Glossary

Orbis

Access Control

A set of features allowing users to choose who can write and read content to/from their contexts (spaces).
Contexts can be Access Gated - limiting who can write to them. Content can be Encrypted - limiting who can read it.

Access Gating

Access Gating is a feature powered by Orbis Nodes, allowing you to choose who can write content to your contexts. Rules include Token Gating, Metadata Gating, DIDs and Credentials.

Cerscan

A Ceramic network explorer built by Orbis. It's an Etherscan equivalent for Ceramic and Orbis

Components

Orbis Components are open-source (opens in a new tab) React 18 components that implement Orbis functionality with no developer intervention needed. They can be embedded to any website.

Contexts

Contexts allow users to organize content in the way it makes sense for them, as well as define Access Gating rules to choose who can contribute to them. They can be nested to create complex data structures without requiring a dedicated backend - all handled by Orbis

Credentials

Verifiable Credentials are a new and open standard that gives individuals full control over their identity and issued credentials. They are digitally signed which means that once issued, a Credential is tamper-proof and can be verified by anyone - instantly. We believe Credentials are one of the main tools to achieve Sybil-resistance.

Encryption

Encryption is feature powered by Lit Protocol. It allows users to choose who can read their content by protecting data with a sharded encryption key. In order to decrypt and read the data, users must authorize with Lit Protocol and satisfy the rules defined by the creator.

Nodes

Brains of the Orbis Protocol. Orbis Nodes coordinate the moving parts of Orbis' underlying architecture. They handle indexing of Ceramic content, social graphs, and access gating and they expose a REST API over http.

Orbis Protocol

A fully composable ecosystem of social experiences built on top of battle-proven Web3 infrastructure. It enables developers to build features such as discussion feeds, social timelines and private messaging with a couple of lines of code - no backend required.

SDK

Orbis SDK is an open-source (opens in a new tab) Javascript package used to interact with the Orbis Protocol and its underlying architecture. It abstracts away the complexity of Web3 for users and developers alike.

Ceramic

Ceramic is an interoperable, globally available and decentralized data network built on top of IPFS. Data is fully owned by the end user (a Stream's operator).

Data Availability

Data availability is the property of a state that any node connected to the network could download any specific part of the state that they wish to download.

Event

Data stored on IPFS and used to create "commits" on a stream - updating its current contents.

IPFS

Stands for "InterPlanetary File System". The base data layer Ceramic is built on top of. It is a distributed peer-to-peer network specialized in storing and sharing data. Put simply, it's a globally distributed file system - anyone can read from and write to it.

Schema

Set of properties commit's structure (data) must follow for it to be considered valid. Events not respecting a Stream's schema are discarded.

Stream

Mutable streams of data with all previous versions (commits) being publicly available and queryable.

Lit Protocol

authSig

A wallet signature, also referred to as AuthSig, is a signature that proves you own a particular public key. It is used to authenticate with the Lit Protocol.

Encryption

Ability to protect data with a sharded encryption key. In order to decrypt and read the data, one must authorize with Lit Protocol and satisfy the rules defined by the original creators (one who encrypted it in the first place). After encryption, data can be stored anywhere - including on Ceramic, which is the data layer of choice for Orbis.

Lit Protocol

Lit Protocol is a decentralized key management network that helps facilitate trustless access control (encryption) and programmatic signing (PKPs).

MPC

Stands for Multi-Party Computation. It allows multiple parties to jointly compute over their inputs while keeping those inputs private. An MPC wallet allows multiple parties to hold shares of the private key and sign messages without ever revealing their shares of combining the private key.

Threshold Cryptography

A cryptosystem that protects information by encrypting it and distributing the encryption key among a cluster of fault-tolerant computers. With a threshold cryptosystem, in order to decrypt an encrypted message or to sign a message, several parties (more than some threshold number) must cooperate in the decryption or signature protocol.

General

DAO

Decentralized Autonomous Organization. A company or other organization that operates without hierarchical management. It is a form of legal structure that has no central governing body and whose members share a common goal to act in the best interest of the entity. DAOs are enabled by Smart Contract technology.

DID

Stands for "Decentralized Identifier". A form of verifiable identity management that allows users to own their data without relying on 3rd parties.

SIWE

Sign-In with Ethereum describes how Ethereum accounts authenticate with off-chain services by signing a standard message format parameterized by scope, session details, and security mechanisms. The goals of this specification are to provide a self-custodied alternative to centralized identity providers, improve interoperability across off-chain services for Ethereum-based authentication, and provide wallet vendors a consistent machine-readable message format to achieve improved user experiences and consent management.

Sybil Attack

A Sybil attack is a type of malicious assault that targets peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. It involves a single entity generating and operating multiple identities at the same time.

Sybil Resistance

Ability of a network to defend against a Sybil attack. At Orbis, Sybil resistance is used to fight against spam and false identities.

Trustless

Trustless means that it does not require a third party to verify or manage.

Verifiable Credentials

Web3

The third version of the web. First proposed by Dr. Gavin Wood, Web3 represents a new vision and focus for web applications: from centrally owned and managed applications to applications built on decentralized protocols.

FAQ Cerscan