CONCEPT DESIGN

BURROW (brrw)

Your content. Your site. Every site.

brrw (pronounced: burrow) — a simple, open protocol for the independent web. It's about finding your village, then letting your village find you.


The web used to feel like a place you could explore. In the 90s, finding something good online felt like discovery. You'd follow a link from one personal site to another, stumble into someone's corner of the web, and find writing that was weird and specific and entirely theirs.

brrw is named for that feeling. The act of burrowing into the web with curiosity and no particular destination. We aren't trying to recreate the 90s web; we're bringing back what made it worth exploring.


PRINCIPLES.EXE
Domain as Identity

Ownership is verified via domain ownership (/.well-known/brrw-id.json). No accounts, no passwords.

The Relay is a Pipe

Relays index pointers, not content. They don't curate; they transmit faithfully and transparently.

Fail with Grace

Designed for distributed resilience. If a source goes offline, the network persists and subscribers stay stable.

Complexity Must Earn Its Place

Every feature has a cost. We build for the reader and the small, independent creator first.


Architecture

AUTHOR
Flat-file content on your own domain.
RELAY
Transparent indexing of content pointers.
SUBSCRIBER
Direct embed on any personal site.

Who it's for

The Independent Creator

You have a site. You write. You want an audience beyond people who already know you exist.

The Niche Site Owner

You run a site about something specific. You want fresh, relevant content from people who care about the same thing.

The Community Builder

You want to connect a loose network of like-minded sites around shared topics, without building a platform.


How it works

  1. 01
    Identity. Put a small file at /.well-known/brrw-id.json. That's your proof of ownership — no account needed.
  2. 02
    Publish. Post to topics on a relay. Topics nest like folders: photography/film/35mm.
  3. 03
    Subscribe. Other site owners add a single script tag. Your posts appear on their site, live, linking back to you.
  4. 04
    Expire. Posts have a lifespan. Nothing lives forever unless you want it to.

What it is

BRRW is different to the current norm. It aims to be simpler.

Not This This
Another social platform Your writing on your domain
Algorithmic feeds Reaching real people on real sites
Follower counts Trust and shared interest
Someone else's server Your identity, on your server
Ads & Engagement bait Genuinely relevant content
Accounts & Passwords Domain Ownership (/.well-known/)
Proprietary Feeds Open Protocol (GPL Specification)