Urbit

Blog

Stories from the broader Urbit community, the Urbit Foundation, and the many people contributing to Urbit.

Subscribe to the Urbit Newsletter for regular updates, including new blog posts and events.

NockPU

Noah Kumin
~librex-dozryc
August 2, 2023

A light technical description of NockPU, a hardware system for running Nock

Ares

Noah Kumin
~librex-dozryc
June 26, 2023

A light technical description of Ares, the new Urbit runtime

A Perspective on Lisp and Hoon

June 15, 2023

Lisp is an éminence grise of programming. How does Hoon compare?

Urbit's Open Source Culture, Part II

June 13, 2023

How will Urbit continue to foster its innovative open source software culture?

Urbit's Open Source Culture, Part I

May 31, 2023

How did Urbit cultivate a unique open source software culture? Let's take a look at how we got to where we are today.

Pin the Face that Launches a Thousand Ships

April 7, 2023

A guest post by ~nospex-larsut

Using Urbit in 2023

Josh Lehman
~wolref-podlex
February 6, 2023

There are more ways to run Urbit than ever, and more options coming soon.

The Dream of the Agency DAO

Isaac Simpson
~mogmet-tadnem
November 4, 2022

As creative studios and agencies struggle for more creative freedom, DAOs and tokenization will surely take a more central role in the marketing and branding industries. Decentralization offers such entities benefits that could fundamentally reshape creatives’ relationships with clients—reducing layers of inefficiency and anti-creative incentives.

Urbit + Creator DAOs with Justin Murphy

Isaac Simpson
~mogmet-tadnem
October 5, 2022

Creator DAOs are blank slates, new foundational cryptographic patterns just beginning to take shape. Justin Murphy thinks Urbit is the most obvious place to start building one.

August Grants Program Review

August 30, 2022

The completion of the first cohort of Hoon School Live and the following App School Live program minted dozens of capable new Hoon developers. These developers are completing applications, closing out bounties, and putting together proposals at a rapid pace, with more to come as Assembly 2022 draws near.

The Shape of DAO Governance to Come

Anthony Arroyo
~poldec-tonteg
August 17, 2022

When building the Combine DAO, we conducted a survey of DAO governance and tooling and came to the conclusion that the many theoretical approaches to the problem of governance were tied to the implementation details of the DAO stack. Since we were building everything on Urbit—as opposed to through the typical combination of Solidity contracts, Web2 tools and Snapshot—we realized that we’d have to do some rethinking. A new approach for a new stack.

The Smart Home of the Future

August 4, 2022

Homes are getting smarter. A smart home is no longer just a collection of smart devices but a superorganism of data-collecting objects. These people and devices who use and inhabit these homes form a complex socio-technical system. What is the future of the smart home and how will Urbit fit into it?

Building Your DAO with Pseudonymous Reputation on Urbit

Anthony Arroyo
~poldec-tonteg
July 19, 2022

Using Urbit ID’s pseudonymous reputation model, DAO participants know Urbit ID holders’ past behavior before relying on them, and without sacrificing anonymity.

Introduction to the Combine DAO

Anthony Arroyo
~poldec-tonteg
July 1, 2022

Inside the mind of the Combine

Convivial Networks

May 27, 2022

Like the relationships that we build within them, our platforms should yield satisfaction precisely because they’re non-trivial; they demand effort, which is another way of saying they require engagement with the world.

Desire Lines to a New Internet

May 6, 2022

As more DAOs, NFT and digital communities find their way to Urbit, others are likely to follow their paths, making them their own, just like the network itself.

Immunology for the Internet Age

April 7, 2022

A consideration of the history of the Internet motivates introspection on the nature and causes of social dysfunction in a globally shared space. Centralized solutions fail to yield satisfactory outcomes for human freedom and thriving. Decentralized autonomous organizations and their technological apparatus together represent the evolution of an immune system against a corporatized Internet.

Layer 2 FAQ

March 1, 2022

Answers to all your lingering L2 questions.

Urbit Is for Creators

Noah Kumin
~librex-dozryc
December 9, 2021

Urbit is for creators who are ready to wake up from this bad dream.

Report from the field: Assembly 2021

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
November 18, 2021

The system builds the community and the community builds the system.

The Promise and Paradox of Decentralization

November 17, 2021

Is centralization just a natural tendency of all networks? Are we destined to have a 'decentralization sandwich?'

NFTs, Urbit IDs, and Communities w/ Haleek Maul

September 9, 2021

An interview with the founder of Holdersland

State of Urbit

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
August 24, 2021

A year in review

An Interview with UrbitHost

August 19, 2021

Interview with the founder of UrbitHost ~lavlyn-litmeg

On Christopher Alexander

July 19, 2021

An overview of his writing and relevance

A Topiary: Hypertext and Urbit

Reid Scoggin
~sitful-hatred
June 13, 2021

A brief history of hypertext and Urbit networking

Azimuth’s First Contract Upgrade

Jonathan Paprocki and Mark
~datnut-pollen and ~palfun-foslup
June 4, 2021

Galactic Senate makes first concrete action

The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis

Jonathan Paprocki
~datnut-pollen
May 13, 2021

How we're making Urbit ID affordable again

Community Spotlight: The Portico

May 3, 2021

Interview with The Portico founder Josh Reagan

Lunar Urbit and the Internet of Things

Jonathan Paprocki
~datnut-pollen
April 29, 2021

Potential future use cases of moons for industry and consumers

Interplanetary Commerce

Christian Langalis
~pindet-timmut
April 8, 2021

OS-level commercial primitives.

After the Machine War

Simon Kovacs
~bacbec-lormur
March 14, 2021

The date is January 1, 2050. The place, New York City. The vibe...subdued.

Eliza

Christian Langalis
~pindet-timmut
February 22, 2021

Building things, even Calm™ things, makes noise.

2020 -> 2021

Josh Lehman
~wolref-podlex
January 20, 2021

Reflecting and looking forward.

Ames Security Audit and the Future of the Protocol

Ted Blackman + Anthony Arroyo
~rovnys-ricfer + ~poldec-tonteg
December 17, 2020

Ames’ design has unparalleled potential to deter, mitigate, and recover from attacks, since every packet is authenticated and encrypted and backed by a stable, decentralized PKI.

Input and Output in Hoon

Philip Monk
~wicdev-wisryt
December 15, 2020

Let's talk about IO in Urbit.

Metaphase

Matilde Park
~haddef-sigwen
December 8, 2020

On the upcoming and foregoing Landscape lifecycles, and other forms of mitosis across the Urbit project.

Security and Continuity

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
November 30, 2020

An update on our primary infrastructure milestones for 2020.

An Email from the Archive

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
November 29, 2020

I found this email in my archives recently and thought it might be fun to share publicly.

Models of Society

Tyler Shuster
~radbur-sivmus
November 18, 2020

Conversations compose society. What composes conversation — how do we digitize it in a way that enhances society without imposing upon it? How do we form this new medium, both to facilitate natural human behavior and to inspire the best of it?

Aesthetic Culture #1

~nartes-fasrum
~nartes-fasrum
November 11, 2020

One of the most exciting things about Urbit is the aesthetic and design around it, developed partly by Tlon (through the design of Urbit itself) and partly by the community (by producing great Urbit art).

Urbit Events Series

Lane Rettig
~naplet-hildec
October 29, 2020

These events are an opportunity for Urbit contributors to share real-time updates that don’t make it into this blog, and for the community to get to know the contributors (and one another).

Hosting the Future

Nick Simmons
~simfur-ritwed
September 30, 2020

The way we see it, hosting is the most important thing, next to Landscape, that Tlon can do to help Urbit continue toward widespread adoption.

Late 2020 Progress Update: OS 1 -> OS 1.N

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
September 28, 2020

When we announced OS 1, in April, we started to disappear into Urbit. Since then, we’ve been living on Urbit like we never have before.

Gifts Q3 2020

Josh Lehman
~wolref-podlex
September 22, 2020

Twice a year we distribute address space to those that have made valuable contributions to Urbit. Now called our Gifts program, the gifting of address space has been part of Urbit long before we had a grants program.

Providers

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
August 17, 2020

We’ve always assumed that providers would have to come into existence sooner or later. By the look of it, that time is now. Tlon and a few others have provider-like services in the works.

First Steps Towards urbit.org

Josh Lehman
~wolref-podlex
August 11, 2020

With a stable platform taking shape and a strong community forming that wants to help build Urbit, it’s time to make urbit.org real.

Ford Fusion

Ted Blackman
~rovnys-ricfer
July 14, 2020

Ford Fusion was an overhaul of Urbit's over-the-air upgrade process and a rewrite of its build system. The new update system corrects a few long-standing bugs with the previous one, and the new build system is simpler, smaller (by around 5,000 lines), and easier to manage.

The Value of Urbit Address Space (3 of 3)

Erik Newton + Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~patnes-rigtyn + ~ravmel-ropdyl
July 9, 2020

Hackathon Results

Robert Mariani
~lodleb-ritrul
June 11, 2020

We recently held an invite-only Urbit Hackathon for graduates of our Hoon School program, and the submissions really impressed us across the board. Submissions were judged on several criteria: creativity, usefulness, and code quality.

The Missing Middle

Nicholas Simmons
~simfur-ritwed
May 25, 2020

Urbit stars can facilitate a flexible continuum of community norms.

Tools of Our Own

Matilde Park
~haddef-sigwen
May 12, 2020

What is a digital environment? What does it mean to shape your own digital environment?

Platform Decay, Decentralized Marketplaces, and Urbit

Nicholas Simmons
~simfur-ritwed
May 7, 2020

Urbit is calm computing. Calm commerce follows naturally.

Introducing OS 1

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
April 29, 2020

OS 1 is somewhere between ‘productivity software’ and a ‘social network’. We think it’s the beginning of an altogether new breed of social computing.

The Value of Urbit Address Space (2 of 3)

Erik Newton + Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~patnes-rigtyn + ~ravmel-ropdyl
April 12, 2020

Scarcity, utility, liquidity, and network effect.

Infrastructural

É. Urcades
~fabled-faster
April 9, 2020

A reflection–meditation on OS 1’s initial form development, and the attitude we brought to bear in designing it.

The Value of Urbit Address Space (1 of 3)

Erik Newton + Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~patnes-rigtyn + ~ravmel-ropdyl
April 6, 2020

An expansion of our position on Urbit's address space value.

The Understanding Urbit Podcast

Arthur Falls
~satsyt-sogleb
April 2, 2020

An interview-based podcast series about the Urbit project, as told by those working on it.

Urbit is for Communities

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
March 22, 2020

Urbit is for giving communities the tools to shape their own environments; for us all to feel a sense of life and self-directedness in the digital world.

Precepts: Discussion

Philip Monk
~wicdev-wisryt
March 17, 2020

The precepts aren’t arguments. We discuss and justify them here.

Precepts

Philip Monk
~wicdev-wisryt
March 17, 2020

Technical maxims that define Urbit's approach to engineering.

Urbit for Normies

Erik Newton
~patnes-rigtyn
February 11, 2020

A layperson’s guide to the coming new internet.

Creating Sigils

Gavin Atkinson
~ridlur-figbud
February 3, 2020

The origin and design process informing Urbit's generative user avatar system, Sigils.

Designing a Permanent Personal Identity

Philip Monk
~wicdev-wisryt
November 26, 2019

A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a system for binding a set of keys to a name. Sometimes a small amount of metadata is included.

Stable Arvo

Anthony Arroyo
~poldec-tonteg
November 19, 2019

This year we set out to get Arvo to a point that we can credibly call ‘stable.'

Why Hoon?

Ted Blackman
~rovnys-ricfer
November 13, 2019

The promise of Urbit lies in its reimagination of the digital world using components that are as constrained and limited as possible.

Simple, Durable, Yours

October 16, 2019

We built Urbit from scratch to be a system that’s simple, durable, and yours. Everything that computing today is not — but should be.

Urbit and Bitcoin

Christian Langalis
~pindet-timmut
October 16, 2019

A sound money deserves a sound computer.

Your Last Computer

October 16, 2019

Your Urbit is a simpler computer, a quieter computer, a more private computer. We want it to feel predictable, safe, and reliable — things only a complete, sealed system can do. This, we hope, can get us a world where technology keeps us connected, but doesn’t dominate our lives.

~2019.10 Roadmap

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
October 2, 2019

Galen Wolfe-Pauly on the road ahead for the identity/OS/interface/community stack.

Landscape: A Portrait

Matilde Park
~haddef-sigwen
September 2, 2019

On the latest Urbit user interface, and the interfaces to come.

Announcing: Urbit Grants Program

Robert Mariani
~lodleb-ritrul
August 5, 2019

Announcing Urbit Grants, a way to earn stars through contributing.

Azimuth Security Bounty Program

Anthony Arroyo
~poldec-tonteg
July 21, 2019

Inviting you (and your friends) to help us make Azimuth as secure as possible.

Urbit Grants and mid-2019 Gifts

Galen Wolfe-Pauly + Alex Matzner
~ravmel-ropdyl + ~mignyt-mogseb
June 9, 2019

Announcing an upcoming Urbit grants program and star gifts for Mid-2019.

~2019.5 Roadmap

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
May 15, 2019

Where we are and where we're going as of mid-2019.

Azimuth as Multipass

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
May 15, 2019

What if everyone had a single 'civilizational key'?

The State of Landscape

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
May 15, 2019

An update on the state of Landscape and the Urbit network.

The 100-Year Computer

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
May 13, 2019

One way to think about Urbit: as a "100-year computer."

A Founder's Farewell

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
January 13, 2019

My goal was always to fire myself at the first possible opportunity. I'm super happy to reach it.

Azimuth is On-Chain

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
January 13, 2019

The Urbit address space, now called Azimuth, is on the blockchain. And too many other things to fit into a single post.

Governance of urbit.org

Erik Newton
~patnes-rigtyn
January 10, 2019

Stewardship of the Urbit Project.

Urbit and the Blockchain Wars

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
September 24, 2017

A bit about the 'idea maze' of choosing to bootstrap from Ethereum.

Bootstrapping Urbit from Ethereum

Curtis Yarvin + Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~sorreg-namtyv + ~ravmel-ropdyl
September 19, 2017

We've decided to launch Urbit's constitution as a system of Ethereum contracts.

Toward a Frozen Operating System

Curtis Yarvin + Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~sorreg-namtyv + ~ravmel-ropdyl
May 9, 2017

Is it possible to freeze an entire OS?

Toward a New %clay

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
July 13, 2016

Urbit's revision-control system, %clay, is itself due for a (medium-sized) revision!

Why Urbit Probably Doesn't Need a Blockchain

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
July 13, 2016

Urbit (probably) doesn't need a blockchain, because the Urbit address-space PKI is a special case of a consensus ledger.

Common Objections to Urbit

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
June 27, 2016

Some common objections to Urbit, discussed.

The DAO as a Lesson in Decentralized Governance

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
June 23, 2016

What's the right lesson for the decentralization community to learn from the collapse of the DAO?

Interim Constitution

Tlon
May 15, 2016

The governing rules for the early days of the Urbit network.

Magic

Curtis Yarvin
~sorreg-namtyv
May 15, 2016

A thought-experiment to explain the Urbit user experience.

The Urbit Address Space

Galen Wolfe-Pauly + Curtis Yarvin
~ravmel-ropdyl + ~sorreg-namtyv
May 15, 2016

An overview of Urbit's cryptographic address space.

An Urbit Overview

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
May 10, 2016

A high-level overview of Urbit.

Beliefs and Principles Guiding the Urbit Project

Curtis Yarvin + Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~sorreg-namtyv + ~ravmel-ropdyl
May 10, 2016

We believe.

What is Urbit For?

Galen Wolfe-Pauly
~ravmel-ropdyl
May 10, 2016

A vision of the Urbit-powered future.