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Holochain Concepts

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Holochain Concepts

This section contains all Holochain concepts in a single unified directory: data structures, network primitives, runtime mechanisms, and advanced topics.

Application Structure

  • DNA and Zomes - The integrity/coordinator split; how DNA hashes define networks
  • Cell - The fundamental unit of a running Holochain application
  • Social DNA - Social application patterns and reusable DNA compositions

Data Structures

  • Entry - Basic data unit stored in the source chain and DHT
  • Record - Signed entries with metadata and provenance
  • Link - Connections between entries in the DHT
  • Action - Cryptographically signed operations agents perform

Addressing and Navigation

  • Anchor - Discoverable, well-known entry points in the DHT
  • Path - Hierarchical addressing mechanism built on anchors

Network and Consistency

  • Eventual Consistency - How data synchronizes across a distributed network
  • RRDHT - Resilient random distributed hash table implementation
  • Network Seed - Network initialization and partitioning
  • Progenitor - The agent(s) who initiate a network

Communication

  • Signal - Real-time messaging between agents and the UI
  • Capability Tokens - Authorization mechanism for zome calls and data access

Runtime Roles

  • Host - The runtime role that provides Holochain capabilities to guests
  • Guest - The application code (zome) that runs within the host

Context and Ecosystem

  • Layer0 - Positioning in the protocol stack
  • Web3 - Relationship and contrast with Web3 technologies

18 items under this folder.

DNA and Zomes

How Holochain applications are structured through DNA, integrity zomes, and coordinator zomes

Holochain Cells

The fundamental unit of a Holochain application - combining DNA with an agent identity

Guest

WebAssembly applications that run in Holochain's secure sandbox environment, implementing application logic through host API interactions

Host

Holochain's runtime environment that provides secure WebAssembly execution and system API access for guest applications

Network Seed

Cryptographic identifier that determines network membership and enables secure peer discovery in Holochain applications

Social DNA

DNA configurations that encode social rules, community agreements, and collective decision-making processes into Holochain applications

Action

Notes on Action.

Anchor

Notes on Anchor.

Capability Tokens

use hdk::prelude::*;

Holochain Entries

The basic data structure stored in the distributed hash table and source chain

Eventual Consistency

Eventual consistency is a concept in distributed computing where all nodes in a distributed system eventually become consistent with each other, but this

Layer0

Layer 0 refers to the foundational protocol layer in decentralized systems. In Holochain's context, it represents the core infrastructure that enables

Holochain Links

Connections between entries that create relationships in the distributed hash table

Path

use hdk::prelude::*;

Progenitor

How Holochain hApps solve the bootstrap problem: embedding the founder's public key in DNA properties to grant deterministic first-admin authority without a central server.

Holochain Records

Complete data structures containing entries with metadata and validation information

Rrdht

rrDHT (relaxed, agent-centric distributed hash table) is a key component of Holochain's technology that ensures fast, robust, and secure peer-to-peer

Signal

use hdk::prelude::*;

Backlinks

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