Introduction

UNAVI is a peer-to-peer platform for 3D hyperspace, and the reference implementation of The Wired — the spatial hypermedia layer of the Internet. Where the Web links two-dimensional hypertext documents, The Wired links three-dimensional spaces, the objects inside them, and the agents that move between them.

The Wired treats hyperspace as a real place. Its spaces have depth and scale, and what happens in them lasts. That is the claim the whole protocol is built to keep.

A 3D Internet

Hyperspace is a network of 3D spaces. Portals connect them, and a portal carries an agent from one into the next without a reload. Everything in a space is a document. A document takes the form of an object: it holds content, carries the script that defines what it does, and sits at a position in the space. Data, behavior, and presentation share one model, so files, applications, identity, and the network each take a spatial form.

Peer to Peer

Nothing is centrally hosted. Every space, and everything in it, lives on a peer — a personal machine, someone else’s, or a server — and peers sync directly with one another. The Wired is an open standard others can build against; the client and the rest of the stack are open source.

Scripted Behavior

Objects carry behavior with them, written as scripts. A scripted object reacts, animates, and responds to touch, and it works the same way in any space it is carried into.

One Identity

A single identity spans the network, rooted in a DID (decentralized identifier) and traced to a key or a domain the person controls. The same identity, and the identity documents it resolves to, follow the person across every space and store.

Principles

Four properties of the design recur through the protocol:

• Open — the protocol is a documented public standard, and no permission is needed to build against it.
• User-sovereign — you hold the key to each of your documents, so you decide who can read and write them.
• Interoperable — the protocol defines a document’s format, so any implementation can store and serve the same documents.
• Generative — an object carries its script with it, so a space grows as participants add objects that bring their own behavior.

Protocol covers how these pieces work and how to build on them.