4 ms·

Show HN: Anytype – self-hosted open-source operating environment

35 points by sharipova 7y ago

sharipova 7y ago
Introducing anytype - an open-source distributed operating system that brings true data ownership to its users. What is true data ownership? Many people think that data ownership means being able to access your data and decide who can access it and who can’t. It’s important in its own right because it protects us from potential adverse scenarios (surveillance state, digital dictatorship). But it’s a narrow view. True data ownership is being able to use your data in a context when it’s useful, so often not only inside one app but across many. Moreover, true data ownership means being able to control not only the data, but also a graphical interface for it. How Anytype brings true data ownership? 1. Anytype works without a central server, so only users have access to their encryption keys and data. All apps run locally and exchange data directly in a peer-to-peer way without exposing it to intermediaries even when users work across devices and with others. 2. It’s a local-first software, so it works offline with full functionality. 3. Users can modify all interfaces and create new ones without code. Even if they have unique workflows or ideas of how they want to use their data - they will be able to do it. 4. The data is free - it can be used across all apps inside or outside Anytype. Also, users can use anytype software even if for some reason anytype the company is no longer around. So they can be sure that their data will never be trapped. 5. We will open source Anytype with the public release. Developers can add integrations, additional views for data, Machine Learning modules. It will also ensure that everything we tell about Anytype can be publicly verifiable, so users can trust our code, not our words. Please, let me know what you think if anything resonates with you or on the contrary, or maybe you have questions. Our team is here to discuss and answer questions
- java-man 7y ago
  Could not find on the web page details about 1. the security model and implementation details 2. team / entity behind this 3. could it support 1,000,000 files 4. could it support 10,000 todo items on a single page 5. could it store 1TB (or more) of data 6. how do you plan to make money
  - sharipova 7y ago
    1. We are based on the IPFS and Textile library, using ed25519 for signatures and aes256 for files encryption. We are planning to release tech whitepaper closer to the public launch
    - jude- 7y ago
      What happens when the files get unpinned? Who pins the files when my laptop is offline? Who pays for this? What keeps my files online in the event of high node churn? What happens if malicious nodes join the IPFS swarm and censor key/value lookups?
      - requilence 7y ago
        > What happens when the files get unpinned? Peers who are interested in the content pin it. - E.g. your teammates share the same files - Your family have a shared photo album - Your devices(mobile+desktop) share your private files - Anytype provides nodes that store a small amount of encrypted data for free. Later we will provide an option to buy more backup space on our nodes to pin your encrypted data - You also will be able to set up your self-hosted anytype node to pin your data > Who pins the files when my laptop is offline? Who pays for this? Currently, Anytype provides a small cache on our public nodes to store the last encrypted versions to mitigate offline/online problems. You also will be able to set up your self-hosted anytype node. > What keeps my files online in the event of high node churn? - Peers who are interested in the content actually store it - Anytype nodes > What happens if malicious nodes join the IPFS swarm and censor key/value lookups - First, you will do the local-network lookup. E.g. if you are working with your team in the same network you will be able to discover local-network nodes via broadcast msgs - Anytype provide nodes that index the encrypted content. That nodes expose additional API that can be used to speed up P2P content discovery in that cases while being fully secure (because it is content-addressable)
        jude- 7y ago
        Okay, so whoever wrote the text for your website is a liar. ----- From your website: > It’s free. No storage or upload limits You said: > You also will be able to set up your self-hosted anytype node to pin your data > Your family have a shared photo album > Your devices(mobile+desktop) share your private files > Later we will provide an option to buy more backup space on our nodes to pin your encrypted data So, it's not free. I'm paying for storage one way or another -- either by keeping it all on my always-on devices, or by paying you to pin it. ----- From your website: > Anytype works without a central server, so only you have access to your encryption keys and data. All apps run locally and exchange data directly in a peer-to-peer way without exposing it to intermediaries even when you work across devices and with others. You said: > Anytype provide nodes that index the encrypted content So, when I'm not on the same LAN as the computer, Anytype is not only _not_ peer-to-peer by default, but also Anytype gets to see when people write data and learn how much data they wrote.
- theamk 7y ago
  1. If my computer goes to sleep, does my personal webpage go offline? 2. If my computer breaks, is all my data lost? 3. If my computer ever gets malware (which steals my key), does this mean attacker can forever access all of my private data? Will they still have that access even after I detect and remove that malware?
  - requilence 7y ago
    1. In case of public pages, as far as any of the nodes has your page saved it will be available. 2. In case the data is shared with someone(e.g. teammate or family) you always be able to restore it with the seed phrase. In case of private-only data, our plan is to encourage users to have multiple devices(mobile+desktop) to have a data backup 3. We plan to implemet per-device private key(like the keybase does) and use it to decrypt files' private keys. In case the device's private key was stolen you can remove this device from the list and it will not be able to receive new changes
carsonfarmer 7y ago
Super excited to see this out the in the wild! Been following this project for a while now - huge fan of the vision, huge fan of the UX. Congrats!
- sharipova 7y ago
  Thanks, Carson!
momack2 7y ago
Been an early tester and really enjoy the slick UI and ease of use. Best part was the ease of mind when editing offline - didn't have to worry about my notes getting lost or corrupted (I'm scarred from so many bad experiences with Google Keep)!
- sharipova 7y ago
  Thanks for the support!
sdan 7y ago
UI looks like a 1 to 1 replica of Notion. Coincidence?
- sharipova 7y ago
  It's not a 1 to 1 replica. We use Graphic font :)
- sharipova 7y ago
  On a serious note. No, it’s not a coincidence - Notion has proven a new approach to the interface - when one tool can replace many + when an interface to build web pages is as easy as writing a note. However, Notion is a part of the web 2 ecosystem, so it’s another data silo. We are bringing this interface approach to the distributed web
Meph504 7y ago
It appears the only way to navigate this site in firefox is with the keyboard, or pressing down on the middle mouse button, anyone else having this issue?
- requilence 7y ago
  Thanks for reporting, fixed!
j88439h84 7y ago
How does it compare to privatestorage.io?
- requilence 7y ago
  according to their website, they positioned as a dropbox-like cloud-service but with the on-device encryption. - so it may be more private than dropbox, because cloud provider shouldn't be able to read your files on their servers - you still need to pay this cloud service provider to store your data Anytype is much more than file synchronisation tool. - it gives users an ability to create their own apps without coding using simple building blocks - allows to share those apps with your family, friends or teammates and collaborate together - fully free when using your own disk space or self-hosted server - It is P2P. This means that you can sync data in the same network much faster, even if you don't have an internet connection
garganzol 7y ago
You call it an operating system. Does it have its own model of apps? What about executable file format? OS APIs? From what I can see this is more a personalized portal but I may be mistaken.
- requilence 7y ago
  Think it like Chrome browser transformed into Chrome OS. Currently we are at the 1st step :) But the whole idea is that most of the users can create their own apps without code (airtable way) using existing building blocks(no need for APIs). And a small amount of users who code can create new building blocks
akselalderson 7y ago
The UX is super slick and incredibly beautiful, I definitively prefer Anytype over Notion for certain tasks. 1. The first app seems to be notion on IPFS but many features are missing (search, tables etc.). What comes next? 2. What will be the next applications built on Anytype and who will build it - the team +/ external devs? 3. Will the service always be free? If Anytype neither steals my data nor spies on me while not charging a subscription fee, where is the catch? Seems a bit suspicious. I'd definitively pay for it. 4. Where do developers find more info on how to build on top of Anytype? I love to see companies building on top of IPFS and Textile that are run by product wizzards. This is what will make web3 come to life. Thank you for building this.

35 points by sharipova 7y ago

Introducing anytype - an open-source distributed operating system that brings true data ownership to its users. What is true data ownership? Many people think that data ownership means being able to access your data and decide who can access it and who can’t. It’s important in its own right because it protects us from potential adverse scenarios (surveillance state, digital dictatorship). But it’s a narrow view. True data ownership is being able to use your data in a context when it’s useful, so often not only inside one app but across many. Moreover, true data ownership means being able to control not only the data, but also a graphical interface for it. How Anytype brings true data ownership? 1. Anytype works without a central server, so only users have access to their encryption keys and data. All apps run locally and exchange data directly in a peer-to-peer way without exposing it to intermediaries even when users work across devices and with others. 2. It’s a local-first software, so it works offline with full functionality. 3. Users can modify all interfaces and create new ones without code. Even if they have unique workflows or ideas of how they want to use their data - they will be able to do it. 4. The data is free - it can be used across all apps inside or outside Anytype. Also, users can use anytype software even if for some reason anytype the company is no longer around. So they can be sure that their data will never be trapped. 5. We will open source Anytype with the public release. Developers can add integrations, additional views for data, Machine Learning modules. It will also ensure that everything we tell about Anytype can be publicly verifiable, so users can trust our code, not our words. Please, let me know what you think if anything resonates with you or on the contrary, or maybe you have questions. Our team is here to discuss and answer questions

java-man 7y ago
Could not find on the web page details about 1. the security model and implementation details 2. team / entity behind this 3. could it support 1,000,000 files 4. could it support 10,000 todo items on a single page 5. could it store 1TB (or more) of data 6. how do you plan to make money
- sharipova 7y ago
  1. We are based on the IPFS and Textile library, using ed25519 for signatures and aes256 for files encryption. We are planning to release tech whitepaper closer to the public launch
  - jude- 7y ago
    What happens when the files get unpinned? Who pins the files when my laptop is offline? Who pays for this? What keeps my files online in the event of high node churn? What happens if malicious nodes join the IPFS swarm and censor key/value lookups?
    - requilence 7y ago
      > What happens when the files get unpinned? Peers who are interested in the content pin it. - E.g. your teammates share the same files - Your family have a shared photo album - Your devices(mobile+desktop) share your private files - Anytype provides nodes that store a small amount of encrypted data for free. Later we will provide an option to buy more backup space on our nodes to pin your encrypted data - You also will be able to set up your self-hosted anytype node to pin your data > Who pins the files when my laptop is offline? Who pays for this? Currently, Anytype provides a small cache on our public nodes to store the last encrypted versions to mitigate offline/online problems. You also will be able to set up your self-hosted anytype node. > What keeps my files online in the event of high node churn? - Peers who are interested in the content actually store it - Anytype nodes > What happens if malicious nodes join the IPFS swarm and censor key/value lookups - First, you will do the local-network lookup. E.g. if you are working with your team in the same network you will be able to discover local-network nodes via broadcast msgs - Anytype provide nodes that index the encrypted content. That nodes expose additional API that can be used to speed up P2P content discovery in that cases while being fully secure (because it is content-addressable)
      - jude- 7y ago
        Okay, so whoever wrote the text for your website is a liar. ----- From your website: > It’s free. No storage or upload limits You said: > You also will be able to set up your self-hosted anytype node to pin your data > Your family have a shared photo album > Your devices(mobile+desktop) share your private files > Later we will provide an option to buy more backup space on our nodes to pin your encrypted data So, it's not free. I'm paying for storage one way or another -- either by keeping it all on my always-on devices, or by paying you to pin it. ----- From your website: > Anytype works without a central server, so only you have access to your encryption keys and data. All apps run locally and exchange data directly in a peer-to-peer way without exposing it to intermediaries even when you work across devices and with others. You said: > Anytype provide nodes that index the encrypted content So, when I'm not on the same LAN as the computer, Anytype is not only _not_ peer-to-peer by default, but also Anytype gets to see when people write data and learn how much data they wrote.
theamk 7y ago
1. If my computer goes to sleep, does my personal webpage go offline? 2. If my computer breaks, is all my data lost? 3. If my computer ever gets malware (which steals my key), does this mean attacker can forever access all of my private data? Will they still have that access even after I detect and remove that malware?
- requilence 7y ago
  1. In case of public pages, as far as any of the nodes has your page saved it will be available. 2. In case the data is shared with someone(e.g. teammate or family) you always be able to restore it with the seed phrase. In case of private-only data, our plan is to encourage users to have multiple devices(mobile+desktop) to have a data backup 3. We plan to implemet per-device private key(like the keybase does) and use it to decrypt files' private keys. In case the device's private key was stolen you can remove this device from the list and it will not be able to receive new changes

carsonfarmer 7y ago

Super excited to see this out the in the wild! Been following this project for a while now - huge fan of the vision, huge fan of the UX. Congrats!

sharipova 7y ago
Thanks, Carson!

momack2 7y ago

Been an early tester and really enjoy the slick UI and ease of use. Best part was the ease of mind when editing offline - didn't have to worry about my notes getting lost or corrupted (I'm scarred from so many bad experiences with Google Keep)!

sharipova 7y ago
Thanks for the support!

sdan 7y ago

UI looks like a 1 to 1 replica of Notion. Coincidence?

sharipova 7y ago
It's not a 1 to 1 replica. We use Graphic font :)
sharipova 7y ago
On a serious note. No, it’s not a coincidence - Notion has proven a new approach to the interface - when one tool can replace many + when an interface to build web pages is as easy as writing a note. However, Notion is a part of the web 2 ecosystem, so it’s another data silo. We are bringing this interface approach to the distributed web

Meph504 7y ago

It appears the only way to navigate this site in firefox is with the keyboard, or pressing down on the middle mouse button, anyone else having this issue?

requilence 7y ago
Thanks for reporting, fixed!

j88439h84 7y ago

How does it compare to privatestorage.io?

requilence 7y ago
according to their website, they positioned as a dropbox-like cloud-service but with the on-device encryption. - so it may be more private than dropbox, because cloud provider shouldn't be able to read your files on their servers - you still need to pay this cloud service provider to store your data Anytype is much more than file synchronisation tool. - it gives users an ability to create their own apps without coding using simple building blocks - allows to share those apps with your family, friends or teammates and collaborate together - fully free when using your own disk space or self-hosted server - It is P2P. This means that you can sync data in the same network much faster, even if you don't have an internet connection

garganzol 7y ago

You call it an operating system. Does it have its own model of apps? What about executable file format? OS APIs? From what I can see this is more a personalized portal but I may be mistaken.

requilence 7y ago
Think it like Chrome browser transformed into Chrome OS. Currently we are at the 1st step :) But the whole idea is that most of the users can create their own apps without code (airtable way) using existing building blocks(no need for APIs). And a small amount of users who code can create new building blocks

akselalderson 7y ago

The UX is super slick and incredibly beautiful, I definitively prefer Anytype over Notion for certain tasks. 1. The first app seems to be notion on IPFS but many features are missing (search, tables etc.). What comes next? 2. What will be the next applications built on Anytype and who will build it - the team +/ external devs? 3. Will the service always be free? If Anytype neither steals my data nor spies on me while not charging a subscription fee, where is the catch? Seems a bit suspicious. I'd definitively pay for it. 4. Where do developers find more info on how to build on top of Anytype? I love to see companies building on top of IPFS and Textile that are run by product wizzards. This is what will make web3 come to life. Thank you for building this.