What is AR.IO?

What is AR.IO?

As we saw in the article ‘Why choose AR.IO?’, AR.IO has created a decentralized and incentive-based infrastructure network that allows gateway operators to interact with permanent data on Arweave.

These new decentralized gateways not only provide incentives for data provision, but also enhance network performance, enabling modern applications to have the ability of fast downloads, data indexing, and powerful queries, thus becoming feasible.

In fact, it is exciting to see the output brought by this new network.

It will be interesting to observe how others utilize this network, as we have already seen the transformation of the ar.io network in terms of output and helping objects.

So, what is ar.io?

🐘 A community.

🐘 A decentralized gateway node network.

🐘 A protocol that promotes permaweb data indexing, sharing, and serving.

🐘 A currency called IO Token is used to align network incentives and promote ecosystem health.

AR.IO network benefits all types of users of the Arweave protocol, including gateway operators, developers, creators, and IO token holders.

For gateway operators

The Arweave protocol does not exist on its own.

Various nodes on the ar.io network, called gateways, serve as interfaces between users and the Arweave network. Each gateway acts as a “Permaweb service provider,” supporting multiple value-added, low-trust services for users and applications that need to read and write data on Arweave.

The gateway service is modular, scalable, and configurable, including: Arweave.net successfully transferred to the management of the ar.io network in early 2022. With this transition, new opportunities have emerged. First, there is a need for a new open source gateway protocol for Permaweb. This protocol has been developed and gateways using the new ar.io network protocol are undergoing private testing.

• Sow a layer of transactions into the larger Arweave network
• Cache and provide chain and transaction data
• Use the Arweave name system to resolve friendly names to transaction data
• Indexing and querying layer 1 and layer 2 transactions
• As an agent for Arweave nodes, provides Arweave HTTP API services

Gate operators keep the front door open for their own use cases, their communities, and even the entire permaweb by running reliable and high-performance systems.

For Developers

A common misconception about Arweave is that it is only used for storage. In fact, Arweave is also an excellent platform for building decentralized applications (dapps) and already has a strong ecosystem with numerous projects.

Building on Arweave is simpler, cheaper, and more fun than most developers imagine.

In the Arweave community, there are many excellent development tools that can help build your applications, such as arweave.js, warp contracts, and many other community tools and protocols. A good starting point is the Arweave Cookbook.

One important tool for building Arweave is the Arweave File System (ArFS). ArFS enhances the Arweave protocol by adding features such as creating data hierarchies (folders), private encryption, file version control, controlled sharing, etc. It allows you to leverage the power of Permaweb to achieve your desired projects.

As Arweave founder Sam Williams said: 01928374656574839201 ArFS is really great! Arweave is essentially a hard drive that focuses on permanent data replication. ArFS turns this hard drive into a file system, including directories, file names, updates, etc. I am confident that ArFS will eventually become one of the stacks for most Arweave applications. - Sam Williams, Founder of Arweave

Let’s get started. We are developers for developers. We are always ready to help you launch your project. To learn how ArFS can help you start your first Arweave dapp, visit our GitHub to browse the documentation, join our Discord to ask questions to the team and community, or visit our YouTube channel to watch coding demos.

For creators

Artists and creatives are one of the earliest groups to explore Web3 technology. Digital artists, electronic musicians, and video game creators are very interested in blockchain and what it can bring.

They quickly realized that maintaining artistic value requires source and permanence. This has led many to turn to the importance of Arweave and permanent data. It has also brought new possibilities to their work, as permanent data has driven their work in new directions.

AR.IO has tools to help artists and entrepreneurs leverage the Permaweb. For example, the Arweave Naming System (ArNS) allows creators to assign a user-friendly name to their data on the permanent network. This means that your artwork or new business website is no longer just a random 90-character URL, but can be published with a more memorable name.

Art explores unexplored areas. We are pleased to see what imagination will be sparked when you harness the power of permanent data.

Join us!

The best way to understand AR.IO and permaweb is through the AR.IO experience: our incentive program rewards those who interact with the AR.IO ecosystem.

Obtain experience points (EXP) through tasks - representing the on-chain tokens that may qualify for the AR.IO airdrop. In other words, EXP allows you to upgrade for the IO token mainnet airdrop!

Visit AR.IO for the experience: