archy/docs/adr/011-dwn-deprioritization.md
Dorian 53ac7e5f65 feat: identity lifecycle tests and ADR-011 DWN deprioritization
Added 8 integration tests for identity manager covering create,
sign/verify, list, delete, default management, and Nostr key gen.
Documented DWN deprioritization decision.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-03-15 05:01:06 +00:00

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# ADR-011: DWN Deprioritization
## Status
Accepted
## Context
TBD/Block shut down in November 2024, donating Web5 code to the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF). The DWN (Decentralized Web Node) specification was heavily backed by TBD — without their engineering team, the spec has lost momentum:
- No maintained Rust DWN SDK exists (the `dwn` crate by unavi-xyz is v0.4.0 with 323 downloads)
- TBD's reference implementation was TypeScript-only
- DIF has not allocated resources to continue DWN development
- The spec itself is complex (personal data stores with protocol-based access control)
Meanwhile, Archipelago's federation over Tor + Nostr relays already serves the core peer data sync use case that DWN was intended for.
## Decision
1. **Keep existing DWN store code** in `core/archipelago/src/network/dwn_store.rs` — it works for peer file catalogs and federation state
2. **Stop calling it "Web5 DWN"** in user-facing text — it's our custom implementation, not a full DWN spec implementation
3. **Do not invest in DWN spec compliance** — the spec is stalled and may not stabilize
4. **Prioritize Nostr + federation** for peer discovery and data exchange
5. **Re-evaluate if DIF produces a viable Rust SDK** or the spec gains new maintainers
## Consequences
- DWN functionality remains available but is not actively developed
- Peer sync uses federation + Nostr instead of DWN protocols
- Reduces maintenance burden — no need to track a stalled spec
- If DWN resurfaces with strong tooling, we can adopt it later