Cokkoc

Project Tribe is a cross-platform solution simplifying the process of creating, organizing and managing pure P2P network groups (also called NetGroup or Mesh). Unlike common P2P platforms, Tribe does not utilize any server storing or holding data transfered between peers. Therefore, we call it a pure, (serverless), peer to peer system (P³).

A short digression: You might wonder why is there then a Tribe Server. A Tribe Server is only required if you tend to make your Tribe publicly accessible within the internet, besides that, a Tribe Server is a so-called Rendezvous Server which sole task is to connect peers with each other.
References: Tribe Server FAQ: Serverless

NetGroups can be established either in a safe, private local network environment ( LAN) or in the publicly accessible internet. A well-configured and with features equipped NetGroup is called a Tribe.

A tribe can be a single as well a structured formation of Meshes. Each Tribe has exactly one entry point, an initial NetGroup (The Gate); configured with some features forms the Gate Mesh.

A Tribe is represented and accessible by its unique Tribe Uri.

With the idea of simplifying and supporting the process of building self-sufficient and autarchic P³ communities, largely avoiding external dependencies to external resources, the developement and design of Tribe was kept as abstract as possible. Hence, Tribe is versatile and might be useful not only just for that.

Usage Examples:

Collaborative projects e.g. Research and development of new ideas.
Exhibition booth map
Association event schedules and announcements
Customer - Supplier - Third Party information exchange
Think tank discussion forums (e.g. think tank)
Taxi central (Utilizing Locations, Messaging)
Restaurant Ordering Menu (Utilizing Ias, Messaging)
B&B. Keep your visitors connected, plan sightseeing trips (Utilizing Ias, Messaging)
Family e.g. shared shopping list
Personal use e.g. data exchange between devices (Utilizing Ias, Messaging)

Tribe Apps and their main purpose:

Chief	Creating Tribes. Can visit other Tribes as well.
Wanderer	For Tribe hopping, visiting other Tribes.
Elders	For Tribe hopping, visiting other Tribes. (Reduced UI)
Servant	Assists a Tribe's Chief with message delivery for offline users. Servants can visit other Tribes as well.
Shaman	Assists a Tribe's Chief with auto-responding to queries. Shamans can visit other Tribes as well.
Deed	Dedicated app for the 'Ias' feature. Deed has not the ability to join Tribes but a Tribe's Backstages.
Colony	Dedicated app for the 'Locations' feature. Colony has not the ability to join Tribes but a Tribe's Backstages.
Tribe Server	Makes Tribes accessible within the internet.

Note: For the ease of testing, Wanderer, Elders, Shaman and Servant have the same features as the Chief app, at this stage of development.

Note to dedicated apps: For convenience reasons, some of the Chief App features have been additionally externalized to individual and independently running apps (Ias -> Deed and Locations -> Colony). This allows a Chief to outsource some tasks not only to parallel running applications but also to other users, while focusing on the actual tasks or activities of his Tribe.

Tribe Features

Messaging

Message delivery types:

There are basically two different ways how messages get transmitted.

Posting.
All members will receive the message.
Routing (Direct Message).
Message will be routed over the NetGroup to a specific peer without having a direct connection to that member. Ahead of sending, the message will be encrypted.

Message content types:

There are basically two different content types for messages. The Tribe chief determines which of the two is active. Each mesh can be configured individually.

Raw Text Messages
Raw text messages do not have any styling neither they can contain attachments. The advantage of using raw text messages is that they eat much less space and therefore be faster transmitted.
Enhanced Messages
Enahanced messages are not only fully stylable but also allow to include or attach data. It is up to the Chief to decide to what extent styling is permitted.

Message Styles are for example:
- Font family
- Font size (min / max sizes)
- Colors
- ...

Message attachments:

Enhanced messages facilitate authorized or all clients, depending on the Chiefs Mesh configuration, to embed, attach or link data. The Tribe owner (Chief) specifies limits and defines the kind of data or information which can be attached.

Type of attachments:

Encrypted Text
Voice message
Broadcast announcement
Generative Images
Files
Note: Attachments exceeding the specified mesh limit will be automatically converted to mesh shared assets.
Shares (local or global)
Contact Information
Events

Audio / Video Broadcasts (Streaming)

You can stream flv, mp4 videos, your devices camera and/or microphone to other members within a NetGroup.

NOTE:

Every member within a mesh is able to subscribe to streams. In contrast to the calling feature, Braodcasts will be streamed over the mesh to all connected members. It is up to the Chief by configuring a NetGroup and enable, allow all or allow specific members only to stream. Each of the meshes can be configured individually.

Configuration options:

Enable for every member within the same mesh.
Enable for authorized clients within a mesh.
Disable streaming

Scenarios:

News Channel, Radio Station (One to many), Podium discussion (inviting people onto the stage), ...

TIP:

Utilize the virtual cameras of your streaming Software for a more professional environment.

Audio / Video Calls

Other than broadcasts, a call will not utilize the mesh to connect two clients with each other but establish a direct connection between these two peers.

NOTE:

A call can only be made if the two clients join at least one of the same Tribes.

NOTE/TIP:

I'm considering to setup a dedicated public call center Tribe where people can subscribe if they want to be reachable by anyone. Of course, you can as well create a call center by yourself.

Filesharing

With filesharing enabled, members or authorized clients are able to share files of any size. It is also called 'Object replication'. Object replication uses the full transitive connectivity of the group’s self-organized structure. It replicates objects through the group from nodes that have the objects to nodes that need the objects.

Tribe uses different ways of sharing files. Global filesharing allows users to prepare files for sharing and reuse them within different meshes. Whereby meshed shared files are only available for that specific mesh. You may consider global filesharing if you often share the same file or intend to share a big file within more than one mesh.

This feature can be set and configured by the Chief for each mesh separately.

Configuration options:

Enabled for all
Enable for authorized only
Disable filesharing

Interactive Snippets

An interactive snippet (Short: Ias) is a static shared and responsive document. Like a form sheet, it can contain different kind of input fields. Once published to one of the Chiefs Tribe Meshes, Users are empowered to interact with it and submit their data. The Chief can configure the Ias so that data is sent either only to him, to authorized clients or to all members of a NetGroup. An Ias can not only contain input fields but controls for displaying the submitted data too. The data can be displayed either by charts or tables. The received data will be stored in so-called data providers and can be used for further processing. Furthermore, the Chief can decide which of the fields and controls are visible to whom. He can choose between: 'Chief only', 'Members only', 'Both' or 'None'.

NOTE: However, interactive snippets can of course also be used as simple non-interactive snippets.

Available controls:

Input controls like TextInput, DropDown List, List, CheckBoxes, RadioButtons, Sliders
Output or display controls like Table, Bar-Chart, Line-Chart, Area-Chart, Pie-Chart
Submit Button
Dataproviders, for storing data

INFO: Ias'es can not only be created out of the Chief app but with the dedicated app called Deed, as well.

Example usage scenarios:

Voting system,
Restaurant menue,
Reporting service,
Information provider

Locations

Locations is a feature allowing a Chief to share virtual or real-world places to members within a Mesh. Spots can be visualized as points, paths or areas. Real-world or virtual locations, both of them are always bound to real-world longitude/Latitute encoded locations. It is especially usefully if you use the location feature in real world scenarios; visitors are then able to use their GPS (Global Positioning System) to be directly linked and shown on the map.
In case of virtual locations your visitors have to navigate manually.

Scenarios:

Your tribes floor plan e.g. market with several booths.
Link your locations (virtual or real-world) to certain lodges
Plan or organize trips (biking, hiking, ...)
Hot-Spots around your B&B, let travelers connect with and care of each other.
Virtual shopping centre with link their corresponding lodges
Compound orientation map for newcomers.

Planned features

Marketplace

A marketplace where you and your visitors are able to share any kind of things.

Intended features:

Create your own tribe wide currency.
Features supporting optimized demand and supply control.
Exchange by valued objects.

Web3 Bridge

An integrated bridge from Tribe market to Web3.

Intended features:

Sell / Buy / Exchange Tribe wide currencies to a global coin.

Tribe features by app

Feature / App	Chief	Wanderer	Elders	Servant	Shaman	Deed	Colony	Tribe Server
Multiple Badges
Backstage Sharing
Create, Manage, Tribes and Lodges
Messaging
File Sharing
Broadcasting
Calls
Create Locations
Locations
Snippets
Create Interactive Snippets (Ias)
Events
Contacts

App features

Features all Cokkoc apps share.

Unified User Interface

The unified user interface shall give you a kind of familiar feeling to intuitively find the things you are looking for. The user interface is mainly split up into the following areas:

Homogenous look and feel. Unified User Interface over all Tribe apps.
Quick switch theme. Create and switch themes quickly.
Quick scale. Change the look and feel of your Tribe apps by altering the scale factor.
Auto-scale. Define different scale factors for each of the 3 display modes (Fullscreen, Maximized, Normal).
Auto rotate. Automatically rotates between portrait and landscape mode according the orientation of your devices screen.
Optimized layout in landscape or portrait mode and different form factors.
Unified app areas. Each of the areas (TitleBar, ActionBar, StatusBar, SystemBar, Menubar) serve a certain purpose.

Common features

Transparent data storage Easy to locate all of your data.
Events. Set reminders quickly, even for different timezones.
Snippets. Take quick notes with styled text fragments ... and reuse them.
Sound settings:
Enable or Disable sound effects for different actions or notifications
Backstage:
You can easily create, enable/disable an own private backstage network between your local devices to conveniently share files and Tribe specific data between each other.
Keep App in front of others (Desktop versions only!):
Allows you to keep your app in front of all other, on your devices system, running apps. That's a useful feature if you intend to work on another but still want to observe what's going on in your Tribe app. You don't need to switch between these apps to bring them in front.
System wide logging:
With the logging feature you are able to observe what's going on behind the scenes. Small notifications will appear ot the status bar before ending up in a log table. You can easily configure and change it at any time which kind of information you wanna be notified. There are following distinguished levels whereby the lower level covers the upper level: Debug, Info, Error, Warnings, Fatal events or just nothing.
System invokes
Lets you easily import tribe specific data and puts them at the right place. Unknown data is queued up and waits for you approval to import or save at a location you decide.
Quick scale
allows you to quickly adapt the size scale appearance of the app. For Desktop versions: You can specify different setups for 3 different screen modes (Normal, Maximized, Fullscreen). For Mobile versions: You can specify different setups for 2 screen modes (Normal, Fullscreen).
Button modes
Switch between different button modes (Symbol and Label (default), Symbol Only, Label Only, Symbol and Shortcut)
Distraction free mode
Show / Hide Menu, Title, Status, and System -bar. In addition to that, toggling to 'Zen' mode within the main view will perform a quick switch hide / show all of the control bars.
Screen lock
Lock your app when leaving your place to prevent others from misusing it.
System status. Always know your storage and memory usage.
System information
Information about your device capabilities.
Instant language switch. Quick switch between other languages. The UI controls displayed label will instantly update to the corresponding language.
NOTE: The 'fall-back' language is english (by default). The locale system will be updated continuously. You can select between 23 languages.
Following locales are currently supported:

da_DK, de_CH, de_DE, el_GR, en_AU, en_CA, en_GB, en_US, es_ES, fi_FI, fr_CH, fr_FR, it_IT, ja_JP, ko_KR, nb_NO, nl_NL, pt_BR, pt_PT, ru_RU, sv_SE, zh_CN, zh_TW.
Short message exchange via Barcode Generator and Reader. Easily and quickly exchange some text lines via barcodes.
Integrated documentation. No need to connect to the internet to get some Help. Each 'view' has its own help document.
Integrated Help System
Inline help with short right at the place. Additional, each view has its own dedicated help page, no Internet necessary.
Multiple Profiles ()
Create multiple profiles (Badge) e.g. A profile for group of tribes you visit in you leasure time. A profile for group of tribes you use for interactions in your business / company. see: What is a batch
Quick location (GPS) view Let's you see your current position. You can quickly enable / disable global GPS transfers.
Contacts
Classify, Categorize or group your contacts to easily find them.
Zen mode ... quick switch to a less-stressful view.
Internet independent. Once data shared it is replicated on your device or someone else's device.

Tribe Apps

Chief

The “Chief” app could be described as the main app of Project Tribe. It does not only have all the features the other Tribe apps have, but is particularly designed for creating and running tribes. Creating a tribe is the process of configuring a Gate Mesh and publish or sharing the automatically generated Tribe Uri with others. You can create and run as many Tribes in parallel as you desire. Nonetheless, a Chief can as all the other Tribe apps, visit other Tribes.

Chief specific features

Create and manage Tribes and their Lodges.
Decide the visibility of your Tribe. You can choose between Local Discovery or Internet.
Create interactive Snippets (see Ias).
Create real geographical or virtual environments.
Assign trusted clients as councils and moderators.
Blacklist unwanted visitors.
Assign Shamans.
Assign Servants.
Configure meshes
- Specify max size of messages.
- Enable/Disable auto share if max size of messages exceeds
- Set slowmode, specify a timeout for users sending messages.
- Enable / Disable stylable messages
- Enable / Disable message attachments.
  Specify type of attachments
  - Files
  - Global Fileshares
  - Audio recordings
  - Namecard items (Badge content)
  - Internal Tribe links (e.g. links to messages or lodges
  - External Tribe links
  - Urls
  - Generative Images
  - Events
  - Encrypted Text
  - Announce Broadcasts
- Enable / Disable / Authorized only posting.
- Enable / Disable routing.
- Enable / Disable / Authorized only streaming.

Wanderer

Wanderer is made for visiting Tribes. It is a relatively thin app and therefore ideal for mobile devices. With Wanderer you have all the features you need to visit your favourite Tribes.

Elder

Elders is the thinest of all Tribe Apps and therefore ideal for mobile devices. In contrast to the Wanderer, the Elders has a reduced (less stressful) UI and implemented feature set. It is optimized for Users likely to stay within a single Tribe at a time.

Servant

Servant is an assistive client to the Tribe. It's an entity within a Mesh serving other members relay direct message or synchronizing missed messages. It integrates a sync and / or relay service. As Tribe is a P³ Solution, there are no intermediate data servers involved. A servant is a kind of data holder and act like a post office if you will. By default, without assigning a Servant, direct message will be simply queued and transmitted when both parties, sender and recipient are online.

NOTE: You can take your own servant with you while hopping around.

Shaman

A Shaman is an assistive client to the Tribe. It's an entity within a Mesh serving other members with automated tasks. It integrates a trigger service.
A Shaman is meant to be a wise entity within a Tribe who has answers for everything.

Backed by a Database you can build up a collection of snippets to feedback to the mesh when triggered by a request in form of a keyword.

Scenarios:

Introduction purposes.
Sharable knowledge base (e.g. Wiki).
Help replies.
...

Deed

Deed is the dedicated app for creating Interactive Snippet feature section. Creating Interactive Snippets is an exclusive feature implemented within the Chief app. Deed might be helpful if you want to outsource the process of creating snippets or simply want to do it in a parallel running app still being able taking care of your other tribe activities.

Colony

Colony is the dedicated app for the Locations feature. Creating fiktive or geographical bound location objects is an exclusive feature included in the Chief app. Colony might be helpful for a Chief to outsource the process of creating locations.

Tribe Server

Tribe Server is a so-called Rendezvous Server. Its sole and only job is to connect peers with each other. No data is floating over or through the server!
Which means it consumes minimal server bandwidth and system resources.

Tribe itself does not rely on a rendezvous server as long as you run your Tribe in a local area network (LAN). Tribe has the ability to automatically locate peers and connect them with each other. It's called local discovery or LAN peer discovery.

If you decide to make your Tribe publicly accessible within the internet, you either utilize one of the public Tribe Server's available or simply run your own.

Whether or not running a publicly accessible Tribe you can utilize a Tribe server as well in your private local network environment. Tribe Server has some additional useful features you might want to consider.

Web-Server
Media-Server, (supported formats: MP4 FLV, F4V TS HLS ADTS, AAC, MP3 SubRip, VTT)
Supported protocols: HTTP/S, WebSocket (TLS), STUN, RTMP(E), RTMFP, SRT, RTP
Highly customizable by LUA script applications.

NOTE: Tribe Server sits on top of MonaServer, the excellent work of Mathieu Poux and Thomas Jammet.
Websites:
https://www.monaserver.ovh
https://github.com/MonaSolutions/MonaServer2

Tribe Explained

Tribe Interactive

Apps by Operating System

Desktop = Linux, MacOS, Windows;
Mobile = Android, iOS;
All = Desktop, Mobile;

Note to Linux: Ubuntu only, at the moment.

App	OS	Remarks
Chief	All	Recommended: Desktop
Wanderer	All	Reduced feature set
Elders	All	Reduced feature set, Reduced UI
Servant	All	Recommended: Desktop
Shaman	All	Recommended: Desktop
Deed	All	Recommended: Desktop
Colony	All	Recommended: Desktop
Tribe Server	Desktop

FAQ

Note to the nerds: Please do understand, I try to explain some terms in a non-technical way for the broader audience.

What does Local Discovery mean?

Local Discovery or also called LAN peer discovery is the ability to automatically locate peers within a local area network (LAN) and connect them with each other.

What is a Peer, Node, Client?

A Peer, sometimes also called Node or Client is a member of a NetGroup, a Tribe or Lodge mesh.

What is a P2P Network, Mesh, NetGroup?

A P2P Network, Mesh or NetGroup is the compound structure of peers. It's a topology used to organize nodes into a network, so they can transmit data between each other. There is a path between every peer in a NetGroup. There may not be a direct connection between two peers, but there is always a path through other peers.
In contrasts to a client-server model, there is no central server dealing with all kinds of stuff. E.g. data does not need to be sent to the server to be distributed to each client.

What is a Tribe, Lodge?

Tribe is meant to be a space for keeping a group of things connected and allow them to interact with each other without restrictions. Things can be literally just anything. You can just link up your devices, keep your family connected, people with same interests, ... it't just limited by your imagination.

Lodges are simply subgroups within a Tribe but only accessible via the gate of a Tribe, otherwise they have the same functionality.

What is a Tribe Uri?

A Tribe Uri is similar to what you usually enter in your web browser's address field navigating to a website. Tribe has its own style. It looks something like that:

tribe://tribe-server.cokkoc.com/?GS=...

To allow others to join your Tribe you usually share your Tribe's uri.

Glossary

Cross-platform: Cross-platform is the ability of software applications to operate on multiple operating systems (OS) or hardware. Pleas check Tribe Apps by OS for an overview of all the Cokkoc Apps.
Peer, Node, Client, Member: Are interchangeable terms for an actively participating item within a Peer to Peer Mesh.
P2P: Stands for Peer to Peer.
P³: Stands for Pure Peer to Peer.
NetGroup, Mesh: Are interchangeable terms for a group of Peers connected virtually directly with each other.
Ias: Abbreviation for 'Interactive Snippet'.

Table of content:

Project Tribe

Tribe Apps and their main purpose:

Tribe Features

Messaging

Message delivery types:

Message content types:

Message attachments:

Audio / Video Broadcasts (Streaming)

Audio / Video Calls

Filesharing

Interactive Snippets

Locations

Planned features

Marketplace

Web3 Bridge

Tribe features by app

App features

Unified User Interface

Common features

Tribe Apps

Chief

Chief specific features

Specify type of attachments

Wanderer

Elder

Servant

Shaman

Deed

Colony

Tribe Server

Tribe Explained

Apps by Operating System

FAQ

Glossary