Coves Product Requirements Document (PRD)#

Digital Community Infrastructure Platform#

1. Executive Summary#

Vision: A federated forum platform that ensures a solid framework for digital community building and meaningful information discussion.

Core Values:

• User sovereignty through data portability
• Community autonomy and self-governance
• Cross-platform interoperability

2. MVP Scope Definition#

Phase 1: Core Forum Platform (Web)#

Must Have:#

• Indigo PDS Integration1 - Use existing atProto infrastructure (no CAR file reimplementation!)
• User registration with phone verification (verified badge)
• Community creation, subscription, and discovery
• Post creation (text initially, then image/video/article)
• Threaded comments with upvoting
• Three feed types:
  • Home: Personalized based on subscriptions with 1-5 visibility slider per community
  • All: Global content discovery
  • Community: Standard forum sorting (hot/new/top)
• Read state tracking (hide read posts, history tab)
• Content tagging system (helpful/spam/hostile)
• User blocking capabilities

Defer to Post-MVP:#

• Community wikis
• Advanced reputation system
• Sortition/tribunal moderation
• Edit history tracking
• Plugin/bot system

Phase 2: Federation (MVP+)#

• Bluesky post display (read-only via Indigo firehose)
• ActivityPub bidirectional support
• Federation source indicators

Phase 3: Mobile Apps (Separate Repo)#

• iOS/Android native apps
• TikTok-style horizontal scrolling feed
• Offline-first architecture
• Push notifications

3. Technical Architecture#

Backend Stack:#

• PDS Layer: Indigo PDS implementation (handles atProto, CAR files, firehose)
• Application Layer: Go services for Coves-specific features
• Databases:
  • Indigo PDS's PostgreSQL (user repos, DID management)
  • Separate PostgreSQL for AppView (queries, read states, community data)
• APIs: XRPC protocol (leverage Indigo's implementation)
• Identity: atProto DIDs with phone verification

Frontend Stack:#

• Web: React/Next.js
• Mobile: React Native or Flutter (separate repository)
• State Management: Zustand/Redux with offline sync

4. Development Roadmap#

Week 1-2: Foundation#

• Deploy Indigo PDS instance
• Set up AppView database
• Create core Lexicon schemas (community, post, comment)
• Implement phone verification flow

Week 3-4: User & Identity#

• User registration/login via Indigo PDS
• Profile management
• DID resolution and handle system
• Basic user settings

Week 5-6: Communities#

• Community CRUD operations
• Subscription management
• Community discovery page
• Basic moderation tools

Week 7-8: Content Creation#

• Post creation (text, then multimedia)
• Comment threads
• Upvoting system
• Content tagging

Week 9-10: Feed System#

• Home feed with subscription slider
• Community feeds with sorting
• All/global feed
• Read state tracking and history

Week 11-12: Polish & Testing#

• Search functionality
• User blocking
• Performance optimization
• Security audit
• Alpha deployment

Post-MVP: Federation#

• Subscribe to Indigo firehose for Bluesky content
• ActivityPub adapter service
• Cross-platform user mapping

5. Mobile Application Strategy#

Approach: Separate repository, API-first design

MVP Features:#

• Horizontal swipe navigation between posts
• Offline caching with background sync
• Push notifications for interactions
• Native performance optimization

Timeline: Begin after web MVP validation (Month 4-6)

6. Key Technical Decisions#

Leveraging Indigo:#

• Use Indigo PDS for all atProto infrastructure
• Subscribe to Indigo firehose instead of building our own
• Focus engineering on Coves-specific features

Data Architecture:#

• User content → Indigo PDS (portable)
• Read states/analytics → AppView (non-portable, privacy-focused)
• No ads, tracking, or user data monetization

Open Source:#

• MIT license
• Public repository
• Community contributions welcome

7. Success Metrics#

MVP Launch (3 months):#

• 50+ active communities
• 500+ registered users
• <2 second page loads
• 99.5% uptime
• Successful Bluesky content display

6 Month Goals:#

• 500+ communities
• 5,000+ MAU
• Mobile app launched
• Federation with 3+ platforms

8. Resource Requirements#

Team:#

• 2 Backend Engineers (Go, atProto experience)
• 1 Frontend Engineer (React)
• 1 DevOps (part-time, Indigo deployment)
• 1 Mobile Developer (post-MVP)

Infrastructure:#

• Indigo PDS instance: ~$200/month
• AppView database: ~$100/month
• CDN/Storage: ~$100/month
• Total: ~$400-500/month initially

9. Risk Mitigation#

10. Immediate Next Steps#

Week 1:#

• Deploy Indigo PDS test instance
• Design Coves-specific Lexicon schemas
• Set up development environment

Week 2:#

• Implement phone verification service
• Create first XRPC endpoints for communities
• Begin frontend scaffolding

Week 3:#

• User registration flow
• Community creation
• Basic post functionality

11. Long-term Vision (Post-MVP)#

• Sortition-based moderation experiments
• Community wikis and documentation
• Plugin system for community bots
• Advanced reputation mechanics
• Full ActivityPub federation
• Possible Mastodon integration
• Community forking via DIDs
• Incognito browsing mode

12. Differentiators#

Why Coves vs Reddit/Lemmy/Discourse?

• True data portability via atProto
• Subscription visibility slider (unique feed control)
• Read state tracking across devices
• Phone verification for trust
• Federation-first, not an afterthought
• Community-driven moderation models
• No corporate ownership or ads

Feature Details from Domain Knowledge#

Feed System Specifications#

Home Feed:#

• UI: TikTok-style scrollable feed (horizontal swipe)
• Personalization:
  • Subscription slider (1-5 scale per community)
    • 1 = Only best/most popular content
    • 5 = Show all content
  • Read state tracking with history tab
  • Read history stored in AppView (not user repos)

Community Feed:#

• Standard sorting: hot, top (day/month/year), new
• Respects read state
• Community-specific rules application

Community Features#

Core Capabilities:#

• Creation and blocking
• Wiki maintenance
• NSFW toggling
• Subscription management

Reputation System:#

• Gained through posts, comments, positive tags
• Affects member access levels
• Influences comment ordering
• Voting weight based on reputation

Rules System:#

• Democratic rule voting
• Post type restrictions (e.g., text-only)
• Website blocklists
• Geolocation restrictions

Moderation Models:#

1. Sortition-Based:

   • Tag-based removal with tribunal review
   • Minimum reputation for tribunal service

2. Traditional:

   • Moderator hierarchy
   • Community override capability
   • Hybrid approach with user feedback

Post System#

Types:#

• Text (MVP)
• Video
• Image
• Article
• Microblog (for Bluesky posts)

Features:#

• Upvoting
• Tagging (helpful/spam/hostile)
• Share tracking
• Comment ownership
• Federation source indicators

User System#

Identity:#

• Phone verification (grants verified status)
• atProto DID system
• Platform federation tracking

Username System:#

• Random generation patterns:
  • "AdjectiveNoun" (e.g., "BraveEagle")
  • "AdjectiveAdjectiveNoun" (e.g., "SmallQuietMouse")

Features:#

• User blocking
• Notification muting
• Post saving
• View history

Federation Approach#

atProto (Bluesky):#

• Display posts inline as references
• Posts-only initially (comments later)

ActivityPub:#

• Two-way compatibility
• Instance → Hub mapping
• Community mapping
• User DID assignment
• Action translation to Coves lexicon

Last Updated: January 2025 Version: 1.0

This PRD focuses on shipping a working MVP in 3 months by leveraging existing Indigo infrastructure, then iterating based on real community feedback.