Jelly Distributed Network (JDN) Registry

Status: Aspirational Design
Priority: Low
Prerequisite: Active Tentacle ecosystem

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Overview

The Jelly Distributed Network (JDN) is a proposed ecosystem index for discovering, publishing, and distributing Tentacle packages. This document captures the design vision for future implementation.

Design Goals

1. Decentralized Discovery — No single point of failure for package lookup
2. Cryptographic Integrity — All packages signed and verifiable
3. Federated Hosting — Multiple mirrors, no central authority
4. Namespace Governance — Clear ownership and conflict resolution

Architecture

                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │   JDN Index     │
                    │  (Distributed)  │
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
         ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
         │                   │                   │
         ▼                   ▼                   ▼
    ┌─────────┐        ┌─────────┐        ┌─────────┐
    │ Mirror  │        │ Mirror  │        │ Mirror  │
    │   A     │        │   B     │        │   C     │
    └─────────┘        └─────────┘        └─────────┘
         │                   │                   │
         └───────────────────┼───────────────────┘
                             │
                             ▼
                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │  jelly install  │
                    │    (client)     │
                    └─────────────────┘

Components

1. Index Service

Maintains the global package index:

# Example index entry
packages:
  senior-backend:
    latest: 1.2.0
    versions:
      - version: 1.2.0
        published: 2025-01-15
        integrity: sha512-abc123...
        mirrors:
          - https://jdn.jellylabs.ai/packages/senior-backend-1.2.0.tar.gz
          - https://mirror.example.com/jdn/senior-backend-1.2.0.tar.gz

2. Mirror Protocol

Mirrors sync via:

GET /jdn/index.json           # Full index
GET /jdn/packages/{name}      # Package metadata
GET /jdn/packages/{name}/{version}.tar.gz  # Package archive

3. Publishing Flow

jelly publish
    │
    ├── Build package archive
    ├── Sign with author key
    ├── Submit to primary mirror
    ├── Primary validates and indexes
    └── Propagates to secondary mirrors

4. Namespace Rules

Pattern	Example	Governance
@org/name	@jellylabs/senior-backend	Org-controlled
name	senior-backend	First-come, first-served
_private/name	_private/my-skill	Local only, never published

Security Model

Package Signing

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Package Archive                                      │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ manifest.yaml          (package metadata)            │
│ SKILL.md               (package content)             │
│ ...                                                  │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SIGNATURE              (Ed25519 signature)           │
│ AUTHOR.pub             (author public key)           │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Trust Chain

1. Author Key — Signs packages
2. Registry Key — Signs index updates
3. Mirror Key — Signs mirror authenticity
4. Client Trust Store — Verifies all signatures

Why Aspirational

The JDN requires:

1. Active Ecosystem — Multiple publishers, consumers
2. Tooling — jelly CLI with publish/install commands
3. Infrastructure — Hosted mirrors, index service
4. Governance — Namespace dispute resolution

None of these exist yet. The Tentacle ecosystem is currently:

• Single user (JellyLabs internal)
• Git-based distribution
• No external consumers

Implementation Path

When the ecosystem grows:

1. Phase 1: Git-based registry (GitHub releases)
2. Phase 2: Single-mirror JDN (jellylabs.ai hosted)
3. Phase 3: Federated mirrors (community-operated)
4. Phase 4: Full decentralization (DHT-based index)

Related

• Tentacle v4 — Package specification
• JSON Schemas — Validation schemas