W3BS

The Open Web for Humans, Agents & Devices.

W3BS is a founding open standards initiative. This repository contains community drafts and an executable reference stack based on the supplied version 2.0 PRD, preserved in docs/founding-prd.md.

Run

Node.js 24+:

npm ci
npm start

Open http://localhost:3000. The mission, specifications, prompt registry and resolver are available at /mission, /specs, /prompts and /browse. The same deployment can serve the four W3BS domains. Nothing in this README claims production DNS or deployment is complete.

W3BS_API=http://localhost:3000 node src/cli.mjs resolve w3bs://prompt/w3bs/research@1
W3BS_API=http://localhost:3000 node native/client.mjs w3bs://prompt/w3bs/research@1 --json

Included

• Three implemented protocol drafts and five initial proposals, governance and contribution process.
• Strict URI and manifest validation, RFC 8785 canonicalization, Ed25519 signatures and namespace-bound pinned public keys.
• Persistent SQLite registry with ten signed prompt examples, immutable publication and resource revocation.
• Shared search, resolve, inspect, verify, publish, run, revoke and conformance operations over CLI, HTTP and MCP, including stdio and Streamable HTTP.
• Responsive web inspector, prompt search, manifest downloads, explicit template-rendering consent and a PWA offline state.
• An experimental native URI handler with an independent parser and signature verifier.
• Conformance, negative security tests and desktop/mobile browser tests.

run renders a prompt template; it does not generate an AI answer or execute tools. Other resource classes, delegated execution, mobile-native apps, decentralized lookup and complete operation parity on every UI surface remain future profiles. The native handler is not a Chromium engine integration. Read docs/roadmap.md for the exact scope and remaining PRD work.

Validate

npm run check
npm test
npm run conformance
npx playwright install chromium
npm run test:browser

Conformance compares the actual API, CLI process, HTML inspection envelope, HTTP MCP, stdio MCP and independent native client. The browser suite checks the page loaded in Chromium, mobile overflow, forms and offline behavior. A passing reference suite is not a W3BS Recommendation or evidence of independent organizational adoption.

Configuration and operation

See .env.example, docs/developers.md and docs/deployment.md. Production requires a persistent /data volume, an explicit public origin and host allowlist. Administrative writes are disabled without a publisher token. Example private signing material stays in ignored .local/keys and is not required by the server.

The Docker image runs one Node service as a non-root user. Use a single replica with SQLite. Source, governance proposals, issue templates and conformance fixtures are intended for public release.

Layout

Directory	Contents
src	Core protocol, registry, operation dispatch, HTTP, CLI, MCP and server-rendered website
native	Independent experimental verifier and Linux URI registration
public	Local CSS, SVG mark, browser behavior and PWA assets
fixtures	Signed prompts, public trust policy and recorded conformance evidence
docs	Founding PRD, drafts, governance, developer guide and launch gates
test	Protocol, integration and browser checks

License

MIT for code, schemas, examples and specification drafts. See LICENSE and CONTRIBUTING.md. A standards patent policy remains to be ratified; no blanket patent clearance is claimed.