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Glossary

Jan 30, 20264 min read

Glossary

Quick reference for terms used throughout the Pubky ecosystem.

A

Aggregator A service that collects and organizes data from multiple Homeservers to enable search, feeds, and discovery features. See Aggregator.

Authentication The process of proving ownership of a public key through cryptographic signatures, enabling secure access to homeservers without passwords. See details.

C

Capability Token A cryptographically signed token that grants third-party applications limited access to a user’s data on their homeserver, similar to OAuth access tokens.

Censorship Resistance The property of being difficult or impossible to block, censor, or control by any single authority. Pubky achieves this through decentralized Mainline DHT and distributed Homeservers.

Credible Exit The ability to leave a service provider (homeserver, app, etc.) without losing your data, identity, or social connections. A core principle of Pubky’s architecture.

D

Distributed Hash Table (DHT) A decentralized key-value storage system distributed across many nodes. Pubky uses Mainline DHT for storing PKARR records.

Domain Name System (DNS) Traditional system for translating domain names to IP addresses. PKDNS extends this to support public key domains.

DNS over HTTPS (DoH) Protocol for encrypting DNS queries using HTTPS, preventing surveillance and tampering.

H

Homeserver A web server that stores user data in a key-value format. Users can run their own or choose any provider. Data is stored per public key and accessed via HTTP/HTTPS.

Homegate A signup verification service for homeservers, providing SMS and Lightning Network payment verification to prevent spam while preserving privacy.

I

Indexer See Aggregator. A service that crawls and indexes data from homeservers to provide search and discovery features.

J

Jeb AI-powered bot for the Pubky social network, providing post summaries and fact-checking capabilities using LLMs and web search.

K

Key Pair A pair of cryptographic keys (public and private) used for identity, authentication, and encryption. In Pubky, your public key IS your identity.

M

Mainline DHT The Distributed Hash Table used by BitTorrent, with 10+ million nodes globally. Pubky uses it to store PKARR records, providing censorship-resistant discovery.

N

Nexus (Pubky Nexus) Production-grade indexing and aggregation service for Pubky App. Provides high-performance social graph API, search, and real-time notifications.

Noise (Pubky Noise) Noise Protocol implementation for encrypted peer-to-peer communication in the Pubky ecosystem (work in progress).

P

Paykit Payment protocol built on Pubky for payment discovery and coordination across Bitcoin, Lightning, and other methods (work in progress).

PKARR (Public Key Addressable Resource Records) Self-issued, signed DNS-like records published to the Mainline DHT. Each record is tied to a public key and contains information like homeserver locations.

PKDNS DNS server that resolves public key domains by fetching PKARR records from the Mainline DHT, bridging traditional DNS with decentralized identity.

Public Key The public half of a cryptographic key pair. In Pubky, this serves as your permanent, self-sovereign identity (often called a “pubky”).

Pubky

  1. The decentralized web protocol and ecosystem
  2. A user’s public key identity (e.g., “my pubky is z4e8s…“)

Pubky App Social media application demonstrating Pubky Core capabilities. Currently live at pubky.app as MVP, with next-gen “Franky” client in development.

Pubky CLI Command-line tool for interacting with Pubky homeservers, providing user operations, admin functions, and testing utilities.

Pubky Core The foundational protocol, homeserver implementation, and SDK for building decentralized applications on Pubky.

Pubky Docker Docker Compose orchestration for running the complete Pubky Social stack locally with one command.

Pubky Explorer Web-based file browser for exploring public data on Pubky homeservers. Available at explorer.pubky.app.

Pubky Ring Mobile key manager app (iOS/Android) for securely managing pubkys, authorizing applications, and handling sessions.

pubky-app-specs Formal data model specifications for Pubky App, defining structures for users, posts, tags, and other social features. Ensures interoperability between different client implementations.

R

Recovery File Encrypted backup of a user’s private key and identity information, protected by a passphrase. Used for key recovery and migration between devices.

S

SDK (Software Development Kit) Client libraries for building Pubky applications, available in Rust, JavaScript/WASM, and native mobile (iOS/Android).

Self-Sovereign Identity Identity that is fully controlled by the individual, not dependent on any centralized authority or service provider. Pubky implements this via cryptographic key pairs.

Semantic Social Graph A social network where relationships are tagged with meaningful metadata, enabling personalized content filtering, trust-based discovery, and user-controlled feeds.

Session A time-limited authentication state that allows a client to access a homeserver without repeatedly signing requests with the private key.

T

Tag User-defined label attached to posts, files, or other users to add semantic meaning and enable filtering/discovery in the Semantic Social Graph.

W

Web of Trust Traditional model where trust propagates through social connections. Pubky extends this with the Semantic Social Graph, adding semantic context to trust relationships.

Graph View