Web5 is --% done!

Web5 is the banner for a set of new technologies that upgrade the Web with decentralized identity, P2P trust mechanisms, and a decentralized app layer. The term Web5 is a throwback that pays homage to HTML5, which was used to represent the last major effort to evolve the Web some 15 years ago.

The components below make up the technical foundation of Web5, which are being developed in various open source communities and standards organizations.

Click on a component to learn more:

Decentralized Web Apps

Decentralized Web Apps (DWAs) are what Web5 was designed to enable. To make building any type of DWA as easy as possible, the APIs and capabilities of Web5 need to be made accessible to developers through a cohesive runtime that is seamless to use for any dev familiar with today's Web platform.

  • Runtime design
  • App Manifest additions
  • Quick start template

Web5'd Wallets & Browsers

In order to create and use Web5-enabled sites, apps, and services, individuals, developers, and organizations need browsers and wallet apps that enhance the Web environment with the necessary developer APIs and user interfaces.

Decentralized Web Nodes

Ownership and control over one's data is a critical component of Web5. Individuals need decentralized datastores that support Decentralized Web Apps (DWAs). DWeb Nodes are decentralized datastores that enable individuals to grant apps, services, and other individuals the ability to read, write, and exchange data that can be encrypted and privately held, or published for public consumption.

Verifiable Credentials

The decentralized Web needs a common mechanism for generating and verifying assertions made about individuals, businesses, and other entities. Verifiable Credentials is an international standard for creating independently verifiable sets of claims from one or more individuals or entities about others.

Decentralized Identifiers

Individuals should own and control the root of their digital lives: the identifiers (i.e. @-handles, usernames) they use to interact with people, businesses, and apps. Decentralized Identifiers are an international standard for creating identifiers that individuals own and control, not corporations, governments, or other centralized entities.