A decentralized trust infrastructure for real-life communities. People meet in person, verify each other's identity via QR code, and build reputation through attestations over time.
No central server sees your data. Everything is end-to-end encrypted and stored locally.
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ VERIFY │ ──► │ COLLABORATE │ ──► │ ATTEST │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ Confirm identity│ │ Share encrypted │ │ Build reputation│
│ by meeting in │ │ content (tasks, │ │ through real │
│ person (QR scan)│ │ calendar, maps) │ │ actions │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
Verification ≠ Trust. Verification only confirms: "This is really that person." Actual trust is built through attestations over time.
The protocol is specified in the WoT Spec — an open, standards-based protocol combining W3C Verifiable Credentials, DIDComm v2.1, Ed25519, and ECIES for decentralized identity and trust.
Current version: v0.1.0-draft
- Demo App: web-of-trust.de/demo
- CRDT Benchmark: web-of-trust.de/benchmark — measure Yjs vs Automerge on your device
- Relay:
wss://relay.web-of-trust.de - Vault:
https://vault.web-of-trust.de - Profiles:
https://profiles.web-of-trust.de
The demo app also ships as a native Android app (Capacitor), distributed through our own F-Droid repository:
- Add the repository in your F-Droid client:
https://fdroid.utopia-lab.org/fdroid/repo - Install Web of Trust
Web content updates arrive over-the-air; native updates ship through the repository.
The system is built on swappable adapters — same interfaces, different implementations. This allows experimenting with different CRDT frameworks, messaging protocols, and storage backends without touching application code.
┌───────────────────┐
│ Your App / Demo │
└─────────┬─────────┘
│
┌──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┐
│ wot-core │
│ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
│ │ Storage │ │ Reactive │ │ Crypto │ │ Discovery │ │
│ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └────────┘ └───────────┘ │
│ ┌───────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ │
│ │ Messaging │ │ Replication │ │ Authorization │ │
│ └───────────┘ └─────────────┘ └───────────────┘ │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
│
┌────────────────┴────────────────┐
│ adapter-yjs / adapter-automerge │
└────────────────┬────────────────┘
│
┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
│ │ │
┌─────┴─────┐ ┌──────┴─────┐ ┌───────┴───────┐
│ wot-relay │ │ wot-vault │ │ wot-profiles │
└───────────┘ └────────────┘ └───────────────┘
| Adapter | Purpose | Implementation |
|---|---|---|
| StorageAdapter | Local persistence, CRUD | Yjs (default) or Automerge |
| ReactiveStorageAdapter | Live queries, subscriptions | Observables on CRDT changes |
| CryptoAdapter | Signing, encryption | WebCrypto (Ed25519, X25519, AES-256-GCM) |
| DiscoveryAdapter | Public profile lookup | HTTP + offline cache |
| MessagingAdapter | 1:1 message delivery | WebSocket Relay (ACK + Outbox) |
| ReplicationAdapter | Encrypted CRDT Spaces | Yjs or Automerge + E2EE + GroupKeys |
| AuthorizationAdapter | Capabilities / permissions | UCAN-inspired, offline-verifiable |
Three CRDT-agnostic services — they only see encrypted bytes, never plaintext:
| Service | Transport | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| wot-relay | WebSocket | Real-time sync + delivery ACK |
| wot-vault | HTTP | Encrypted backup for new device restore |
| wot-profiles | HTTP | Public profile discovery (JWS-signed) |
Data is also persisted locally in IndexedDB (CompactStore) for offline access.
| Package | CRDT | Runtime | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| adapter-yjs | Yjs | Pure JavaScript (69KB) | Default. Fast on all devices. |
| adapter-automerge | Automerge | Rust → WASM (1.7MB) | Alternative. Heavier on mobile. |
Switch at startup with VITE_CRDT=automerge. Both adapters pass the same end-to-end suites. Try the in-browser benchmark to compare on your device.
- BIP39 Mnemonic — 12-word recovery phrase (English wordlist)
- Ed25519 — Signing (via @noble/ed25519)
- X25519 — Key agreement (ECDH)
- did:key — W3C Decentralized Identifier
- HKDF Master Key — Non-extractable CryptoKey, hardware isolation when available
- Encrypted seed storage — PBKDF2 (600k iterations) + AES-GCM in IndexedDB
All data is encrypted before it leaves the device. The relay server only sees ciphertext.
- Symmetric: AES-256-GCM (CRDT updates, group content)
- Asymmetric: X25519 ECIES (key exchange, 1:1 messages)
- Envelope Auth: Ed25519-signed message envelopes
- Group Keys: Per-space key with generation-based rotation
- Group Spaces — CRDT-based collaboration (ReplicationAdapter)
- Selective Sharing — Item-level encryption keys
- 1:1 Delivery — Attestations, verifications via Relay
- Node.js 22+
- pnpm 9+
# Install dependencies
pnpm install
# Start demo app (default: Yjs)
pnpm dev:demo
# Start demo app with Automerge
VITE_CRDT=automerge pnpm dev:demo
# Start landing page
pnpm dev:landing
# Run tests
pnpm test # all packages (Vitest)
cd apps/demo && npx playwright test # browser E2E tests (Playwright)
# Build
pnpm build:coreweb-of-trust/
├── packages/
│ ├── wot-core/ # @web_of_trust/core — Core library
│ ├── adapter-yjs/ # @web_of_trust/adapter-yjs — Yjs CRDT adapter (default)
│ ├── adapter-automerge/ # @web_of_trust/adapter-automerge — Automerge CRDT adapter
│ ├── wot-relay/ # WebSocket Relay Server (Node.js, SQLite)
│ ├── wot-vault/ # Encrypted Document Store (HTTP, SQLite)
│ ├── wot-profiles/ # Public Profile Service (HTTP, SQLite, JWS)
│ └── wot-fdroid/ # F-Droid repository (Android distribution)
├── apps/
│ ├── demo/ # Demo App (React 19, i18n, Dark Mode)
│ ├── benchmark/ # CRDT Benchmark (Yjs vs Automerge)
│ └── landing/ # Landing Page
└── docs/ # Architecture docs & specifications
| Package | Description | Links |
|---|---|---|
@web_of_trust/core |
Core library — identity, crypto, adapters, services | npm |
@web_of_trust/adapter-yjs |
Yjs CRDT adapter (default) — pure JS, 76x faster on mobile | |
@web_of_trust/adapter-automerge |
Automerge CRDT adapter — Rust→WASM | |
wot-relay |
WebSocket Relay Server — message forwarding, delivery ACK, SQLite | |
wot-vault |
Encrypted Document Store — append-only, capability auth, SQLite | |
wot-profiles |
Public Profile Service — JWS verification, REST API, SQLite |
// Core — identity, crypto, messaging (root exports)
import {
IdentityWorkflow,
WebCryptoProtocolCryptoAdapter,
WebCryptoAdapter,
OutboxMessagingAdapter,
} from '@web_of_trust/core'
// Opt-in browser adapters (subpath exports)
import { IndexedDbIdentitySeedVault } from '@web_of_trust/core/adapters/storage/indexeddb'
import { HttpDiscoveryAdapter } from '@web_of_trust/core/adapters/discovery/http'
import { WebSocketMessagingAdapter } from '@web_of_trust/core/adapters/messaging/websocket'
// Profile publication workflow (replaces the former ProfileService)
import { createProfilePublicationWorkflow } from '@web_of_trust/core/application'
// CRDT adapter — choose one
import { YjsReplicationAdapter } from '@web_of_trust/adapter-yjs'
// or: import { AutomergeReplicationAdapter } from '@web_of_trust/adapter-automerge'
// Create identity with the reference workflow
const workflow = new IdentityWorkflow({
crypto: new WebCryptoProtocolCryptoAdapter(),
vault: new IndexedDbIdentitySeedVault(),
})
const { mnemonic, identity } = await workflow.createIdentity({
passphrase: 'my-passphrase',
storeSeed: true,
})
console.log(mnemonic) // 12-word BIP39 mnemonic
console.log(identity.getDid()) // did:key:z6Mk...2,400+ automated tests across all packages (Vitest), plus 22 Playwright end-to-end tests covering onboarding, verification, spaces, and multi-relay failover. A dedicated encrypted-sync E2E suite runs against a real relay — with both CRDT adapters (Yjs and Automerge).
- Onboarding — Create identity with 12 Magic Words + passphrase
- Recovery — Restore identity from seed on any device
- QR Verification — In-person identity verification via camera
- Contacts — Manage verified contacts
- Attestations — Attest skills/properties, receive, publish
- Spaces — Encrypted group collaboration (CRDT)
- Trust Graph — Interactive visualization of your verified network
- Profile Sync — JWS-signed profiles published to wot-profiles
- Public Profile — Viewable without login
- Multi-Device — Sync via Relay + Vault
- Offline-First — Local data, offline banner, outbox queue
- i18n — German + English (per-app system language on Android)
- Dark Mode — Fully supported
- Debug Panel — Persistence metrics, relay status, CRDT info
| Document | Description |
|---|---|
| Current Implementation | What's built, what works, architecture decisions |
| NLNet Application | Funding application (NGI Zero Commons Fund) |
| Adapter Architecture | 7-adapter specification (wot-core README) |
| Sync Architecture | How data flows between devices, services, and users |
| Identity & Keys | Key generation, protection, and management |
| Framework Evaluation | 16 frameworks evaluated |
| Social Recovery | Shamir Secret Sharing concept |
| Threat Model | STRIDE analysis |
| Encryption Protocol | E2E encryption design |
- Real Life Stack — Modular app toolkit for local communities, built on Web of Trust
We're looking for:
- Communities who want to try it
- Feedback on UX and concept
- Developers who want to build with us