Permaweb
The permaweb is just like the currently existing web, but everything published on it will be available forever. For users and builders, the permaweb will offer low-cost, zero maintenance, permanent hosting of their web apps, files, and web pages.
In other words, the permaweb is the layer built on top of Arweave’s protocol, which is essentially a global permanent hard drive.
The implications of a permaweb are significant. What if you never lost a file again? What if the web belonged to you and not big tech? Arweave’s permaweb is a globally distributed network that puts the power back in your hands.
Step inside to explore what you can do with permanent data and its unmatched level of incentives and customization.
Gateways
Gateways act as the front door to the permaweb. They are infrastructure utilities that sit above the base storage layer and allow users to access and query the information stored on Arweave. Gateways are specialized nodes responsible for data retrieval, caching, and serving as well as indexing transactions into a database that can be easily queried at scale. These functions are not performed by the Arweave mining nodes which are optimized for securing the Layer 1 blockweave and replicating information throughout the network through a mechanism known as Wildfire.
Learn more about gateways and the significance of open source here.
Check out ar.io repos on GitHub here.
Get started here.
Names
Arweave Name System (ArNS) is a censorship-resistant naming system stored on Arweave, enabling user-friendly domain names that link to permaweb dApps, web pages, data, and identities. It functions like a permissionless address book for the entire permaweb. Each AR.IO gateway serves as an ArNS Name resolver, ensuring fast and efficient access.
Community
Get involved with ar.io as a developer, gateway operator, content creator, or simply by exploring the permaweb.
Web3 puts control back into the hands of all its users and builders. Our first priority is building a community, knowing that the ar.io Network will become what we make of it together.
We are confident that we are only scratching the surface of what is to come, and are excited at the innovations that will be created in the coming years by our community.
The ar.io gateway node software is open source and ready for you!
September 2023 - Monthly arweave.net stats
"We are blown away by the performance boost that the new ar.io gateways offer. Being able to receive 1000x more data per query is an absolute game changer when building applications on the permaweb."
“The importance of ar.io gateways cannot be understated. Incentivizing available and accurate data on the Permaweb has been the critical issue plaguing the ecosystem, and the ar.io team has proved that they are the right team to solve it. Ar.io gateways already boast radical improvements over old infrastructure, and the Kwil team is excited to see how they further improve upon this powerful piece of infrastructure.”
"Being able to rely on having an application served through multiple gateways has been very reassuring. If one centralized provider wants to take down your application, they can. However if anyone can run their own gateway, you can count on being able to serve an application from multiple, which is really cool."
"It's pretty cool to see... this idea of distributing the (Arweave) database itself, across many different ar.io nodes."
"I'm really grateful that ar.io has taken on this monumental task of not only running the existing gateway infra, but keeping it open source and staying true to decentralized, utilitarian values."
"ar.io is a highly anticipated project, and it is expected to become the core basic gateway of the Arweave ecosystem."
"I like the modularity and composability of ar.io network nodes. It significantly lowers hardware requirements and gives the ability for small teams/users to run their own gateways. This will allow horizontal scalability of the network. I hope people come to understand the full power of the ar.io gateways."
