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Volodymyr Pavlyshyn
Volodymyr Pavlyshyn

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Decentralized Web Node


It's a relatively new architecture that is right now driven by DIF secured storage group.

https://identity.foundation/working-groups/secure-data-storage.html

DWeb Node Spec

https://identity.foundation/decentralized-web-node/spec/

Sovereign Identity requires persistent storage and communication interface that allows one to build technical capabilities for decentralized apps.

DWN = Secured storage + message relay.

Protocol-based on messages, but it is not about messages at all. Messages only transfer data about Records, Permissions, Hooks, and Protocols.

DWN is a stack of Access and data Protocols.

Key Concepts and Interfaces

  • Schema — the core of interoperability defines a data context and meaning.
  • Records - the interface of Decentralized Web Nodes provides a mechanism to store data relative to shared schemas.
  • Permissions — provides a mechanism for external entities to request access to various data and functionality. It employs a capabilities-based architecture that allows for DID-based authorization and delegation of authorized capabilities to others if permitted by the owner of a Decentralized Web Node.
  • Protocols — introduces a mechanism for declaratively encoding an app or service’s underlying protocol rules, including segmentation of records, relationships between records, data-level requirements, and constraints on how participants interact with a protocol. With the DWeb Node Protocols mechanism, one can model the underpinning protocols for a vast array of use cases in a way that enables interop-by-default between app implementations that ride on top of them.
  • Hooks — aim to not only allow permissioned subscribers to be notified of new data but also optionally respond to the entity’s request that triggers their invocation. This allows a subscribed entity to process the data and react to the entity waiting on results.

DWN SDK allows building hosted DWN nodes

DWN SDK architecture

DWN server implementation that uses SDK

More insides about DWN can be found here.

We could learn from the past and bring a lot of helpful architectural patterns and designs of Actor and agent systems back to our Sovereign Identity personality. We already talk about a person as a network of identities. Now we could see a person as a network of agents implemented on top of DWNs.

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