Pear by Holepunch

Pear loads applications remotely from peers and allows anyone to create and share applications with peers.

Pear is an installable Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Runtime, Development & Deployment platform.

Build, share & extend unstoppable, zero-infrastructure P2P applications for Mobile, Desktop & Terminal.

Welcome to the Internet of Peers

  – Holepunch, the P2P Company

Documentation

• Terms
• Legend
• Reference
• Examples
• Guides
• How-tos
• Pear Modules
• P2P Modules
• Bare Modules
• Tools
• Showcase

Terms

• API - Application-Programming-Interface
• CLI - Command-Line-Interface
• link - a pear:// link, a file:// link or an absolute/relative dir path
• P2P - Peer-to-Peer

Legend

Throughout the documentation, indications of stability are provided. Some modules are well-established and used widely, making them highly unlikely to ever change. Other modules may be new, experimental, or known to have risks associated with their use.

The following stability indices have been used:

Stability	Description
stable	Unlikely to change or be removed in the foreseeable future
experimental	New, untested, or has known issues
deprecated	Being removed or replaced in the future
unstable	May change or be removed without warning

Showcase

Peer-to-Peer applications built on, deployed with, running on Pear.

• Keet: A peer-to-peer chat and video-conferencing application with end-to-end encryption.

Reference

Pear is a native point-to-point peer-to-peer capable platform that consists of a runtime binary, an API, userland modules, a command-line interface, an on-demand daemon and an application shell to provide the capabilities to develop & deploy production P2P applications. With JavaScript and beyond.

Pear's runtime binary is built on Bare, a small and modular JavaScript runtime for desktop and mobile. Like Node.js, it provides an asynchronous, event-driven architecture for writing applications in the lingua franca of modern software. Unlike Node.js, embedding and cross-device are supported as core use cases, aiming to run just as well on mobile as desktop.

• Pear CLI
• Pear Configuration
• Pear API
• Bare API
• Templates
• Node.js Compatability
• Recommended Practices
• Troubleshooting
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Migration

Examples

• Pear Terminal
• Pear Desktop (Electron)
• Bare Android
• Bare iOS

Guides

Guides on using Pear Runtime to build and share peer-to-peer applications.

• Getting Started
• Starting a Pear Desktop Project
• Making a Pear Desktop Application
• Starting a Pear Terminal Project
• Making a Pear Terminal Application
• Sharing a Pear Application
• Releasing a Pear Application
• Making a Bare Mobile Application
• Creating a pear init Template

How-tos

Collection of How-tos using the essential peer-to-peer building-blocks in Pear applications.

• How to connect two peers by key with HyperDHT
• How to connect to many peers by topic with Hyperswarm
• How to replicate and persist with Hypercore
• How to work with many Hypercores using Corestore
• How to share append-only databases with Hyperbee
• How to create a full peer-to-peer filesystem with Hyperdrive

Pear Modules

The Pear global API is minimal and not intended as a standard library. Application & Integration libraries are supplied via installable modules prefixed with pear-.

Application Libraries

Pear modules related directly to application environment.

Module	Description	Systems	Stability
pear-crasher	Uncaught exceptions & uncaught rejections crash logger		stable
pear-message	Send inter-app pattern-matched object messages		stable
pear-messages	Receive object messages that match a given object pattern		stable
pear-pipe	Parent-app-connected pipe, the other end of pear-run pipe		stable
pear-run	Run Pear child app by link. Returns a pipe to the child pipe		stable
pear-updates	Receive platform and application update notifications		stable
pear-user-dirs	Get the path of user-specific directories		stable
pear-versions	Platform, Application and Runtime versions		stable
pear-wakeups	Receive wakeup events, including link clicks external to app		stable

User Interface Libraries|

Pear modules that supply User Interface runtime capabilities.

Module	Description	Systems	Stability
pear-electron	Pear User-Interface Library for Electron"		stable
pear-bridge	Local HTTP bridge for pear-electron applications		stable

Common Libraries

Pear modules for general usage, including applications per case.

Module	Description	Systems	Stability
pear-drop	Drop data, including application reset		stable
pear-dump	Synchronize files from link to dir peer-to-peer or from-disk		stable
pear-gracedown	Pear graceful closer. For use with pipe.autoexit = false		stable
pear-info	Read Pear project information by link		stable
pear-link	Parser-Serializer for pear:// links. Includes alias resolution		stable
pear-opwait	Pear operation stream promise wrapper		stable
pear-release	Set application production release version length		stable
pear-seed	Seed or reseed a Pear app drive by link		stable
pear-stage	Synchronize from-disk to app drive peer-to-peer		stable
pear-stamp	Interleave locals into a template, sync and stream		stable

Developer Libraries

Pear modules to assist with developing & debugging

Module	Description	Systems	Stability
pear-inspect	Securely enable remote debugging protocol over Hyperswarm		stable
pear-hotmods	For pear-electron UI apps. Frontend framework-agnostic live-reload		stable

Integration Libraries

Pear modules for runtime integrations. Such as pear-electron.

Module	Description	Systems	Stability
pear-appdrive	Read-only Hyperdrive API subset interface for application drives		stable
pear-aliases	List of aliases for pear://<alias> links		stable
pear-api	global.Pear API class		stable
pear-changelog	Changelog parsing and diffing		stable
pear-constants	Shared Pear constants		stable
pear-cmd	Command parser & definitions		stable
pear-errors	Shared Pear error types		stable
pear-gunk	Shared builtins, overrides & linker mappings		unstable
pear-ipc	Interprocess Communication library		stable
pear-ref	IO handle reference counter & tracker		stable
pear-rti	Runtime Information state bootstrap for API building		stable
pear-state	Shared state structure & capabilities		stable
pear-terminal	Terminal User Interface library		stable
pear-tryboot	Used with pear-ipc, tries to boot sidecar on connect failure		stable

P2P Modules

Modules that supply point-to-point peer-to-peer connection and storage capabilities.

Building-Block Libraries

The essential building-blocks for building powerful P2P applications using Pear.

Name	Description	Systems	Stability
hypercore	A distributed, secure append-only log for creating fast, scalable P2P applications		stable
hyperbee	An append-only B-tree running on a Hypercore. Allows sorted iteration and more		stable
hyperdrive	A secure, real-time, efficient distributed P2P file-system		stable
autobase	A "virtual Hypercore" layer over many Hypercores owned by many different peers		stable
hyperdht	The Distributed Hash Table (DHT) powering Hyperswarm		stable
hyperswarm	A high-level API for finding and connecting to peers by topic		stable

Helper Libraries

Helper modules can be used together with the building-blocks to create cutting-edge P2P tools and application-modules.

Name	Description	Systems	Stability
corestore	A Hypercore factory that simplifiest managing Hypercore collections		stable
localdrive	A file system interoperable with Hyperdrive		stable
mirror-drive	Mirror between a Hyperdrive and/or Localdrive		stable
@hyperswarm/secret-stream	Securely create connections between peers in a Hyperswarm		stable
compact-encoding	Binary encoding schemes for efficient parser-serializers.		stable
protomux	Multiplex multiple message oriented protocols over a stream		stable

Bare Modules

Pear's native runtime is Bare. The Bare global API is minimal and not intended as a standard library. Standard runtime functionality is provided via a installable modules. prefixed with bare-.

Module	Description	Systems	Stability
bare-abort	Cause abnormal program termination and generate a crash report		stable
bare-ansi-escapes	Parse and produce ANSI escape sequences		stable
bare-assert	Assertion library for JavaScript		stable
bare-atomics	Native synchronization primitives for JavaScript		stable
bare-buffer	Native buffers for JavaScript		stable
bare-bundle	Application bundle format for JavaScript		stable
bare-channel	Inter-thread messaging for JavaScript		stable
bare-console	WHATWG debugging console for JavaScript		stable
bare-crypto	Cryptographic primitives for JavaScript		stable
bare-daemon	Create and manage daemon processes in JavaScript		stable
bare-dgram	Native UDP for JavaScript		stable
bare-dns	Domain name resolution for JavaScript		stable
bare-encoding	WHATWG text encoding interfaces for JavaScript		stable
bare-env	Environment variable support for JavaScript		stable
bare-events	Event emitters for JavaScript		stable
bare-fetch	WHATWG Fetch implementation for Bare		stable
bare-form-data	Form data support for Bare		stable
bare-format	String formatting for JavaScript		stable
bare-fs	Native file system for JavaScript		stable
bare-hrtime	High-resolution timers for JavaScript		stable
bare-http1	HTTP/1 library for JavaScript		stable
bare-https	HTTPS library for JavaScript		stable
bare-inspect	Inspect objects as strings for debugging		stable
bare-inspector	V8 inspector support for Bare		stable
bare-ipc	Lightweight pipe-based IPC for Bare		stable
bare-logger	Low-level logger for Bare with system log integration		stable
bare-module	Module support for JavaScript		stable
bare-os	Operating system utilities for JavaScript		stable
bare-pack	Bundle packing for Bare		stable
bare-path	Path manipulation library for JavaScript		stable
bare-performance	Performance monitoring for Bare		stable
bare-pipe	Native I/O pipes for JavaScript		stable
bare-queue-microtask	Microtask queuing for Bare		stable
bare-readline	Line editing for interactive CLIs with command history		stable
bare-realm	Realm support for Bare		stable
bare-repl	Read-Evaluate-Print-Loop environment for JavaScript		stable
bare-rpc	https://github.com/holepunchto/librpc ABI compatible RPC for Bare		stable
bare-semver	Minimal semantic versioning library for Bare		stable
bare-signals	Native signal handling for JavaScript		stable
bare-stream	Streaming data for JavaScript		stable
bare-structured-clone	Structured cloning algorithm for JavaScript		stable
bare-subprocess	Native process spawning for JavaScript		stable
bare-tcp	Native TCP sockets for JavaScript		stable
bare-timers	Native timers for JavaScript		stable
bare-tls	Transport Layer Security (TLS) streams for JavaScript		stable
bare-tty	Native TTY streams for JavaScript		stable
bare-type	Cross-realm type predicates for Bare		stable
bare-unpack	Bundle unpacking for Bare		stable
bare-url	WHATWG URL implementation for JavaScript		stable
bare-worker	Higher-level worker threads for JavaScript		stable
bare-ws	WebSocket library for JavaScript		stable
bare-zlib	Stream-based zlib bindings for JavaScript		stable
bare-zmq	Low-level ZeroMQ bindings for JavaScript		stable

Compatibility modules for Node.js builtins in Bare can be found in bare-node.

Tools

Beyond the Pear CLI these ecosystem P2P CLI tools are additionally useful for day-to-day development and operations.

Name	Description	Systems	Stability
Hypershell	A CLI to create and connect to P2P E2E encrypted shells		stable
Hypertele	A swiss-knife proxy powered by hyperdht		stable
Hyperbeam	A one-to-one and end-to-end encrypted internet pipe		stable
Hyperssh	A CLI to run SSH over the DHT.		stable
Drives	CLI that interacts with hyperdrive & localdrive		stable