Ceramic Network
Decentralized Data Protocol
Community
Details
License Permissive (MIT + Apache 2.0 — fully open source on GitHub)
Dev Status ⚠️ Unmaintained
Dev Status Detail Unmaintained as of the steward's announcement on 17 April 2025: js-ceramic and ComposeDB, the implementations the network was built on, were deprecated and the team moved its primary focus to Recall; ceramic-one continues as a standalone implementation (its repository was updated January 2026) and the mainnet was live when last checked. Previously: Released (mainnet live; transitioning from js-ceramic/ComposeDB to ceramic-one standalone implementation for AI agent use cases)
Owner 3Box Labs (co-founded by Michael Sena, Joel Thorstensson, Daniel Zuckerman; 3Box Labs merged with Textile in 2024; US corporation registered in Delaware)
Governing Body Company-controlled (3Box Labs) | CIP process (Ceramic Improvement Proposals — community governance)
Country USA (Delaware; employees across US and Europe)
Start Year 2019
Stack Rust (ceramic-one, new standalone implementation) + TypeScript (legacy js-ceramic)
Funding VC ($30M Series A in Feb 2022 co-led by Multicoin Capital and Union Square Ventures; 50+ investors)
Last Investigated Nov 12, 2026
Decentralized Data Protocol Attributes
Origins Database / Ecosystem/SDK (decentralized composable data network for Web3 apps)
Database DAG (self-certifying event logs using IPLD content addressing; ComposeDB provides graph database with SQLite indexing on top)
Query Language GraphQL (ComposeDB's native query interface)
Data Formats JSON (JSON Schema-based data models via ComposeDB composites; IPLD-encoded event streams underneath)
Collaborative Live Editing N/A (event log protocol; provides eventual consistency for shared mutable data, not real-time co-editing)
Rich Text Editing N/A
Mobile Support N/A (server-side protocol; client libraries for JS/Node environments)
Web Support Yes (JavaScript client SDK for browser; ComposeDB client)
Native Apps N/A (infrastructure protocol; no end-user app)
Terms Self-hosting (run your own Ceramic node; no direct protocol fees currently; fee structure may change with future token economics)
Funds $30M+ (Series A; investors include Multicoin, USV, Coinbase Ventures, Protocol Labs, Jump Crypto, Hashed, Variant Fund, Edge & Node, and 40+ others)
Based On IPFS (IPLD for content addressing, libp2p for networking); Ethereum (event anchoring for immutable timestamps)
P2P Architecture DHT + Public Blockchain (libp2p-based P2P networking for event distribution; pairwise sync protocol replaced earlier multicast; Ethereum anchoring for timestamp consensus)
Overlay Network Global (Ceramic nodes share and distribute events across the network; nodes can index on specific data model families)
Content Addressing Yes (all data structured as IPLD content-addressed event logs; each event identified by CID)
Local-First N/A (node-hosted data; not designed as local-first architecture)
E2EE No (data is public by default; encryption can be layered via Lit Protocol integration; private data support in early proof-of-concept)
CRDTs Lib N/A (uses event log ordering with Ethereum anchor timestamps; not CRDT-based conflict resolution)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance No (relies on Ethereum anchoring for tamper evidence; individual event streams are self-certifying via signatures)
Signature CACAO + DID:PKH (Sign-In With X standards; supports secp256k1 via Ethereum wallets, Ed25519 via Solana; multi-chain wallet authentication)
Permissions ACL (controller-based: each stream has a controller DID that authorizes writes; ComposeDB uses DID:PKH for wallet-based auth; data model-level access control)
Semantic Web Compatibility Links (ComposeDB data models are composable and reusable across apps; graph-based relations between models; not RDF/SPARQL compatible)
Smart Contract No (anchors to Ethereum but does not use smart contracts for data logic; protocol token/incentive model under consideration)
Protocol Stack Position
Asset / Value Embedding None — Ceramic is a decentralized event-streaming and data protocol with no native token at the protocol layer. The project raised $30M Series A (fiat equity); protocol participation does not require or use a native asset.
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Community Standard (StreamID and stream protocol specifications; community-governed via CIPs — Ceramic Improvement Proposals)
Relationships
How this tool connects to other tools and organizations, from relationships reviewed by the OpenHaven data steward. They describe how projects connect, not how good they are.
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