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What is W3DS?

W3DS (Web 3.0 Data Spaces) is the shared foundation all apps in this ecosystem (CORE and others) are built on. It's a way of handling your identity and your data that doesn't lock either one inside a single app.

The problem it solves

Normally, every app you use owns a private copy of your data. Your profile on App A doesn't know about your profile on App B — you re-enter the same information everywhere, and if you ever left an app, your data would be stuck there.

W3DS flips this around: you own your data, not the app. Apps become interchangeable windows onto data that actually lives with you.

Your Digital Self

W3DS gives every person (and every group, like a co-op or a workgroup) three things:

  • eName — your permanent digital ID number. It never changes, even if everything behind it does.
  • ePassport — your personal cryptographic key. It's what lets you log in to any W3DS-compatible app with no separate account, no username, no password to remember.
  • eVault — your personal data store. Your profile, posts, messages, memberships — whatever an app would normally keep for you — actually lives here, not inside the app.

Think of the eVault as your own personal filing cabinet, the ePassport as your key to it, and the eName as the label on the drawer that never changes.

How apps use it

An app in this ecosystem (CORE, for example) doesn't hoard your data — it reads and writes to your eVault:

  1. You do something in the app (join a workgroup, update your profile).
  2. The app translates that into a shared, standard format (called an ontology schema, so every app describes "a person" or "a membership" the same way) and saves it to your eVault.
  3. Your eVault notifies every other app you use that something changed.
  4. Those apps update their own view automatically — no copy-pasting, no manual export/import.

A central Registry keeps track of which eName belongs to which eVault, so any app can always find the right one.

Why this matters for you

  • One login everywhere — your ePassport works across every W3DS app.
  • No lock-in — stop using an app, and your data doesn't disappear with it.
  • Consistency — update your profile once, and every connected app sees the change.
  • You're in control — your eVault decides who's allowed to read or write your data, not the apps.

Learn more

Official docs: docs.w3ds.metastate.foundation