Federation

Federation is how Made Open connects people across independently-operated hubs while preserving data sovereignty. No central server. No corporate intermediary. Your hub speaks to other hubs directly using open standards.

Federation requires the identity foundations (DIDs, Verifiable Credentials) from the Credential Wallet, but the full federation stack — ActivityPub, DIDComm, and cross-hub discovery — is a later capability.

The Four-Layer Stack

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)

Every user on Made Open has a DID — a cryptographic identifier they own, not one issued by a platform.

did:key:z6MkhaXgBZDvotDkL5257faiztiGiC2QtKLGpbnnEGta2doK
   ▲       ▲
   │       │
   │       └─ Public key (ed25519)
   └─ DID method (key = self-contained, no registry needed)

DID Methods

DID Document

Every DID resolves to a DID Document declaring the owner's public keys and service endpoints:

{
  "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/did/v1",
  "id": "did:web:alice.made-open.io",
  "verificationMethod": [{
    "id": "did:web:alice.made-open.io#key-1",
    "type": "Ed25519VerificationKey2020",
    "controller": "did:web:alice.made-open.io",
    "publicKeyMultibase": "z6MkhaXgBZDv..."
  }],
  "service": [{
    "id": "did:web:alice.made-open.io#hub",
    "type": "MadeOpenHub",
    "serviceEndpoint": "https://alice.made-open.io/api"
  }, {
    "id": "did:web:alice.made-open.io#didcomm",
    "type": "DIDCommMessaging",
    "serviceEndpoint": "https://alice.made-open.io/didcomm"
  }]
}

Verifiable Credentials

A Verifiable Credential (VC) is a cryptographically signed statement made by one party about another. It's the W3C standard for portable, tamper-proof claims.

How Made Open Uses VCs

VC Structure

{
  "@context": ["https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1"],
  "type": ["VerifiableCredential", "ConsentGrant"],
  "issuer": "did:web:alice.made-open.io",
  "issuanceDate": "2026-01-01T12:00:00Z",
  "credentialSubject": {
    "id": "did:key:plugin-com-microsoft-graph",
    "permission": "data:read:persons",
    "grantedFor": "90days"
  },
  "proof": {
    "type": "Ed25519Signature2020",
    "verificationMethod": "did:web:alice.made-open.io#key-1",
    "proofValue": "..."
  }
}

DIDComm Messaging

DIDComm is the transport layer for secure peer-to-peer communication between any two DIDs. It provides:

• End-to-end encryption (X25519 key agreement)
• Mutual authentication (both parties prove ownership of their DID)
• Transport-agnostic — works over HTTPS, WebSockets, Bluetooth, QR codes
• No central server required — messages route directly between hubs

Use Cases

Alice's hub                                   Bob's hub
    │                                              │
    │  DIDComm: "I'd like to connect with you"    │
    │─────────────────────────────────────────────►│
    │                                              │
    │  DIDComm: "Connection accepted, here's      │
    │            my hub endpoint"                 │
    │◄─────────────────────────────────────────────│
    │                                              │
    │  ActivityPub: Follow request                 │
    │─────────────────────────────────────────────►│
    │                                              │
    │  ActivityPub: Follow accepted                │
    │◄─────────────────────────────────────────────│

ActivityPub

ActivityPub is the W3C protocol powering the Fediverse (Mastodon, Pixelfed, etc.). Each Made Open hub runs an ActivityPub server, making users first-class citizens of the federated social web.

Actor Model

Each user's hub exposes an ActivityPub Actor:

{
  "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "type": "Person",
  "id": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/actors/alice",
  "preferredUsername": "alice",
  "inbox": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/inbox",
  "outbox": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/outbox",
  "followers": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/followers",
  "following": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/following",
  "publicKey": {
    "id": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/actors/alice#main-key",
    "owner": "https://alice.made-open.io/ap/actors/alice",
    "publicKeyPem": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n..."
  }
}

Activities

The hub publishes and receives standard ActivityPub activities:

Interoperability

Because the hub speaks standard ActivityPub, Made Open users can:

• Follow and be followed by Mastodon users
• Read their timeline alongside Mastodon posts
• Post updates visible to Mastodon followers
• Interact with any ActivityPub-compatible platform

Federation Service

The Federation Service manages all cross-hub communication:

interface FederationService {
  // DIDComm
  sendDIDCommMessage(recipientDid: string, message: DIDCommMessage): Promise<void>;
  receiveDIDCommMessage(message: DIDCommMessage): Promise<void>;

  // ActivityPub
  publishActivity(activity: Activity): Promise<void>;
  receiveActivity(activity: Activity): Promise<void>;
  resolveActor(actorUrl: string): Promise<APActor>;

  // DID resolution
  resolveDID(did: string): Promise<DIDDocument>;

  // VC operations
  issueCredential(subject: string, claims: object): Promise<VerifiableCredential>;
  verifyCredential(vc: VerifiableCredential): Promise<boolean>;
  presentCredential(vc: VerifiableCredential, challenge: string): Promise<VP>;
}

Resource Coordination

Made Open enables decentralized resource exchange — sharing skills, goods, time, and knowledge between users across hubs without a marketplace platform taking a cut.

Declaration Types

{
  "type": "Offer",
  "subject": {
    "type": "Skill",
    "description": "React component development",
    "availability": "weekends",
    "exchange": "reciprocal_skill or donation"
  }
}

{
  "type": "Need",
  "subject": {
    "type": "Service",
    "description": "Help moving furniture",
    "timeframe": "next_month"
  }
}

Matching

The decentralized matching engine compares Offers and Needs published via ActivityPub across the network. Matching is local (each hub runs its own engine); discoveries are surfaced to the user.

Governance Layer

Communities of Made Open users can form self-governing groups with formal decision-making structures:

Capability Rollout