Local-first resources - don't require a server when creating a resource

[joepio]

Problem

Creating a new resource requires a lot: an active internet connection, a working server, a resolvable Agent. It would be nice if Resources can be created and update local-first.

Additionally, it would be nice if resources could be resolved without a server. A P2P solution, perhaps something that uses content-addressing (e.g. something like ipfs / iroh) would be swell.

Potential solution

• User can create a Commit that does not refer to an HTTP subject. It has no target. It's a RootCommit (not sure about the name).
• The signature of that commit is the identifier. (or perhaps the iroh hash?)
• This RootCommit has a date, a publicKey (linking
• You can refer to the initial version of this resource using a did:atomic:RootHash. So we'll introduce a new did:atomic schema for this.
• You can refer to a specific following version of this resource using using a did:atomic:CommitHash
• We still want pretty URLs, in some usecases, of course! So how do we deal with that? How do we map these?
• We can still resolve using HTTP: https://atomicdata.dev/cid/aeg8ae9gyg98ea9eahge98gha

API

Not a lot would change for the user. When creating a resource, the subject becomes optional. The resource that is returned will get a subject through its constructor, by taking the hash of that resource.

Questions

• Should the identifier of the resource be based on the signature of the first resource? Or should it be the hash? For compatibility with something like ipfs, a hash would be nice. But Atomic uses signatures of the agent.
• For authorship, the public key (or subject?) of the signing agent should be included in that initial resource.
• What kind of merge algo should we use for branching and resolving commits?
• Should we merge with nextgraph to fix this too? Merging with NextGraph #1012

Relevant issues

• Atomic-Server + Content Addressing (like IPFS) #66
• Running server in Proxy Mode - useful for desktops #268
• Consider using yjs / y-crdt for document-related commits #720

Relevant reads

• AnySync, the protocol that syncs AnyType. A CRDT that uses IPFS under the hood.
• Willow, powered by iroh. Has rust and ts implementations.
• Loro. CRDT with Rust and TS libraries. Seems to be fast and lightweight, compared to yjs / automerge.