1. Identify need for self-hosted solution due to Confluence cloud migration.
• 2. Evaluate existing alternatives and find none suitable for migration.
• 3. Design Simbioza as a wiki/CMS hybrid with workspaces, themes, and authentication.
• 4. Develop a custom HTML editor supporting Confluence macros and advanced features.
• 5. Implement migration tooling to import Confluence content into Simbioza.
• 6. Deploy Simbioza using PHP and HeartPhrame framework.
• 7. Provide public demo and source code for community use.

Evidence

With Confluence moving to the cloud, I wanted a self-hosted solution.

Source

The HTML editor was developed specifically for Simbioza. It supports dynamic content elements that provide native equivalents for supported Confluence macros.

Source

Simbioza is written in PHP using the HeartPhrame framework.

Source