Frequently Asked Questions

General

What blockchain is Orbis built on top of?

Orbis is built on top of chain-agnostic technologies and we are committed to staying multi-chain.
Currently supported blockchains include EVMs, Solana, Tezos and Stacks with more coming soon.

What are the fees? How much does gas cost?

Our protocol does not have any transaction fees. All actions are free.
Using Orbis does not require a funded wallet.

Where can I find your smart contracts?

Orbis is not running on top of a blockchain, instead, we took advantage of an open data layer Ceramic.
We built Cerscan to make it easy for anyone to explore Ceramic data, including all Orbis Posts, Messages, Profiles, etc.

What are Orbis Nodes?

Orbis Nodes are the brains of the protocol.
They handle indexing of Ceramic data, social graph building, as well as access gating and moderation.

Can I host an Orbis Node?

Orbis Nodes are currently hosted by Orbis. We are working towards decentralization in the form of self-hosted dedicated nodes, as well as a global network of self-hosted nodes.

Do you have a block explorer?

Our architecture is not built on top of a blockchain, so there are no "blocks" in the usual sense of that word.
However, we built Cerscan which is an Etherescan equivalent for Ceramic and Orbis.

What are currently supported wallets?

Orbis is a multi-chain protocol that currently supports EVM, Solana, Tezos and Stacks providers with more coming soon.

Do users have to sign every action?

No! Our philosophy is the freedom of Web3 with the convenience of Web2.
Users have to sign in once using a SIWE signature, after which their session is stored locally and all actions will be authorized transparently.

Privacy & Access Control

Do you offer Token Gating?

Yes! - and much more! We provide a robust Access Gating system allowing you to combine many types of rules.
Currently available rules include Token Gating, Metadata Gating, DIDs and Credentials.

Am I able to limit who can add content to my spaces (contexts)?

Yes! Orbis features a robust Access Control system allowing you to have fine-grained control over your Contexts.
This means you can control who can write and/or read the content.

Am I able to control who can read my content?

Yes! Orbis integrates decentralized and trustless Encryption via Lit Protocol.
You can define your own rules, combining rules with data from over 40 chains - only those eligible will be able to read the content - even we can't do it!

Are my private messages visible to others through Ceramic?

No! Orbis features automated end-to-end encryption for Conversations, so only participants can read the contents of a message - even we can't do it.\

Who can access a Profile's email?

Once attached to a Profile, the email gets encrypted and Orbis Nodes use it for notification purposes only.
Nobody other than you and our Nodes can access the email. It is not shared or accessible to third parties.

Development

Is there a Typescript SDK?

Our current SDK is not built in Typescript, however, we are already working on a new Typescript version of it.

Can I use Orbis in my native mobile app?

Yes - with React Native! We provide a ready-to-use Expo template to jump-start your mobile app development.

What frameworks are supported?

Our SDK is a pure Javascript library. It can be used in any Javascript environment and framework.
Orbis Components are built in React 18, however, they can be used in other frameworks thanks to wrappers and transpilers. Behavior has been tested with Svelte (svelte-preprocess (opens in a new tab)) and Vue 3 (Veaury (opens in a new tab)).

Is Orbis open source? Where can I find your source code?

Orbis SDK (opens in a new tab), Components (opens in a new tab) and Templates are fully open-source and can be found in our Github (opens in a new tab).

Is previous Web3 experience required to build on Orbis?

No! If you can write Javascript, you're good to go!
Our SDK abstracts away any Web3 interactions. Nodes handle indexing and social graph building - all exposed over an http REST API.