Why qlave exists

The problem

I wanted to do a video call with my Commander group. Not a full Discord server. Not a Zoom link that expires. Not "download this app first." Just a link — share it, everyone joins, we play.

That didn't exist in a way I liked. So I built it.

What it is

qlave is a peer-to-peer video and audio calling layer for the web. The simplest version: you get a link, you share it, anyone who clicks joins the call. No account required to join. No servers touching your audio or video — it goes directly between browsers.

On top of that, every room includes live transcription. It's the part that makes it more than just a call — and it's what took this from a personal weekend tool to something worth sharing.

The more powerful version: drop one script tag on any website and a floating video pill appears for your users. Built for game nights, useful everywhere.

Who built this

One person — Ryan Quinn, based in San Diego. I build small, useful web tools under qntbr. qlave started as a personal tool and became something I wanted to share.

The stack is Cloudflare Workers + Durable Objects + React via RedwoodSDK. WebRTC for the P2P layer. The calls themselves are genuinely cheap to run at scale — transcription is the part with real infrastructure cost, and that's what the paid plans will cover when we get there.

The honest version

This is not a VC-backed startup. There's no growth team, no roadmap deck, no Series A. It's a tool I use, that I think other people will find useful, built and hosted as lean as possible.

We're in alpha. No billing is active. You get a trial allocation of transcription minutes to kick the tires — calls are always free. When billing goes live, early supporters who signed up during alpha can lock in $96 for their first year ($8/month). Everyone else goes monthly at $10. You'll get at least 30 days notice before anything is charged.

AI infrastructure costs move. I've built margin in so the price can stay reasonable — but I'm not going to promise it won't change after year one. What I will promise: early adopters get taken care of. Bonused, prioritized, remembered. That's the deal.

Contact

Questions, bugs, feedback, custom needs: