Holochain Announcements

Holochain developer training, coming up in February

🚨 BREAKING: A rare opportunity to learn Holochain app development from a literal wizard 🧙‍♂️ (ok, fine, it's seasoned app developer and instructor Guillem Cordoba, but same thing).

👨‍💻 Feb 3-14, live training
⚡️ Hands-on exercises + hackathon
🤝 Small group (12 devs max)
💰 $2000 – bursaries available

Do you have basic Rust skills and want to build Holochain apps? This is for you.
Sign up before the spots vanish faster than an uncommitted git branch: https://darksoil.studio/hc-dev-training/

📣 Holochain Dev Pulse 20 Dec 2024

🎁 An early gift! Holochain 0.4.0 has been quietly released and is now our recommended version for general use. Holochain 0.3 (currently at 0.3.6) and its infrastructure are still supported and will get maintenance updates as needed, while Holochain 0.2 and its infrastructure are now retired.

🤏🏻 The big news is that 0.4.0 comes with less -- we've disabled unstable features by default, allowing more time for testing. This probably won't affect your app, but just in case, read the upgrade guide https://developer.holochain.org/resources/upgrade/upgrade-holochain-0.4/ . There are other breaking changes you'll want to know about too!

🏗 Along with 0.4.0 you'll see a bunch of small quality-of-life improvements in the scaffolding tool. Setting up your first DNA is streamlined, you can edit your entry type's fields before committing to code (super useful feature), and the templates are simpler. Try it over the holidays! https://developer.holochain.org/get-started/

Thank you for journeying with us in 2024. There have been a lot of changes for our organization and the Holochain project, and we deeply appreciate your support through it all. See you in 2025, where we'll keep sharing regular updates on our progress!

📣 Holochain Dev Pulse 13 Dec 2024 (spooky Friday edition)

This is a small update -- the core team is hard at work refactoring the gossip and publish layer this week and preparing Holochain 0.4 + dev tools + documentation for release.

Work is also continuing on upgrading our testing capacity -- beginning to port our existing tests over to our tentative top pick for a work orchestrator, and talking with Holo about integrating it into HoloPorts.

If you're looking for something rich and inspiring to watch this weekend, check out Holochain executive director Eric Harris-Braun's interview on his vision for The Weave. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh1UVlIKvNg

The Weave is a pattern and standard for group formation and cooperation, with a reference implementation called Moss. Read more at https://theweave.social

📣 Holochain update 5 Dec 2024

1. 🛳 The core team shipped Holochain 0.3.6 which fixes build/run issues on Windows caused by sysinfo, a third-party library. https://github.com/holochain/holochain/releases/tag/holochain-0.3.6 We previously released Holochain 0.3.5 which fixes crashes caused by an incompatibility between Holochain and Windows' certificate store. A new hc-scaffold for all releases fixes some Svelte template errors too.

2. 🏗 Speaking of hc-scaffold, why not try it! It's getting regular updates that improve usability and template maintainability. If you've never built a hApp, maybe it's time? Read the updated getting started guide: https://developer.holochain.org/get-started/

3. 🎥 ICYMI: Ecosystem Session w/ Dr Jörg Wurzer of Volla Systems and Eric Harris-Braun of Holochain. All about why Holochain on a smartphone (tl;dr: privacy) and what their vision for the future is (hint: meshnets on phones?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8pLds-WQOg

4. 🔥 Ecosystem Session double-feature: Art, David, Jarod, Matt on HoloFuel v2 and the new plans for a consortium of DePIN services underpinned by one mutual accounting system (think airline alliances, but for hosting, WiFi, and lost devices) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDaK7BwrE1Y

5. 🛠 Work on streamlining Holochain's gossip layer is moving along quickly. As reported before, this should make it faster, more predictable, easier to debug. As a side benefit, it also decouples it more from Holochain, making it an interesting alternative to IPFS for ppl who don't need the full Holochain experience.

6. 🐙 Catch work on Holochain Core as it happens: devs might want to watch our GitHub project tracker https://github.com/orgs/holochain/projects/11/views/13 (this is a more useful view than the roadmap we posted a couple weeks ago)

7. 🍎 If you're using the old Holonix dev environment, it's time to switch to the new one, which makes it easier to target alt versions and pull in deps. And we're deprecating the old one for Intel Macs due to upstream package issues. https://developer.holochain.org/resources/upgrade/upgrade-new-holonix/

That's all for this week. Thanks for journeying alongside us!

🎥🎥 Two Ecosystem Sessions in one week! Join Art, David, Jarod, and Matt, who are heading the new organization dedicated to bringing HoloFuel to market.

Get answers to all your questions about their plans and how it'll mesh with Holo hosting and other projects. Join the livestream 22:00 UTC on Thu, Dec 5 or watch the replay. https://www.youtube.com/live/eDaK7BwrE1Y

See you there!

📢 Holochain status update 29 Nov 2024

1. 🚢 The core dev team is prepping v0.3.6, a maintenance release that resolves an issue with a third-party library that causes Holochain to sometimes fail to run on Windows and fail to compile on other systems.

2. ↗️ They're also getting v0.4 ready -- it'll contain the usual perf improvements / dev experience / bug fixes, and will also disable some unstable features (can be enabled with feature flags). More info when it's released.

3. 🧅 The core dev team is hard at work on an update to Holochain's gossip engine. Holochain has 3 layers: 1️⃣ low-level transport 2️⃣ gossip/replication 3️⃣ high-level Holochain 'rules of the game'. They're excited to be cleaning up #2️⃣ and making it perform better based on learnings from previous iterations.

4. 🦘 Work on HC Launcher is on hold for now. The DevHub/App Store, part of the awesome UX of the redesigned Launcher, require better sharded DHT performance. Until then, you can bundle and distribute your hApps individually using https://github.com/holochain/kangaroo-electron .

5. ✏️ We're assessing a replacement orchestrator for our in-house TryCP server for managing large-scale Wind Tunnel tests. It's our hope that it'll scale further. (Correction: We called it a test runner in last update; it's actually a scheduler/orchestrator.)

6. 📱 David Aktinson will host a live Ecosystem Session with Volla's Dr Jörg Wurzer and Holochain's Eric Harris-Braun about a vision for a people-respecting cloud powered by smartphones and other personal devices. Catch them at 11:45 UTC on Tue 2 Dec at https://youtube.com/live/O8pLds-WQOg .

That's all for this time! Have a happy #AmericanThanksgiving if that's where you live, and a happy #HoloMonday no matter where you are 🦆😉

We're finally having another Ecosystem Session! This time, it's with folks who have shipped a hApp on a consumer device that's landing in people's hands as we speak.

Our host David Atkinson invites Volla's managing director Dr Jörg Wurtzer and Holochain's Eric Harris-Braun to talk about why a privacy-first phone matters, how Holochain fits in, and what's next.

Join us for a livestream at 12:00 UTC on Tuesday, 3 December at https://www.youtube.com/live/O8pLds-WQOg . See you there!

🌱 Today we're starting something new, an experiment -- regular mini-updates on the Holochain Foundation's priorities and progress. We'd love your feedback on these, so we can make them valuable for you.

1. 🌲 The Foundation's new exec director Eric Harris-Braun has written a post about the changes in our organization(s) and the forces that prompted them. https://blog.holochain.org/the-holochain-foundation-is-coming-of-age/ tl;dr: As projects adopt Holochain, we're focusing on their #1 requirement -- HC stability above all else. Holo is also pivoting its products to meet real-world demand, and HoloFuel is being stewarded by a third organization.

2. 🎓 We've updated our white paper! It focuses on practical decentralized computing. There's another paper, an easier read that explains Holochain's fundamentals through a story about game-loving nomads. https://holochain.org/papers/ Please read, review, and give critical feedback.

3. 🔎 The HC core dev team is auditing, testing, and simplifying code for stability, performance, and maintainability. First two focus areas: state-changing workflows and the network layer that handles gossip.

4. 🧪 Wind Tunnel, an initiative to define a 'performance envelope' for Holochain releases via large-scale testing. We're evaluating high-perf test runners and should settle on one soon. The goal is to understand and be able to communicate exactly what Holochain is capable of, so CTOs and project owners can make informed choices. It'll also help us identify bottlenecks to work on.

5. 📦 Holochain 0.4 is in RC and coming soon. It brings a number of small breaking changes (incl disabling some unstable features), simplifications, bug fixes (thx workflow audits!), performance improvements, and dev experience upgrades. Watch this channel and https://blog.holochain.org/tag/dev-pulse/ for a release announcement.

That's all for this first update, which is on the big side because there's a lot to cover. Future updates will be smaller and tell you what's changed since the last one. And if you're interested in the gritty details, check out our public roadmap and project tracker on Github: https://github.com/orgs/holochain/projects/11/views/16

The Holochain Foundation is tightening its focus on the features projects need today, working to make them robust and performant -- in short, production-ready. Read this post from Eric Harris-Braun [link to social profile] for more of the story: blog.holochain.org/the-holochain-foundation-is-coming-of-age

Summary: Thorough performance testing, more test coverage, disabling unstable/unneeded features. Eric [link to profile again] is stepping in as HC Foundation Exec Director.

These changes are driven by the needs that projects are sharing with us -- both projects actively building on Holochain and projects whose needs aren't met by other tech.

Volla has started firmware flashing, packaging, and sealing of the Quintus — featuring the Holochain based app: Volla Messages. Providing secure, self-determined communication. Check the announcement on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wurzer_vollaphone-aosp-android-activity-7253804692609101824-eZr0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

“This matters to investors, this matters to end users.”

Interviewed by Ashton Barger of Onchain Foundation at Zebu Live

Watch the full talk: https://youtu.be/Vr5drjP8ASM

Crypto can be more than just numbers. It can be data that drives real change. 🌳🍃

Stop by our booth to chat with Mary Camacho, Matthew Schutt, the Holochain team, and Pete Corke from Kwaxala about regenerative economics!

Day 1 at Zebu Live was awesome! 🌿 We talked about Kwaxala’s peer-to-peer databases for carbon credits and how tiny data points like engagement matter. Mary Camacho and Pete Corke spoke on regenerative economics, and Matthew Schutte shared how Holochain enhances DAO governance. Visit our booth tomorrow — and check out some photos from today!

🌳 Our booth, in partnership with Kwaxala, is turning into a mini forest at Zebu Live in London. Tomorrow, swing by to talk RWA & planetary regeneration!

Tomorrow is the start of Zebu Live! 🎉

🔹Partnering with Kwaxala at our booth on verifiable data & regenerative ecosystems.

🔹Don’t miss Mary Camacho and Pete Corke’s panel on Thursday, Oct 10, at 12:20 BST.

🔹Catch Matthew Schutte on “Upgrading DAOs for Greater Web3 Adoption” at 11:35 BST.

🌳 See you there!

Join Matthew Schutte, Co-founder and Director of Business Development at Holochain, on Thursday, Oct 10, at 10:35 BST on the ALPHA STAGE at Woolwich Works as he discusses how new tools in the Holochain ecosystem can empower DAOs. Stop by and say hi!

https://x.com/matthewjosef/status/1843699094939979968

Heading to Zebu Live in London on Oct 10? Don’t miss Mary Camacho and Pete Corke on the Main Stage as they share how regenerative economics can come to life through innovative financial strategies and Web3 tech.

https://x.com/marycamacho/status/1843631181935587758

Can Web3 truly empower local projects, or is it just a pricey coordination tool?

What is the connection between forest health and verifiable data? Catch Pete Corke from Kwaxala and Holochain at Zebu Live on Oct 10–11!

Kwaxala is an Indigenous-led & majority-owned regenerative initiative, learn more: https://blog.holochain.org/how-the-world-is-shifting-to-regenerative-economics/

🌱Two weeks to Zebu Live London! Partnering with Kwaxala to showcase regenerative ecosystems. See you there? 🙌Get 25% off tickets! http://www.eventbrite.com/e/733294061277/?discount=Holochain25

What if our technology and economics serve our ecosystems and society? Listen to Mary Camacho, and Pete Corke, Director of Vision & Leadership at Kwaxala, talk about building economic systems based on living nature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXo5iaQvcfk

Neighbourhoods is ready to experiment with communities looking to harvest cultural norms and bring them to life in a practice of collective governance. https://youtu.be/SVf0fY4ZCDQ?si=fVwGZSoPoQNl3hUy

Ready for a mindset shift? Don’t miss Pete Corke from Kwaxala at Zebu Live in London on Oct 10–11! Come chat about web3, sustainability, and all things green! 🌳 Who's in?

🌱Zebu Live countdown is on! We're busy setting up our booth and can't wait to share more soon. For now, we’re thrilled to team up with Kwaxala to bring web3 to regenerative ecosystem management. Stay tuned for more!


🎟 Grab your tickets with 25% off using our promo code: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/733294061277/?discount=Holochain25

The Next Net is coming alive. Check how to coordinate in full privacy in an environment you build your way with no coding skills needed. https://youtu.be/kS8psCEonn0?si=bqkC-_LUEgc25ilp

Ever feel like your tech is cheating?

Learn how Holochain keeps everyone playing fair! 😎 https://youtu.be/A32ouxIECBk