@livestore/webmesh 0.3.0-dev.4 → 0.3.0-dev.40

package/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# @livestore/webmesh
+
+Webmesh is a library for connecting multiple nodes (windows/tabs, workers, threads, ...) in a network-like topology. It helps to establish communication channels between nodes.
+
+There are three types of channels:
+- ProxyChannel: a virtual channel by proxying messages along edges (via hop nodes)
+- DirectChannel: an end-to-end channel with support for transferable objects (e.g. `Uint8Array`) 
+- BroadcastChannel: a virtual channel by broadcasting messages to all connected nodes
+
+ProxyChannels and DirectChannels have the following properties (similar to TCP):
+- Has a unique name across the network
+- Auto-reconnects
+- Ordered messages
+- Reliable (buffers messages and acks each message)
+
+## Available edge connection implementations
+
+- `MessageChannel`
+- `BroadcastChannel` (both web and Node.js)
+- `WebSocket`
+- `window.postMessage`
+
+## Important notes
+
+- Each node name needs to be unique in the network.
+  - The node name is also used as a "tie-breaker" as part of the messaging protocol.
+- It's using the `WebChannel` concept from the `@livestore/utils` package.
+- We assume network edges to be low-latency (a few ms)
+- Webmesh is used in LiveStore as the foundation for the LiveStore devtools protocol communication.
+
+## Tradeoffs
+
+- Webmesh isn't meant for larger networks
+- Nodes are mostly stateless to simplify the protocol / implementation
+
+## Inspiration
+
+- Elixir `Distribution` / OTP
+  - https://elixirschool.com/en/lessons/advanced/otp_distribution
+	- https://serokell.io/blog/elixir-otp-guide
+- Consul by HashiCorp
+- Ethernet