NDN Workspace
Extended D AppsA web-based, serverless, decentralized collaborative application for multi-user real-time file editing, built on Named Data Networking (NDN) architecture. Users exchange URI-identified objects directly, establish trust relations among each other, and collaborate through intermittent connectivity — all without cloud servers. Uses CRDTs (Yjs) for conflict-free concurrent editing and NDN's data-centric naming for secure, semantically meaningful data exchange .
Fully P2P Community Low capture risk
Details
License LGPL / BSD
Dev Status WIP
Owner UCLA Internet Research Lab (IRL); lead researchers: Tianyuan Yu, Xinyu Ma, Varun Patil, Yekta Kocaogullar, Lixia Zhang; part of broader NDN project led by Lixia Zhang (PI) and Van Jacobson (NDN Architect)
Country USA
Start Year 2022
Stack TypeScript, browser-based via WebAssembly, NDN Forwarding Daemon in C, for network layer
Funding Foundation, Government
Last Investigated Mar 10, 2026
Extensible Decentralized App Attributes
Development Tools ndnts-aux npm library, ndn-workspace-vscode extension, NDNts TypeScript libraries, ndn-cxx C++ library, NFD forwarding daemon. There's a real developer toolkit here.
Deployment Options NDN Workspace runs in-browser with no server deployment needed; the NDN Forwarding Daemon (NFD) can be run locally or via testbed infrastructure. It's a valid answer but somewhat unusual since the whole point is that there's nothing to deploy server-side.
Authentication & Identity NDN Workspace uses DNS names to identify users and enables direct trust establishment between users. The paper covers trust management in detail — users produce self-certifying data signed with their own keys, and trust schemas define who can access what. This is a genuinely interesting and well-documented aspect.
Storage Model OPFS (Origin Private File System) browser-based local storage, with all data secured by producer keys rather than storage containers. This is already captured in the P2PApp "Database" field as well, but the Platform framing of "Storage Model" would let you describe the broader architectural philosophy (data is self-certifying, storable anywhere).
Interoperability NDN is a distinct networking layer that doesn't interoperate with IP-based P2P systems. Within the NDN ecosystem there's interop via the NDN protocol stack and testbed. This is more of a "no, by design" answer that's still informative.
Social Graph NDN Workspace has trust relations between users but no social graph in the platform sense (no profiles, follow relationships, social discovery). The trust schema is closer to an ACL than a social graph.
Use Case Category Collaborative document editing / File sharing / Research collaboration
User Interface Type Web application (browser-based; VS Code extension in development)
Offline Capabilities Yes — local-first design: all data stored in browser OPFS; offline editing supported; changes sync via CRDTs when connectivity resumes; asynchronous user-to-user communication enabled by storing secured data in any available local storage
Collaboration Features Real-time multi-user text editing via Yjs CRDTs; shared file structure (folders, text files, binary blobs); trust-based membership management where users endorse each other by issuing NDN certificates; used for joint editing and presentation sharing at NDN community events
Data Portability TBD (data is stored locally in browser OPFS as CRDT documents and NDN Data packets; export/import functionality not documented; data is inherently portable because it's self-certifying — secured by the producer, not the container)
Integration Ecosystem NDN ecosystem: ndnts-aux npm library provides building blocks for developing other NDN applications; NDN testbed (42+ sites across 4 continents) provides network infrastructure; interoperable with broader NDN software stack (NFD, ndn-cxx, python-ndn)
Prosocial Coherence TBD
Economic Flows N/A (research software; no economic/payment features)
Governance & Decision Making Trust-based: workspace membership managed through NDN certificate issuance; users establish peer-to-peer trust relations and endorse each other directly without central authority; trust policies define who can join and contribute
Media / Publishing File sharing (text files, binary blobs such as presentations shared at NDN community events); not a publishing platform per se
Knowledge Management Basic (shared workspace with folder structure for organizing files); primarily a collaboration tool rather than a knowledge management system
Sensemaking N/A
Project Management N/A (no task tracking, milestones, or project management features)
Communication Model Collaborative + Asynchronous (real-time co-editing when users are online simultaneously via CRDT sync; asynchronous collaboration when users are offline — changes propagate through any available intermediary and merge conflict-free upon receipt)
Network Resilience Full offline + Delay-tolerant (works without connectivity using local OPFS storage; syncs on reconnect via CRDT delta updates; can utilize any and all available connectivity — WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular — because NDN names data not locations; intermediary users can relay updates even when original producer is offline)
Discovery Mechanism DNS-like (NDN hierarchical naming system: users identified by semantically meaningful names, e.g., /workspace/alice; NDN name-based routing resolves data location; NDN testbed provides global routing infrastructure; peer-to-peer mode for local/ad-hoc discovery under development)
Max Participants Small group (tested at NDN community events with onsite and remote attendees; CRDT architecture theoretically supports medium groups but practical limits depend on SVS sync overhead and NDN network topology; no documented upper bound)
Data Sovereignty Full user control (all data secured by the producing user's cryptographic keys, not by the storage container; users choose where their encrypted data is stored; no central server holds or controls any user data; data can be safely synchronized to any storage because it's self-certifying)