Erebos v0.7 & 0.8: hello timelines!

Erebos is a JavaScript client for Swarm that was built by the Mainframe team and used inside of Mainframe OS. If you are not yet familiar with Erebos or Swarm, please read our introduction blog post!

Introducing Timelines

The timeline protocol describes a singly linked list JSON data structure to use on top of Swarm. It simplifies the implementation of some application-level use cases based on iterating in a reverse chronological order, such as blog posts, a content stream, or a mailbox to name a few.

The protocol is described on the Erebos website, along with an example and the API provided by the @erebos/timeline package.

This protocol was created in collaboration with Javier Peletier, one of authors of Swarm feeds. For additional context, this GitHub issue conversation should provide the original background.

What’s new in Erebos v0.7 and v0.8?

Documentation website redesign

Make sure to check https://erebos.js.org/ out if you haven’t yet!

New package

The @erebos/wallet-hd package has been added in v0.8.0. It provides an easy API to interact with Hierarchical Deterministic wallets.

Additional features

New methods have been added to the Bzz APIs package and the Timeline package to help simplify high-level use cases.

More details about these new APIs can be found on the v0.8.0 release page.

Additional CLI commands

The CLI now provides additional commands for basic interactions with Swarm feeds and timelines.

Breaking changes

Feed-related methods in Bzz

The getFeedValue() and pollFeedValue() methods have been split into more specific methods. As a result, other methods have been renamed for better overall consistency.

Timeline methods

The @erebos/timeline package has been introduced in v0.7 and improved in v0.8. Some methods have been renamed to be more explicit.

More details about these breaking changes can be found on the v0.8.0 release page.

Many thanks to Javier Peletier, Attila Gazso and everyone else involved in defining the Timeline protocol!