Streaming based append-only log that aims to be the lego-block of distributed applications.

Hypercore Protocol is a peer-to-peer data network built on the Hypercore logs. Hypercores are signed, append-only logs. They’re like lightweight blockchains without the consensus algorithm

Connects peers using the Hyperswarm DHT which is based off of Kademlia

Thoughts

  • Great developer experience, super simple to understand and use
  • Comprehensive library of data structures
  • Not amazing availability, no incentive system for people to run nodes (though Dat is working on this using a blockchain-based reward system)
  • Not exactly great local first support. Continues working locally without an internet connection but new users cannot connect or get an up-to-date version of your data. If the user wants to send data to someone else, both devices need to be online simultaneously
  • Hypercore also does not guarantee long-term write-once storage
  • Multi-writer support is still being worked on
    • Hypercore is inherently single-writer due to it’s append only log structure, and while they have some work on multiwriter it’s very tied to the data model