Multi-source collection
Collects data from free sources out of the box, including GDELT, Google News, Bluesky, Mastodon, Hacker News, Telegram, RSS, and Reddit/YouTube with a free API key.
Radar
Radar is a self-hostable media intelligence and social listening app for monitoring public sources, analyzing mentions, and generating briefs or content outputs with optional Claude AI.
Open-source media intelligence and social listening
Radar is an open-source media intelligence and social listening application that can be self-hosted locally. It is positioned as an alternative to enterprise tools such as Talkwalker and Brandwatch, and it is built around public data sources plus optional Claude AI.
The project is designed for individuals or small teams that want to monitor mentions, group news into stories, analyze sentiment and relevance, and produce briefs or content outputs without needing a cloud account. Basic collection runs offline with an embedded PGlite database, while AI features activate only after you add your own Anthropic key.
Core capabilities
Bring-your-own-key connectors
Adds premium connectors for X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and NewsAPI when you provide your own key.
AI analysis and summarization
Uses Claude for sentiment analysis, relevance scoring, story clustering, daily executive briefs, conversation clusters, cause-effect chains, and quality scores.
Content Studio workflow
Includes a Content Studio for turning a concept into a multi-format kit, exploring alternative hooks, and refining drafts conversationally in a brand voice.
Export and sharing outputs
Generates branded PDF, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel exports, with read-only share links for distribution.
Operational modules
Provides modules for dashboard monitoring, listening streams, media story grouping, benchmarking, audience analysis, content performance, insights, alerts, and a full-screen war room view.
Common use cases
Monitor coverage across public sources
Track mentions from news, social platforms, forums, and feeds in one place, then filter by source, sentiment, language, period, or text to isolate relevant items.
Analyze emerging narratives
Group related mentions into stories, review sentiment shifts, and use daily executive briefs or cause-effect chains to understand what is driving a topic.
Benchmark brands or topics
Compare share of voice, trend lines, and sentiment across configurable entities when you need a lightweight benchmark view rather than a full enterprise platform.
Draft content for distribution
Turn a concept into a structured content kit, explore alternative hooks, and refine the draft conversationally before exporting it for review or reuse.
Package results for stakeholders
Share a read-only view or export findings to PDF, PowerPoint, Word, or Excel when stakeholders need a report instead of direct app access.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Self-hostable and can run locally with zero configuration.
- Supports several free data sources out of the box.
- Uses BYOK setup, so no vendor keys are bundled with the project.
- Includes a broad set of analysis, briefing, and export workflows beyond basic mention tracking.
- Can run offline for data collection when AI is not enabled.
Cons
- The interface and AI outputs are currently English-only, with full i18n listed as a roadmap item.
- Premium sources such as X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and NewsAPI require your own keys.
- AI features depend on an Anthropic key, so advanced analysis is not available until you configure one.
FAQ
Can I use Radar without connecting external services?
Radar is self-hostable and can run locally with no database, no cloud account, and no keys required for basic data collection. AI features stay disabled until you add an Anthropic key.
Does Radar support multiple languages in the interface?
Yes. The README says the user interface and AI outputs are in English, and full internationalization is on the roadmap.
What kinds of outputs can Radar generate?
Radar outputs branded PDF, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel exports, and it also supports read-only share links.
What license does Radar use?
The project is licensed under GNU AGPL-3.0. If you run a modified version as a network service, you must make the source available under the same license.
Quick Facts
- Category
- Media intelligence / social listening
- Platform
- Next.js app with local PGlite and production Postgres
- Deployment
- Local development or Vercel
- Primary users
- Individuals and small teams
- Source domain
- github.com
- License
- GNU AGPL-3.0
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