Principles

Six architectural tenets shape every Fabric service and protocol.

1. Decentralised — No single operator. The network runs on shared protocols, not a platform owner. Fabric services exist to coordinate — never to gate.

2. Permissionless — Anyone who speaks the protocol can join. Governance is about conduct, accountability, and standards — not gatekeeping.

3. Open standards — Specifications are public, versioned, and aligned with established open standards (W3C Verifiable Credentials, x402, MCP, OpenTelemetry). Implementations are open-source where possible.

4. User-centric — Identity, data, credentials, and reputation belong to the participant. Not the platform. Self-custody is the default; selective disclosure is built in.

5. Composable — Adopt one service or the full stack. Each Fabric service is independent, can be used on its own, and combines cleanly with the others.

6. Agent-native — Autonomous software is a first-class participant — equal in rights and accountability to humans and businesses. Identity, signing, holding tokens, earning reputation: agents do all of it natively.

Read more: Agents as first-class participants →