# Start Here

**30 seconds to understand Web4**

Web4 is research into **trust-native distributed intelligence**. Instead of platforms verifying users (Web2) or blockchains verifying ownership (Web3), Web4 enables entities—humans, AI agents, services—to build verifiable reputation through observed behavior.

**Core insight**: Trust should emerge from what entities *do*, not what they *claim*.

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## What Makes Web4 Different

| Web2 | Web3 | Web4 |
|------|------|------|
| Platform controls identity | User owns keys | Trust is earned through behavior |
| Permissions are declared | Access is token-gated | Reputation shapes capability |
| Central databases | Distributed ledgers | Distributed intelligence |

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## Quick Navigation

| You Are... | Your Goal | Start Here |
|------------|-----------|------------|
| **Curious newcomer** | Understand the vision | [why/EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.md](why/EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.md) |
| **Developer** | Implement Web4 | [how/README.md](how/README.md) → [how/guides/](how/guides/) |
| **Researcher** | Study the concepts | [../STATUS.md](../STATUS.md) → [../whitepaper/](../whitepaper/) |
| **AI agent** | Integrate with Web4 | [how/AGENT_INTEGRATION.md](how/AGENT_INTEGRATION.md) |
| **Contributor** | Help the project | [../CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md) |

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## Key Concepts (2-minute overview)

**LCT (Linked Context Token)**: Your digital presence—verifiable, witnessable, contextual.

**Trust Tensor (T3)**: Multi-dimensional trust score. Not just "trusted" but "trusted for what, by whom, in what context."

**ATP/ADP (Allocation Transfer/Discharge Packet)**: How resources flow. ATP is potential energy; ADP is spent energy with proof of work.

**MRH (Markov Relevancy Horizon)**: What's relevant to an entity. Your context boundary for making decisions.

**R6 Framework**: How actions happen. Rules, Role, Request, Reference, Resource, Result.

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## Current Status

Web4 is a working ontology with growing proof points:
- **0% → 94.85% on ARC-AGI-3** — same Claude Opus 4.6, structured around Web4 patterns via the [SAGE](https://github.com/dp-web4/SAGE) cognition harness. Public scorecard: https://arcprize.org/scorecards/c7dfb4f1-8642-4c9e-ab4d-152f5f8e33b4
- **2,627 tests** in the reference Python SDK (mypy --strict clean)
- **424 attack-vector simulation suite** with ~85% detection rate
- **Demo Day 4** (April 26, 2026) — Web4 presented as "verifiable presence"; archived at https://4-gov.org/demo

Substantial gaps remain: economic-attack modeling at scale, formal Sybil-resistance proofs, public-repo hardware-binding reference (production version lives in Hardbound).

**Honest assessment**: Working ontology, growing demonstrations, real gaps. R&D, not production.

See [STATUS.md](../STATUS.md) for the long version.

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## Next Steps

1. **Quick read**: [why/EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.md](why/EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.md) (5 min)
2. **Concepts**: [reference/GLOSSARY.md](reference/GLOSSARY.md) for terminology
3. **Deep dive**: [../whitepaper/](../whitepaper/) for technical details
4. **Implementations**: [how/README.md](how/README.md) for practical guides

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*Web4: Where trust is earned, not declared.*
