The hyper-local
social network.
Connect with your neighborhood. Discover local events, join tribes, and build trust where you live — on a protocol you own.
What is Tribe, exactly?
Tribe is a decentralized social protocol on Solana — like email, but for social. Anyone can run a node, build a client, or read the source. No company controls who can post or who can see what.
You own your identity
Your account is a Solana keypair — no email, no password, no company that can deactivate you. Your TID and all your content go wherever you go.
No single server
Content lives across a mesh of independent hubs that gossip with each other. If one goes down, the others still have the data. Run your own hub on a $5 VPS or a Raspberry Pi.
Fork the client
tribeapp.wtf is just one frontend. The protocol is open. Build a different UI, a mobile app, a CLI, a bot — they all speak the same signed-message format and talk to the same hubs.
Key concepts.
Six ideas that explain how the whole thing works. Read these once and everything else will click.
TID (Tribe ID)
A unique 64-bit number minted on Solana. Each TID has a custody wallet (signs daily actions) and a recovery wallet (reclaims the TID if the custody key is lost). No email, no password — just keys you own.
App Keys
Scoped ed25519 signing keys delegated by your TID. Your main wallet stays safe; the app signs messages with a device-specific key. Keys can be revoked, rotated, or scoped to just tweets, social, or read-only.
Signed Messages
Every action — tweet, reaction, follow, DM, poll vote, RSVP — is a protobuf envelope signed with your app key and hashed with BLAKE3. The hub validates the signature against on-chain app key records before accepting anything.
Hub
A Fastify + Postgres node anyone can run. It stores signed messages, indexes Solana events (follows, TID registrations), and gossips with peer hubs. No central server owns the data.
Ephemeral Rollup
A sequencer that accepts follow/unfollow intents signed by your custody wallet, confirms them instantly (~50 ms), then batches them to Solana L1 every 10 seconds. You see 'Following' immediately; the chain catches up.
End-to-end DMs
Each user publishes an x25519 pubkey on the hub. DMs are sealed with nacl.box (XSalsa20-Poly1305). The hub stores ciphertext — it never sees plaintext. Group DMs encrypt per recipient.
How a tweet travels.
From keypress to every connected peer — four steps, zero central servers.
User signs a message
The app builds a MessageData payload (type, TID, timestamp, body). The ed25519 app key signs the BLAKE3 hash. This produces a TribeMessage envelope.
Hub validates and stores
The hub fetches the TID's app key record from Solana, verifies the ed25519 signature, checks the BLAKE3 hash, and writes the envelope to Postgres.
Hub gossips to peers
Every 5 seconds each hub broadcasts 'have' frames (hashes of recent messages). Peer hubs reply with 'want' for any they're missing. Full envelopes flow back.
Clients get real-time updates
Apps subscribe to the hub WebSocket (/v1/ws). New validated messages are pushed immediately — no polling, no central broker.
Architecture.
Five independent layers. Each is a separate open-source repo with its own README. Swap any layer — the contracts between them are signed envelopes and public HTTP routes.
Applications
tribe-app · tribeapp.wtf · tribe-iosNext.js web clients and a native SwiftUI iOS app. All build signed envelopes locally — the hub never receives plaintext intent.
TypeScript SDK
tribe-sdkSingle entry-point client covering identity, social graph, tweets, DMs, channels, bookmarks, polls, events, tasks, crowdfunds, tips, search, karma, and notifications. Published as @tribe-protocol/sdk.
Decentralized Hub
tribe-hubFastify + Postgres node that stores validated signed envelopes, indexes Solana events via WebSocket subscription + startup backfill, and syncs with peers over a pull-based gossip protocol.
Ephemeral Rollup Sequencer
tribe-er-serverAccepts follow/unfollow intents signed by custody wallets, confirms instantly (optimistic), batches follow_delegated / unfollow_delegated instructions, and settles to L1 every 10 seconds.
Solana Programs (12)
tribe-protocolAnchor programs for identity (TID, app keys, usernames), social graph with ER delegation, hub discovery, tips, crowdfunds, tasks, channel ownership, karma, polls, and events.
The on-chain layer.
Every program is independently deployed. Identity, social graph, hub discovery, and community primitives — each in its own Anchor workspace program.
tid-registryMints TIDs, tracks custody + recovery addresses
app-key-registryRegisters, revokes, and rotates app signing keys
username-registryHuman-readable .tribe usernames bound to TIDs
social-graphPDA-per-relationship follow graph + ER delegation
hub-registryOn-chain hub discovery — URL, gossip key, heartbeat
tip-registryOn-chain tip receipts with SOL transfer in one ix
crowdfund-registryCampaign escrow — pledge, claim, or refund
task-registryLocal tasks with optional reward escrow
channel-registryFirst-registration ownership of channel slugs
karma-registryTrustless karma from on-chain tip + task proofs
poll-registryOne-vote-per-TID polls with 8-slot tally
event-registryEvents with one-RSVP-per-TID and lat/lng
Get going in four steps.
Pick Your City
Choose from cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, San Francisco, London, and more. Each city has its own thriving community.
Create Your Profile
Set up your profile to unlock tipping, crowdfunding, and community reputation features.
Join Your Tribes
Find communities that match your interests — cycling, food, tech, art, music, gaming, and 10+ more categories.
Start Contributing
Post tweets, create events, run polls, help with tasks, fund causes, and earn karma to build your reputation.
Everything you need for
your neighborhood.
From sharing moments to funding projects, Tribe gives you the tools to connect and grow your town.
Social Feed
Share photo tweets, like and comment on posts, bookmark your favorites, and build a following in your neighborhood.
Tipping
Tip creators directly. Choose from preset amounts and see your tip history.
Local Events
Discover meetups, cleanups, workshops, and festivals happening nearby. Create events and track RSVPs.
Community Polls
Ask your community anything. Create multi-option polls and watch the votes come in real-time.
Local Tasks
Need help moving? Looking for a dog walker? Post tasks with optional rewards for community helpers.
Crowdfunding
Rally your neighborhood behind a cause. Fund community gardens, local art projects, or neighborhood repairs.
Real value for
real people.
Tip creators, fund projects, and earn reputation. Every interaction is real and meaningful.
Community Impact
2,450+
Active contributors
Recent Activity
Earn karma. Build trust.
Every contribution builds your neighborhood reputation — tips received and tasks completed settle on-chain as trustless proofs.
Newcomer
Neighbor
Local
Trusted
Pillar
Legend
21 cities on the network.
Each city has its own channel on the protocol — scoped by latitude and longitude, owned on-chain via the channel registry.
tribeapp.wtf is one client.
The protocol is the point.
Tribe is an open social protocol on Solana. Identity lives in wallet-recoverable Tribe IDs, content rides as signed envelopes, direct messages are end-to-end encrypted, and anyone can run a hub. tribeapp.wtf is a hyperlocal frontend on top — fork it, build a different one, or skip the UI entirely and talk to the SDK.
TIDs and app keys
Wallet-recoverable Tribe IDs registered on Solana, with rotatable per-device app signing keys.
Tweets, channels, polls
Signed message envelopes for posts, channels, polls, events, tasks, crowdfunds, and tips.
End-to-end DMs
x25519 + xsalsa20-poly1305 ciphertext on the wire. Hub never sees plaintext. Group DMs via per-recipient fanout.
Hub gossip
Pull-based replication between independent hubs. Run your own; messages catch up on connect.
On-chain reputation
Karma rolls up tips received and completed tasks per TID — proofs are trustless and public.
Open SDK
TypeScript client covering identity, social, DMs, channels, polls, events, tasks, crowdfunds, tips.
What can you build?
Tribe provides the primitives for identity, social, and value. You provide the experience. Here are a few things you could build right now.
Hyperlocal Marketplaces
Build peer-to-peer commerce, local service directories, or neighborhood rental networks using the protocol's tasks and payments primitives.
Community Media
Create specialized news feeds, local journalism platforms, or interest-based forums with built-in tipping and karma.
Niche Social Networks
Launch dedicated platforms for gamers, hobbyists, or professionals utilizing verifiable identity and the open social graph.
Governance & DAOs
Develop neighborhood treasuries, local governance interfaces, or community voting systems using signed polls and Solana.
Crowdfunding Portals
Build mutual aid networks, local project funding, or transparent charity platforms leveraging the native value transfer.
Developer Tools
Create analytics dashboards, alternative clients, indexers, or automation bots that plug directly into the open protocol.
Start building in minutes.
One TypeScript client for everything — identity, social, DMs, channels, polls, events, tasks, crowdfunds, tips.
import { TribeClient } from '@tribe-protocol/sdk';
const client = TribeClient.forDevnet(wallet);
// Register a TID on Solana
await client.identity.tid.register();
// Add a per-device signing key
await client.identity.appKeys.addKey(tid, appPubkey, scope);
// Publish a tweet
await client.tweets.publish(tid, "gm from the mesh", signingKey);
// Send an encrypted DM (nacl.box — hub never sees plaintext)
await client.dms.send(myTid, recipientTid, "hey");
// Follow someone (instant via ER, settles to L1 in 10s)
await client.social.follow(myTid, targetTid);
// Create a local event
await client.events.create(tid, { title: "Rooftop meetup", startsAt });Every piece on GitHub.
The protocol, the SDK, the hub, the rollup, the frontends, and the iOS app all live in public repos. Read the source, run a hub, fork the app, contribute a feature.
tribeecoMono-repo with all submodules and the tribe CLI.
tribe-protocol12 Solana programs (Anchor): TID, app keys, usernames, social graph, and more.
tribe-sdkTypeScript SDK for the whole protocol — @tribe-protocol/sdk.
tribe-hubDecentralized hub: Fastify + Postgres + Solana indexer + gossip.
tribe-er-serverEphemeral Rollup sequencer for instant follows.
tribe-iosNative SwiftUI iOS client with NaCl-box DMs and BLAKE3 signing.
tribeapp.wtfThis frontend — Next.js + Solana wallet adapter.