Autobase

Decentralized Data Protocol

Multi-writer collaboration primitive built atop Hypercore, enabling multiple writers to contribute to a single shared logical structure through deterministic merge of independent input Hypercores. Operates on principles similar to CRDTs and operational transformation, providing convergent eventual consistency without requiring Byzantine consensus. Member of the Holepunch suite.

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Details

License Open source — MIT (github.com/holepunchto/autobase)
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Released / Active (used in Keet for multi-writer collaboration; ongoing development)
Owner Holepunch
Country International (distributed team)
Start Year 2021
Stack JavaScript / Node.js (reference implementation)
Funding Tether-backed via Holepunch
Last Investigated Jul 1, 2026

Use Case Domains

Platform Evolution & Sovereignty

Decentralized Data Protocol Attributes

Origins Multi-writer collaborative data structures (created to enable multi-author collaboration over Hypercore's single-writer log primitive)
Database Multiple input Hypercores per writer plus an output Hyperbee (or other Hypercore-based structure) computed deterministically from the inputs
Query Language Inherits from underlying output structure (e.g. Hyperbee API for key-value access)
Data Formats Arbitrary; operations are application-defined and applied deterministically across inputs
Collaborative Live Editing Yes — Autobase's primary purpose is enabling multiple writers to converge on shared state through deterministic operation merging
Rich Text Editing Application-level (Autobase provides the multi-writer substrate; editors built atop)
Mobile Support Yes (via Pear runtime)
Web Support Yes (WebAssembly builds)
Native Apps Yes (used in Keet messaging app for multi-participant rooms)
Terms Open Source / Free — MIT License
Funds Not separately disclosed
Based On Hypercore (per-writer input logs); CRDT-like deterministic merge principles
P2P Architecture Inherits Hypercore P2P model; multiple writers each maintain their own Hypercore and replicate to peers; merge is deterministic and runs locally on each peer
Overlay Network Inherits from Hypercore (Hyperswarm-based)
Content Addressing Public-key addressing per input Hypercore; output structure determined by merge
Local-First Yes — multi-writer convergence occurs at each peer locally
E2EE Inherits Hypercore transport encryption; application defines content-layer encryption
CRDTs Lib Self (Autobase is itself the CRDT-like primitive; provides deterministic merge of multi-writer inputs without external CRDT library)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance No Byzantine consensus — convergent eventual consistency via deterministic merge; malicious writers can be removed from the input set but not prevented from forking their own input log
Signature Inherits Hypercore Ed25519 signatures per writer's input log
Permissions Input-set gating (only writers in the recognized input set contribute to the merged output)
Semantic Web Compatibility N/A (content-agnostic)
Smart Contract N/A
Protocol Stack Position L4 Data & Semantic
Asset / Value Embedding None — collaboration primitive with no native token
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Released / Active; specification maintained at github.com/holepunchto/autobase; no formal external standardization