A hypertext document store built on the Udanax-Gold foundation with modern enhancements: BLAKE3 content addressing, CRDT collaborative editing, cryptographic author attribution, real-time transclusion queries, trails, document map, and content similarity.
The fundamental pieces, end to end. Click any region to open its deep-dive page.
Start here if you're new to Xudanu.
Complete guide to the web UI: editing, stars, trails, document map, transclusion, attribution, revisions, and persistence.
html new in 0.7.0Quick Start guide, prerequisites, CLI reference, security notes, and macOS Gatekeeper instructions.
markdownComplete manual covering server setup, web UI guide, command bar, document operations, and troubleshooting.
markdownConfigure HTTPS and WSS for encrypted connections. Self-signed certs, Caddy reverse proxy, and Safari compatibility.
markdownStar documents to mark them as favorites. Starred docs appear in a dedicated sidebar section and as amber nodes in the Document Map.
newContent and performance architecture diagram on a single page. The complete system at a glance: O-tree, chunk store, WAL, CRDT, federation, and the wire protocol.
htmlReal-time multi-user editing with O-tree CRDT, Ed25519-signed author attribution, awareness state (cursors/selections), three-way merge fallback, and LLM-assisted change narration.
8 sections · 1 diagramReal-time notification and event system for collaborative editing sessions.
interactiveHow content is stored, versioned, and managed. A Xudanu document is an edition — an immutable snapshot of text and structure. Editions are organized into works, persisted in chunks, and tracked through a version DAG.
How documents are structured as versioned editions with per-line attribution, three-way merge, and the O-tree data model. Essential reading for understanding Xudanu's core abstractions.
10 sections · 10 diagramsBLAKE3 content-addressed chunk store, incremental checkpoints, garbage collection, and integrity verification.
13 sections · 11 diagramsThe versioning spine adapted from Udanax-Gold C++: partial-order TracePositions, Root/Tree/Dag branch topologies, the navigation cache (max-over-paths), assertion-based content with 13 payload types, conflict-preserving AlternativeSet materialization, the H-Tree, and the bridge to the Edition model — with code examples and SVG diagrams.
18 sections · 7 diagramsHow manifest.json uses hash pointers to reference document content in the chunk store: WorkChunkRef, EditionChunkRef, EntryChunk, ProvenanceChunk, and the three-layer link persistence model.
featuredHow the GC reclaims disk space: mark-and-sweep algorithm, chunk write path, WAL journaling, and the v0.7.5 safety fix.
html newContent-addressed BLAKE3 chunk store, incremental checkpoints, garbage collection, and integrity verification. 13 sections with SVG diagrams.
html featuredThree-layer data protection: Write-Ahead Log, dual manifest slots (A/B), and atomic fsync+rename checkpoints every 5 seconds.
newLabel sequences through nested editions, snapshot persistence, and the endorsement system.
markdownHow documents link to, reference, and include each other. Xudanu's core innovation is visible, typed connections between specific passages — combined with transclusion (live content reuse) that tracks provenance back to the original source.
Nelson's typed, bidirectional, unbreakable connections between passages. The five link types (Comment, Reference, Disagreement, Quotation, See Also), the two-part creation flow, backlinks, span migration, and profuse overlapping links — with code examples and canvas-render diagrams.
14 sections · 9 diagramsHow content reuse is detected, indexed, and queried across documents: BLAKE3 fingerprinting, Bert Canopy tree, Recorder pub/sub, Hoist propagation, and Backfollow queries. The core intellectual property of Xanadu.
9 sections · 3 diagramsHow Xudanu answers "who wrote this?" at the character level. Ed25519 span signing, content fingerprints, domain separation, the materialization pipeline, transclusion attribution, historical attestation for imported texts, the tamper-evident SHA-256-chained attribution log, provenance ancestry walks, exportable attestation reports, and federation cluster consensus with W3C PROV-JSON export.
23 sections · 7 diagramsHow live transclusion works: inline RangeElement::Transclusion in the O-tree, recursive resolution, attribution propagation, span migration, and the visual Compound Builder for assembling passages from multiple sources into one editable view.
html newVisual builder for assembling compound documents from transcluded passages. Drag, drop, and rearrange live content from multiple sources into a single editable view.
html newStep-by-step user guide for compound documents: creating transclusions, seeing colour-coded source regions, the compound panel, and the legal brief assembly example. Includes comparison with Udanax-Gold.
html newStep-by-step user guide for creating links and backlinks: using the Link Creator wizard, choosing link types, creating transclusions, managing existing links, and understanding the visual markers.
html interactive walkthroughForce-directed graph showing all documents, transclusion links (solid lines), and content similarity (dashed lines). Click nodes to navigate.
newCreate ordered reading paths through your documents — Nelson's original concept of guided sequences through hypertext.
newDocuments with overlapping vocabulary (>15% Jaccard similarity) are connected with dashed lines and drift together in the Document Map.
newInteractive W3C PROV-JSON validator for Xudanu's attribution export. Paste a report, see the provenance graph, verify signatures and timestamps.
htmlHow Xudanu stores documents, revisions, and images — and how they flow through the system to appear on your screen. Diagrams the 5-layer stack, disk layout, image upload flow, and revision persistence across restarts.
html newPlan for connecting BackfollowEngine, canopy, recorder, and ENT into a working transclusion detection pipeline.
markdownThe position algebra and tree structures that make precise content addressing possible. These power span migration (links survive edits), intercomparison (finding shared passages), and efficient tree traversal.
The mathematical foundation underlying every position, region, span, mapping, and address in Xudanu. The four core traits (Space, Position, Region, Dsp), the transition-set representation, the seven concrete spaces (Integer, Real, Sequence/Tumbler, CrossSpace2, CrossSpaceN, FilterSpace), span migration, shared-content detection, and tumbler addressing for federation — explained from the ground up for developers.
20 sections · 9 diagramsThe hierarchical property tree that indexes content for fast transclusion queries. Built atop the Space Algebra, the Canopy maps regions to properties and powers backfollow lookup — the structural heart of content reuse and intercomparison.
within Transclusion Engine · deep diveWho you are, what you can access, and how content is verified. Xudanu uses cryptographic signatures (Ed25519), Argon2id password hashing, and a club-based permission system inherited from Udanax-Gold.
Clubs (the Udanax-Gold identity model), the lock hierarchy (Boo/Wall/Challenge/Match/Multi), KeyMaster authority tracking, Ed25519 provenance, and per-session security monitoring.
8 sections · 1 diagramProduction-grade crypto stack: Ed25519 signatures, X25519 key exchange, ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD, HKDF-SHA256 domain separation, and Argon2id password hashing.
markdownConnecting Xudanu servers across the internet. Tumblers provide stable hierarchical addresses for content on any server. Cross-server backlinks, BLAKE3 hash verification, and the federation protocol let documents span multiple independent servers.
Verified end-to-end: two servers sharing content via tumblers, automatic bidirectional backlinks, click-to-resolve content fetch with BLAKE3 verification. Includes setup guide, tumbler format, security model, and Gold heritage comparison.
verified Jul 2026 · working demoHow independent Xudanu servers form a connected literature. The tumbler address space, content sharing without replication, transclusion across server boundaries, BLAKE3 content addressing, three-layer verification (tumbler + hash + Ed25519), server operator responsibilities, scaling to hundreds of servers, and the risks and mitigations of hostile machines in the network.
12 sections · 6 diagramsA security audit of the multi-server federation layer. Maps seven trust boundaries from connection admission through governance, catalogs 14 authorization gaps by severity (CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW), and provides a phased remediation roadmap to align federation access control with the single-server club model. Includes safe deployment patterns for current-state operation.
13 sections · 3 diagrams · 14 gaps cataloguedLightweight multi-server model using tumbler resolution instead of data-replicating clusters. Each server is sovereign; cross-server content references via tumbler addresses with BLAKE3-verified caching. Handles hundreds of servers, offline machines, and hostile actors. Replaces FR-3 as the default multi-server architecture.
markdown proposed10 ordered user stories for building the linked independent server model. Covers server identity, directory, public content API, reference manifests, cross-server resolution, offline caching, provenance chains, trust management, referral discovery, and mothballing the FR-3 cluster.
markdownHow to enable and operate the optional cluster federation: the outbound dialer, PeerPool, periodic sync and heartbeat, and PBFT broadcast. Operational guide for running federated nodes behind the --enable-cluster flag.
Ted Nelson's micropayment vision, storage cost accounting, the utility meter, and per-use billing — the economic layer for a federated docuverse.
markdownFor contributors building on Xudanu. Technical architecture deep-dives, wire protocol specifications, test documentation, and phase-by-phase development history.
15-section deep dive with 9 SVG diagrams, worked examples, and Big-O analysis of every data structure.
9 diagrams · interactiveXanadu Gold as a Rust library compiling to WebAssembly. High-level component map and design philosophy.
markdownSeparation of the core hypertext engine from the applications and clients built on top of it.
markdownThe Udanax-Gold content model where content is identity — bytes are their own addressing key.
markdownNelson's original 17 rules for Xanadu systems with xudanu's compliance status for each rule.
markdownHow Xudanu's publication model compares to the original Udanax-Gold and Nelson's specifications.
markdownFull system architecture diagram showing the relationship between O-tree, chunk store, WAL, CRDT sync, wire protocol, and federation layers.
htmlWire protocol API reference (v2). WebSocket JSON message format, all operations, request/response schemas.
markdownWebSocket protocol details, session lifecycle, and server-side audit/logging capabilities.
markdownHow to integrate Xanadu Gold into a JavaScript or TypeScript application.
markdownBuilding custom frontends that connect to the xudanu server over its WebSocket JSON API.
markdownIndex of the test suite: backend library tests, integration tests, and frontend Vitest specs, with what each covers and how to run them.
markdownThe history of Xanadu from Nelson's 1960 vision through Udanax-Gold to Xudanu. Timelines, key people, and how the concepts evolved over six decades.
htmlSide-by-side concept mapping: every Gold type, module, and subsystem traced to its Rust descendant, with SVG diagrams and status badges.
html featuredProgressive implementation of Udanax-Gold: transclusion with provenance, content addressing, clubs/permissions, cryptographic attribution, and trails.
enhancedNew features beyond Gold: cryptographic provenance, CRDT editing, BLAKE3 content addressing, OAuth, federation, and more.
htmlSubsystem-by-subsystem complexity comparison between Udanax-Gold and Xudanu: lines of code, data-structure footprint, and where modern Rust simplifies the original C++ design.
htmlComparative analysis across three Xanadu lineages: feature coverage, architectural choices, and implementation maturity.
htmlMarkdown comparison of what Xudanu adds, changes, and drops relative to the original Udanax-Gold codebase.
markdownTracking the port from Udanax-Gold C++ to Rust. Edition, XnRegion, RangeElement, and connected components.
markdownDesign documents for each phase of the Rust implementation, from core data structures through federation.
Mapping algebra, text manipulation, type wrappers with certification, and the club-based permission hierarchy.
phaseLabel system and identity unification — two critical features from the Udanax-Gold model.
phaseReading content from the document store and storage cost accounting for editions.
phaseContent-fingerprint-based shared detection and proper mapping types beyond positional matching.
phaseRange-based transclusion queries and an ordered bundle stepper with merge-sort for the O-tree.
phasePersistent queries that accumulate results over time, plus admin health monitoring.
phaseProduction-grade cryptography: Ed25519, X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305, HKDF-SHA256, Argon2id.
phaseEndorsement system wired into the server API with authority validation.
phaseMutual authentication and encrypted channels between federated servers.
phaseG-Set CRDT with BLAKE3 verification for cross-server content replication.
phaseThe Reconciliation Plane — mutable state via DagWood for concurrent edit resolution.
phaseWeb-of-trust join protocol and membership management for federated servers.
phaseGovernance Plane using lightweight PBFT consensus for federation-wide decisions.
phase