Ceramic is a permissionless protocol and decentralized network for smart documents that is currently in pre-alpha testnet.

Decentralization, community, and open source are core to the vision of Ceramic. Although the network is still in its infancy, we’re already taking steps to decentralize control over where the platform is headed and giving it to you— the community.

Introducing, Ceramic Improvement Proposals

We’re excited to introduce the Ceramic Improvement Proposal (CIP) framework, along with a set of supporting processes, as a way for the community to have control in shaping the future of the network.

If you’re familiar with popular open source languages (Python) or decentralized networks (Bitcoin, Ethereum), then you likely already understand what CIPs are all about.

For those that aren’t, CIPs allow anyone to propose improvements to the Ceramic network across a range of dimensions — from core protocol specifications to doctypes, schemas, use case standards, and meta process improvements. All of this takes place in the open on Github issues and pull requests in the Ceramic CIP repo.

[ceramicnetwork/CIP

The Ceramic Improvement Proposal repository. Contribute to ceramicnetwork/CIP development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubceramicnetwork
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ceramicnetwork/CIP

Ceramic Improvement Proposals (CIPs) are standards for the Ceramic platform, including core protocol specifications…

github.com

From start to finish, the entire CIP process is 100% community-driven and open source. Anyone is free to create a new CIP, input on the CIPs of others, advocate for their standard, or whatever else you would like to do. All we ask is that you follow the process outlined in CIP-1.

Motivation

Here are some of the reasons why Ceramic needs a CIP process:

• To define an explicit governance process for Ceramic network upgrades
• To make it easy for community members to contribute to the development of the protocol and its standards
• To provide a way for developers to discover existing implementation standards accepted by the community when building their product
• To provide a historical record of how and why things changed over time
• To provide a vehicle for community discussion around important topics
• To remove any individual or group of individuals as gatekeepers to the Ceramic network

Get Involved

The entire CIP process is outlined in CIP-1. To create a new CIP, open an issue.

Additionally, the CIP framework has a few supporting processes:

• Community Calls: Tri-weekly video calls where the Ceramic community convenes to discuss things that are important and relevant, including CIPs. Add the community call calendar here.
• Core Devs Calls: Tri-weekly video calls where the Ceramic developer community convenes to discuss the core protocol and network, including CIPs that could potentially be included in a future network upgrade. Add the core devs call calendar here.
• Working Groups: Community-organized working groups where contributors and interested individuals meet to tackle specific challenges, such as collaborating on one or more CIPs that solve a specific issue. Working groups offer more dedicated space to collaborate beyond Github issue comments. Working groups are organized as part of the Ceramic Ecosystem Alliance. To join or start a working group, join the CEA.

See you in the CIP repo and on the Ceramic Discord.