cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27802844

This post is a blogpost version of a recent talk that Daniel Holmgren gave at AtmosphereConf (March 2025).

AT Protocol (or atproto) is a protocol for creating decentralized social applications.

It's not the first protocol with that aim to exist. In the history of decentralized social media protocols, atproto takes a unique approach which is still deeply influenced by technologies and movements that came before it.

The phrase “atproto ethos” often comes up during our protocol design discussions. It's a fuzzy term, but we use it to refer to the philosophical and aesthetic principles that underlie the design of the network.

In this post, we'll distill that ethos. First, we look at the movements in technology that have most directly influenced atproto.Then, we pull out the core innovations that atproto brought to the table. Finally, we highlight some opinionated ways of thinking that influenced the design.