montana / blockstack

Open source and community policies, procedures, and other information.

Community

Table of Contents

• About
• Events
• Code
• How to Help
• Stay Informed

About

Blockstack is a decentralized computing network which currently has 165+ apps built on top [https://blockstack.org].

Blockstack believes that the "traditional internet" has become too dependent on a handful of companies. Blockstack wants to take the internet back to its decentralized roots. The Blockstack network is a product of 4+ years of R&D and infrastructure building. Blockstack gives developers the right tools to build decentralized apps.

The big difference between these and traditional internet apps is that:

1. Apps mostly run client-side (no servers or databases)
2. Users are in control of their data with encrypted private data lockers
3. Users have universal cryptographic logins without any third-party providers.

Blockstack PBC is a public benefit corporation building the core protocols and developer tools for decentralized computing. Developers use our open-source reference implementations and SDKs to build decentralized apps. These include Graphite (decentralized Google docs), Dmail (encrypted email), BitPatron (decentralized Patreon), and others [https://app.co/blockstack]. The Blockstack software stack gives developers decentralized solutions for auth and storage. The Stacks V2 blockchain will further allow developers to develop and launch smart contracts.

The Stacks blockchain is a foundational layer of our architecture. It enables our decentralized qauth and storage to work without centralized operators. Users register their usernames on the Stacks blockchain and link their storage credentials. Technical details of our full decentralized computing stack are at [https://blockstack.org/whitepaper.pdf].

Stacks is the native crypto token of Blockstack. Stacks are used as "fuel" to register digital assets and, once such functionality is launched, execute smart contracts. Compared to other decentralized app platforms, we:

1. Keep on-chain logic to a minimum
2. Scale apps by localizing state changes
3. Enable developers to write general-purpose apps, not just smart contracts

Stacks Version 2

Development of Stacks version 2 (described in our whitepaper: [https://blockstack.org/whitepaper.pdf]) is in progress in the develop branch of blockstack-core.

Stacks version 2 introduces support for Clarity Smart Contracts. Clarity is a smart contracting language that optimizes for predictability and security. Clarity is currently in "a developer preview" mode, with releases of the Clarity VM and typechecker available via builds on the develop branch of blockstack-core.

• Clarity Documentation and Tutorials
• Clarity SDK
• File Issues
• Source Code

Events

Calendar

We maintain a calendar for community events hosted and organized by Blockstack developers and supporters. Any community member is welcome to attend or submit an event.

• Blockstack Calendar

Meetups

Blockstack also has a Meetup group with thousands of members globally. Join in!

• Meetup

Swag

Interested in showing your support for Blockstack? We're happy to send you stickers (ADD IMAGE). Please send a request to [email protected] with your mailing address.

You can also order t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other swag here!

Contributing Guidelines

When contributing to Blockstack repositories [https://github.com/blockstack], follow the relevant repository's contributing guidelines. You can also reference our engineering guide for more advice.

Code

If you're just starting with Blockstack, here are the main software repositories you should checkout:

• Blockstack Core - the reference implementation of the Stacks blockchain. Active development of Stacks V2 is under way in the develop branch.
• Blockstack Browser - the Blockstack Browser provides a graphical interface for interactions with the network.
• blockstack.js - a JavaScript library for using Blockstack identity, authentication, and gaia storage in your apps.

Here is a link to our latest tutorials!

How to Help

• Contribute code - all Blockstack software is free and open source, so send us pull requests if you have any suggestions for ways the software can be improved

• Help with software testing - we really appreciate and value our testers, and encourage people who want to support Blockstack to run the software and file issues in the appropriate repository for any bugs that are found

• Improve the documentation - we can never have enough documentation so if there's anything you'd like to clarify or add, just fork any of the Blockstack repos, start writing and expanding on the docs, and submit a pull request

• Organize community events - we welcome anyone interested in putting together anything as simple as a meetup at a local library or community center to discuss the latest Blockstack developments and applications with like-minded people from your area

• Produce and share content - if you have ideas or insights about Blockstack or decentralized applications in general, write a post and share it in the forum

• Become a local Blockstack Community Evangelist - join other passionate community leaders around the world supporting and spreading Blockstack's mission

• Attend open meetings:

• Engineering: every Wednesday, 10-10:45 am EST

*Past Engineering Meeting Minutes

• Community Update: every other Thursday, 1:30-2:30 pm EST

*Past Evangelist Meeting Minutes

Stay informed and engaged!

• Mailing List
• Blockstack Forum
• Live chat on Slack
• Blockstack Blog
• YouTube Videos
• Twitter