Building Decentralized Apps on Freenet

Freenet is a decentralized platform for building censorship-resistant services. Applications compile to WebAssembly and run across a peer-to-peer network with no central servers. This tutorial walks through creating a web UI, container, and backend contract, building locally, and serving the app from a Freenet node.

Reference Implementation: River - a decentralized chat application that demonstrates all the patterns in this tutorial.

River - a decentralized chat app built on Freenet

1. Architecture Overview

Freenet apps have three components: Contract (shared state on the network), Delegate (private data on your device), and UI (web interface). See the full architecture diagram.

Contract, Delegate, and UI components

Contract (Network Layer)

The contract is your application’s backend. It runs as WebAssembly on untrusted peers across the network.

A different model: Blockchain contracts are transaction processors replicated everywhere. Freenet contracts are general-purpose replicated data structures—they can model any shared data, from chat to documents to games—and exist only on subscribing nodes. This scales without practical limit.

Key properties:

  • Defines what valid state looks like and how it can be modified
  • Runs on peers you don’t control—assume it’s adversarial
  • Cannot store private keys (anyone can read the code and state)
  • The contract’s key is the hash of its WASM code

Example: In River, the contract stores room membership, messages, and configuration.

Delegate (Local Trust Zone)

The delegate runs locally on the user’s device inside the Freenet Kernel as WebAssembly. This is your secure execution environment.

Key properties:

  • Stores private keys and secrets
  • Performs cryptographic operations (signing, encryption)
  • Can run background tasks
  • Never exposed to the network

Example: In River, the delegate manages the user’s signing keys and encrypts messages for private rooms.

UI (Frontend)

A standard web application that connects to the local Freenet Kernel via WebSocket.

Key properties:

  • Built with any web framework (River uses Dioxus)
  • Communicates with contracts through the kernel API
  • Can be served as a Freenet contract itself (web container)

2. The Consistency Model

Freenet is a distributed system where peers may receive updates in different orders. Your contract must handle this correctly.

Commutative Monoids

Contract state must form a commutative monoid—updates can be applied in any order and still produce the same final state.

Commutative synchronization between peers

Both peers end up with the same state regardless of which update they received first.

Summaries and Deltas

Instead of transferring complete state, peers exchange:

  • Summary: A compact representation of what a peer has (e.g., hashes, version numbers)
  • Delta: The minimal update needed to bring another peer up to date

This makes synchronization efficient even for large states.

3. Prerequisites

Rust Toolchain

# Install Rust via rustup (not Homebrew on macOS)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Add WebAssembly target
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

Freenet

# Clone and build from source
git clone https://github.com/freenet/freenet-core.git
cd freenet-core
cargo install --path crates/core

Build Tools

cargo install cargo-make

4. Project Structure

A Freenet application is organized as a Cargo workspace:

my-app/
├── Cargo.toml              # Workspace definition
├── Makefile.toml           # Build tasks
├── common/                 # Shared types and logic
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── src/
│       └── lib.rs
├── contracts/
│   └── my-contract/        # Contract implementation
│       ├── Cargo.toml
│       └── src/
│           └── lib.rs
├── delegates/
│   └── my-delegate/        # Delegate implementation
│       ├── Cargo.toml
│       └── src/
│           └── lib.rs
└── ui/                     # Web frontend
    ├── Cargo.toml
    └── src/
        └── main.rs

Workspace Cargo.toml

[workspace]
members = [
    "common",
    "contracts/my-contract",
    "delegates/my-delegate",
    "ui",
]
resolver = "2"

[workspace.dependencies]
# Serialization
ciborium = "0.2.2"
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }

# Freenet
freenet-scaffold = "0.2.1"
freenet-scaffold-macro = "0.2.1"
freenet-stdlib = { version = "0.1.30", features = ["contract"] }

# Your shared types
my-app-common = { path = "common" }

5. Contract Development

Contracts define your application’s shared state and the rules for modifying it.

Using freenet-scaffold

The freenet-scaffold crate provides the #[composable] macro that automatically generates the summary, delta, merge, and verify functions your state needs.

// common/src/lib.rs
use freenet_scaffold_macro::composable;
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};

#[composable]
#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, Default, PartialEq, Debug)]
pub struct AppState {
    pub configuration: Configuration,
    pub members: Members,
    pub messages: Messages,
}

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, Default, PartialEq, Debug)]
pub struct AppParameters {
    pub owner: VerifyingKey,
}

The #[composable] macro generates:

  • AppStateSummary - compact state representation
  • AppStateDelta - incremental updates
  • ComposableState trait implementation with summarize, delta, apply_delta, merge, and verify methods

Contract Implementation

// contracts/my-contract/src/lib.rs
use ciborium::{de::from_reader, ser::into_writer};
use freenet_stdlib::prelude::*;
use freenet_scaffold::ComposableState;
use my_app_common::{AppState, AppStateDelta, AppStateSummary, AppParameters};

struct Contract;

#[contract]
impl ContractInterface for Contract {
    fn validate_state(
        parameters: Parameters<'static>,
        state: State<'static>,
        _related: RelatedContracts<'static>,
    ) -> Result<ValidateResult, ContractError> {
        if state.as_ref().is_empty() {
            return Ok(ValidateResult::Valid);
        }

        let app_state: AppState = from_reader(state.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        let params: AppParameters = from_reader(parameters.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;

        app_state
            .verify(&app_state, &params)
            .map(|_| ValidateResult::Valid)
            .map_err(|_| ContractError::InvalidState)
    }

    fn update_state(
        parameters: Parameters<'static>,
        state: State<'static>,
        data: Vec<UpdateData<'static>>,
    ) -> Result<UpdateModification<'static>, ContractError> {
        let params: AppParameters = from_reader(parameters.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        let mut app_state: AppState = from_reader(state.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;

        for update in data {
            match update {
                UpdateData::Delta(d) => {
                    let delta: AppStateDelta = from_reader(d.as_ref())
                        .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
                    app_state
                        .apply_delta(&app_state.clone(), &params, &Some(delta))
                        .map_err(|_| ContractError::InvalidUpdate)?;
                }
                UpdateData::State(new_state) => {
                    let new: AppState = from_reader(new_state.as_ref())
                        .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
                    app_state
                        .merge(&app_state.clone(), &params, &new)
                        .map_err(|_| ContractError::InvalidUpdate)?;
                }
                _ => {}
            }
        }

        let mut output = vec![];
        into_writer(&app_state, &mut output)
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        Ok(UpdateModification::valid(output.into()))
    }

    fn summarize_state(
        parameters: Parameters<'static>,
        state: State<'static>,
    ) -> Result<StateSummary<'static>, ContractError> {
        if state.as_ref().is_empty() {
            return Ok(StateSummary::from(vec![]));
        }
        let params: AppParameters = from_reader(parameters.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        let app_state: AppState = from_reader(state.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;

        let summary = app_state.summarize(&app_state, &params);
        let mut output = vec![];
        into_writer(&summary, &mut output)
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        Ok(StateSummary::from(output))
    }

    fn get_state_delta(
        parameters: Parameters<'static>,
        state: State<'static>,
        summary: StateSummary<'static>,
    ) -> Result<StateDelta<'static>, ContractError> {
        let params: AppParameters = from_reader(parameters.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        let app_state: AppState = from_reader(state.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        let summary: AppStateSummary = from_reader(summary.as_ref())
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;

        let delta = app_state.delta(&app_state, &params, &summary);
        let mut output = vec![];
        into_writer(&delta, &mut output)
            .map_err(|e| ContractError::Deser(e.to_string()))?;
        Ok(StateDelta::from(output))
    }
}

Contract Cargo.toml

[package]
name = "my-contract"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

[lib]
crate-type = ["cdylib"]

[dependencies]
ciborium = { workspace = true }
freenet-stdlib = { workspace = true }
freenet-scaffold = { workspace = true }
my-app-common = { workspace = true }

6. Delegate Development

Delegates handle secrets and run locally. They’re optional—simple apps may not need them.

// delegates/my-delegate/src/lib.rs
use freenet_stdlib::prelude::*;

struct Delegate;

#[delegate]
impl DelegateInterface for Delegate {
    fn process(
        _parameters: Parameters<'static>,
        _attested: Option<&'static [u8]>,
        message: InboundDelegateMsg,
    ) -> Result<Vec<OutboundDelegateMsg>, DelegateError> {
        match message {
            InboundDelegateMsg::ApplicationMessage(app_msg) => {
                // Handle messages from UI
                // app_msg.app - the contract instance ID
                // app_msg.payload - the message bytes
                Ok(vec![])
            }
            InboundDelegateMsg::GetSecretResponse(response) => {
                // Handle secret retrieval response
                Ok(vec![])
            }
            _ => Ok(vec![]),
        }
    }
}

7. UI Development

The UI connects to the local Freenet Kernel via WebSocket to interact with contracts. River uses Dioxus—a Rust framework that compiles to WebAssembly, giving you a type-safe UI that shares code with your contracts.

Basic Dioxus Component

use dioxus::prelude::*;

fn App() -> Element {
    let messages = use_signal(Vec::new);

    rsx! {
        div {
            for msg in messages.read().iter() {
                p { "{msg}" }
            }
        }
    }
}

Connecting to Freenet

River’s UI communicates with the kernel through a WebSocket API. See River’s sync module for the complete implementation pattern.

8. Building and Testing

Build Configuration (Makefile.toml)

[tasks.build]
description = "Build all components"
dependencies = ["build-contracts", "build-ui"]

[tasks.build-contracts]
command = "cargo"
args = ["build", "--release", "--target", "wasm32-unknown-unknown", "-p", "my-contract"]

[tasks.build-ui]
command = "dx"
args = ["build", "--release"]
cwd = "ui"

[tasks.test]
command = "cargo"
args = ["test", "--workspace"]

Local Testing

# Start Freenet in local mode (no network)
freenet local

# In another terminal, build and publish your contract
cargo make build

Running River for Reference

git clone https://github.com/freenet/river.git
cd river
git submodule init && git submodule update

# Run with example data (no Freenet needed)
cargo make dev-example

# Open http://localhost:8080

9. Deployment

Publishing a Contract

After building, publish your contract to the network:

# The contract WASM is in target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/
freenet publish \
    --code target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/my_contract.wasm \
    --state initial_state.cbor

The command returns a contract key (hash of the WASM) that users need to access your application.

Web Container

To serve your UI over Freenet, wrap it in a web container contract. See River’s web-container-contract for an example.

10. Next Steps

  1. Study River: The River repository is a complete, production application. Read its code to understand real-world patterns.

  2. Read the scaffold docs: The freenet-scaffold crate documentation explains composable state in detail.

  3. Join the community: Get help and share your work in the official River room.

Current Limitations

  • Network deployment: The public Freenet network is under active development
  • Language support: Contracts must be written in Rust (compiles to WASM)
  • Tooling: Build from source; packaged binaries coming soon