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Important: Before you read this post, please make sure you’ve first read this announcement from the Holochain Foundation, our parent organization.
As we just announced, we’ve been carefully evaluating the best path forward for hosting in context of what we have come to understand from our community and end-users. Earlier this year, we conducted a comprehensive community survey to better understand your needs and priorities. Since then, we have learned an enormous amount about the kind of hosting wanted for Holochain applications and needed by real-world users and use cases. That feedback, alongside our lived experience working with our partners made it clear: we created some unnecessary friction.
Over the course of the last few months, we've been carefully evaluating our centralized orchestration approach with Allograph. We have found a faster path forward – one that's also more decentralized, puts the community at the center of hosting innovation, and allows us to more rapidly serve real-world needs.
We're calling it Edge Node. It’s open-source, it’s OCI-compliant, and it's available now.
Edge Node
Edge Node is suitable for technically savvy folks (i.e. you are comfortable typing commands in a terminal) to install on their HoloPorts, or on any other hardware (virtual or physical).
It does two simple things:
- It runs a Holochain conductor
- It provides a few commands to install and manage hApps based on a simple configuration file format.
What does this mean? It means you can, today, provide the simplest service we have seen demonstrated need for, and that is to be an always-on-node for any small hApp network, and support one another in the community in hosting more hApps.
For HoloPort owners: Edge Node is built and tested to run on your HoloPorts. You'll be able to install the new OS from an ISO flashed onto a USB stick. This will require some technical skill, but we'll be available to support you through the process through documentation and our upcoming Holo Huddle calls.
For hApp developers: You have a really easy way to run always-on nodes for your hApps now, and a growing new community of others that can do that for you too.
For HOT holders: Development of the necessary transaction and accounting software infrastructure to enable a swap continues to be well underway. This technology is being developed by Unyt, and you can read more about Circulo the first community currency app built on Unyt!
Building in the Open
Here’s how we’re making this truly collaborative:
Edge Node consists of two parts: a minimal Linux ISO, and an OCI-compliant container image (we're using Docker) with Holochain conductor and hApp management command line tools that run in the OS.
This architecture means that you, our technically savvy community, can easily experiment with and try different containers, with different features and configurations for various hosting setups. For example, if hApp developers want email or mobile SMS bridges available to their hApps, they can create a forked Docker image with those bridge services configured to run alongside Holochain, then advertise it for Hosts to adopt.
Our immediate next step is adding the HTTP Gateway module so Hosts can also provide read-only web access for hApps—another need we've heard clearly from the community.
From there, we'll evolve based on what you build and what you need. This is hosting infrastructure designed to grow with the ecosystem, not dictate to it.
Get Started
Technical: Download the ISO and get started in the Edge Node Github repository
Community: Join us in the Holo Forum where we'll have:
- Documentation, Resources & Support
- Space for Hosts and hApp Managers to connect
- Discussion on what should come next
We'll be facilitating regular support calls (Holo Huddles) to help you get started with Edge Node, as well as kicking off a consistent, recurring Holo Forge call that's more focused on building and collaborating with the community.
Starting Small, Building Together
Edge Node gives an additional path to learn more from our community and what’s needed by direct technical engagement with folks running nodes.
We recognize that Edge Node is not yet the fully integrated Holo Hosting Marketplace many of you have been waiting for. However, it’s a deliberate and strategic move in that direction – building a foundation upon which we can build together.
This experiment is starting small and keeping simple. This approach allows us to support hApp development, and enable real-world usage while we work alongside you on what comes next.
We know this journey has had its challenges, and we appreciate your patience and continued engagement. With this next step, we're putting the tools in your hands to help shape what Holochain hosting becomes, and we look forward to building this future together.