How it Works
Tribe Protocol uses a hybrid architecture that balances on-chain security with off-chain performance.
The Trust Model
Content on Tribe is stored off-chain on Hubs to ensure speed and low cost. However, every piece of content is cryptographically signed and verifiable against the user's on-chain identity.
On-Chain Registration
User registers a TID and an App Key (ed25519) on Solana.
Off-Chain Signing
User signs a message (e.g., a tweet) with their App Key secret.
Hub Verification
The Hub verifies the signature and checks that the App Key is valid on Solana.
Gossip Synchronization
Hubs sync messages with each other via a custom gossip protocol. This ensures that even if one hub goes down, the content remains available across the network.
Hubs broadcast hashes of new messages they've received.
Peers request missing messages by their hashes.
Full messages are exchanged to reach eventual consistency.
The Settlement Loop
Ephemeral Rollup operations follow a strict 10-second settlement cycle to ensure on-chain finality.
Operation Received
ER Server receives a signed follow/unfollow and updates optimistic state.
Batching
Server batches multiple operations into a single Solana transaction.
L1 Settlement
Transaction is signed by the sequencer and sent to Solana L1.