From 54b60d1abd2ae680757d8970ab77e5313923d101 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lann Martin Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:40:55 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Usable without the powerbox: headless execution is an enhancement, never a prerequisite MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit The headless-at-provider question narrows rather than closes: at least many apps must be usefully usable with no headless copy anywhere — either because they implicitly don't depend on always-on sync, or because asynchronous sharing through a storage backend covers their collaboration (the bucket path the storage layer builds and the #20 demo proves: ciphertext put/pull, offline authoring reconciled later, cold-start from the bucket alone). A design where basic collaboration silently assumes an always-on peer is out; the only part of the question left open is whether the powerbox version itself ships in v1. --- NOTES.md | 22 +++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/NOTES.md b/NOTES.md index 332058a3..f4d2e0bf 100644 --- a/NOTES.md +++ b/NOTES.md @@ -1113,6 +1113,23 @@ feature — a reason to surface compute placement as a powerbox decision Y"), defaulting to user-owned always-on nodes (old laptop, phone runtime), which component-iroh's deployment matrix was built for. +**Usable without the powerbox.** Recorded 2026-08-26 from design +discussion; a goal, not a v1 ruling. At least many apps must be +**usefully usable with no headless copy anywhere** — either because +they implicitly don't depend on always-on sync (local-first by +temperament, single user, one device at a time), or because +**asynchronous sharing through a storage backend** covers their +collaboration: the bucket path — ciphertext put/pull, offline +authoring reconciled later, cold-start from the bucket alone — is +exactly the machinery +[Storage backends](#storage-backends-and-the-cryptographic-pull-layer) +builds and the #20 demo proves. The powerbox decision above is an +enhancement for apps that genuinely need liveness, never a +prerequisite for ordinary use; a design where basic collaboration +silently assumes an always-on peer is out. What stays open is only +the smaller question: whether the powerbox version itself ships in +v1 at all. + Push, keeping the origin static: **the subscription is a capability.** Web Push senders need only the subscription endpoint + VAPID key — hand them (encrypted) to your contact group over the sync layer and @@ -2519,7 +2536,10 @@ Tracked as issues; the headline ones, verbatim from the discussion: - Target app developer — answered: component-native, with a real porting on-ramp and no drop-in promises; see [Developer experience](#developer-experience). -- Is headless-at-provider execution in scope for v1? +- Is headless-at-provider execution in scope for v1? — narrowed: at + least many apps must be usefully usable with no headless copy at all + (see [Compute placement and push](#compute-placement-and-push)); + only whether the powerbox version itself ships in v1 stays open. - Does Safari have to work at launch — answered: no; see the Browser floor note in [The substrate](#the-substrate) (a future JSPI + wasm multi-memory Safari, hoped early 2027).