Fabric

Fabric is an experimental approach to the secure establishment and execution of peer-to-peer agreements, up to and including financial transactions. With a robust library of common components, npm i @fabric/core provides all the tools one might require during the development of a well-researched application of decentralization technology.

Getting Started

If you're already familiar with node and have a project already started, try npm install --save @fabric/core to install Fabric Core, the primary library used for most Fabric-based applications.

You'll also want bitcoind installed, and fully synchronized with your preferred network. You can use scripts/playnet.sh to run a local playnet node, for which you can use the faucet: https://faucet.playnet.fabric.pub

Fork and clone the Fabric GitHub repository and launch a local web server with npm run examples to view the examples, or npm run docs once you're ready to integrate Fabric into your application.

Compiling from Source

See also BUILD.md for a full guide, including Bitcoin and Lightning.

git clone git@github.com:FabricLabs/fabric.git
cd fabric
git checkout feature/v0.1.0-RC1
npm install -g
npm run build

Available Commands

• npm run cli provides a direct command-line interface to the Fabric network.
• npm run dev serves a developer interface over localhost HTTP.
• npm run docs creates a local HTTP server for browsing documentation.
• npm run examples creates a local HTTP server for interacting with examples.
• npm start creates a local Fabric node.

Native Dependencies

Installing Fabric from npm (npm i @fabric/core) will generally compile the following dependencies from the local system:

• secp256k1
• level
• zeromq

API

The Fabric reference implementation exposes a simple message-passing interface using the actor model, enabling your downstream applications to subscribe to simple events for rapid prototyping of distributed applications.

Using as a Library

Using the EventEmitter pattern, you can create an instance of Fabric to use it as an event source.

Simple Example

const Fabric = require('@fabric/core');
const fabric = new Fabric();

fabric.on('message', function (message) {
  console.log('Received message from Fabric:', message);
});

fabric.start();

service now contains a full instance of Fabric, including SET and GET methods for publishing and retrieving documents. Use npm run examples to see more.

Message Types

Message types are as follows:

message

The generic message event.

Properties:

• @type name of the event type.
• @data the content of the event, if any.

Using Fabric in the Browser

Fabric generates a fabric.min.js bundle, which can be included with any HTML document to expose the API in a browser.

Other Fabrics

Several other projects have used the name Fabric, as it's a great way to describe a network of things, conjuring feelings of nets and webs. Here are some links to them, as they offer some interesting things completely unrelated to our goals.

• Fabric python project (#fabric on Freenode)
• Fabric application framework by Twitter
• HyperLedger Fabric, by IBM

Plugins

Fabric is an extensible framework, supporting a variety of plugins.

Package	Description	Status
@fabric/http	serve Fabric apps to the legacy web (HTTP)
@fabric/github	interact with GitHub through Fabric
@fabric/matrix	connect to Matrix servers
@fabric/twilio	send (and receive) SMS and phone calls
@fabric/zapier	interact with arbitrary zapier triggers
@fabric/doorman	an artificially intelligent assistant

Running on Fabric

Several successful projects are built with or are running on Fabric, including:

• Doorman, an artificially intelligent assistant
• IdleRPG, a simple RPG game which rewards you for remaining idle
• Verse, a virtual universe simulator

To add your project to the list, read the API docs, create a public repository for the source code, then edit this file to include a link to your work.

Learning More

The best place to get started is in the #learning channel, a collection of empassioned educators eager to help you.

Fabric on Twitter: @FabricProtocol