Urbit
Urbit is a decentralized personal server platform based on functional programming in a peer-to-peer network. The Urbit platform was created by far-right blogger Curtis Yarvin. The first code release was in 2010. The Urbit network was launched in 2013. The first user version (called OS1) was launched in April 2020. As of 2022, the main software in an Urbit installation was a "bare-bones" text-based message board.
| Urbit | |
|---|---|
 Tilde logo | |
| Original authors | Curtis Yarvin, Tlon Corporation[1] |
| Developer | Tlon Corporation |
| Initial release | 2013[2] |
| Stable release | |
| Written in | Hoon, Nock, C, JavaScript |
| Operating system | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Type | Decentralized personal server platform.[4] |
| License | MIT License |
| Website | www.urbit.org |
| Repository | github.com/urbit/urbit |
Urbit is a decentralized personal server platform[4] based on functional programming[5] in a peer-to-peer network.[6]
The Urbit platform was created by far-right blogger Curtis Yarvin.[b] The first code release was in 2010.[7] The Urbit network was launched in 2013.[2] The first user version (called OS1) was launched in April 2020.
As of 2022, the main software in an Urbit installation was a "bare-bones" text-based message board.[8]
Functionality
[edit]The Point described Urbit OS1 as a "bare-bones messaging server" and compared it to 1990s era Usenet.[8]
Tlon, the company founded by Yarvin to build Urbit, named after the short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges,[8] has received seed funding from various investors since its inception, most notably Peter Thiel, whose Founders Fund, with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) invested $1.1 million.[9] The Urbit community talks up its association with and funding from Thiel, who has also backed Urbit public events.[10][8]
The Point estimated Urbit's active user base as of September 2022 at "a few thousand".[8]
Technical details
[edit]The Urbit software stack consists of a set of programming languages ("Hoon", a high-level functional programming language, and "Nock", its low-level compiled language); a single-function operating system built on those languages ("Arvo"); a runtime implementation of that operating system ("Vere"), public key infrastructure, built on the Ethereum blockchain ("Azimuth"), for each Urbit instance to participate in a decentralized network; and the decentralized network itself, an encrypted, peer-to-peer protocol.[11][12]
The 128-bit Urbit identity space consists of 256 "galaxies", 65,280 "stars" (255 for each galaxy), 4,294,901,760 "planets" (65,535 for each star), and comets under those.[10]
Yarvin called Urbit "functional programming from scratch" in 2010.[5] The Register described Urbit as having "reinvented some very Lisp-like technology".[13] Reason described Urbit as "complicated for even the most seasoned of functional programmers".[14]
Politics and controversy
[edit]In 2015, Yarvin's invitation to discuss Urbit at the Strange Loop programming conference was rescinded; the conference organizer said Yarvin's "mere inclusion and/or presence would overshadow the content of his talk".[15]
In 2016, after Yarvin was invited to the functional programming conference LambdaConf to discuss Urbit, five speakers and three sponsors withdrew their participation. Their stated reasons were Yarvin's claim that white people are genetically endowed with higher IQs than black people and his support of slavery.[16]
The source code and design sketches for the project alluded to some of Yarvin's views, including initially classifying users as "lords", "dukes", and "earls". Yarvin described this structure of Urbit in 2010 as "digital feudalism".[8][17]
Josh Lehman, Executive Director of the Urbit Foundation, denied in 2022 that Urbit was "digital feudalism".[10]
Andrea O'Sullivan of libertarian magazine Reason described Urbit in 2016 as having a "libertarian vision".[14]
Yarvin departed Tlon in 2019. Lehman said that the "hardest part" of his work at Tlon had been to distance Urbit from Yarvin.[10]
In April 2024, the Urbit Foundation board fired Lehman,[citation needed] and Yarvin returned to a leadership role at Urbit as an informal "wartime C.E.O.". This prompted several top employees to resign in protest.[18][19]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Urbit's runtime, Vere, is versioned and released differently.
- ^ Sources which describe Yarvin as far-right or alt-right include, but are not limited to:
- Marchese, David (January 18, 2025). "Curtis Yarvin Says Democracy Is Done. Powerful Conservatives Are Listening". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
- Wilson, Jason (December 21, 2024). "He's anti-democracy and pro-Trump: the obscure 'dark enlightenment' blogger influencing the next U.S. administration". The Guardian. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
- Lehmann, Chris (October 27, 2022). "The Reactionary Prophet of Silicon Valley". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
- Lecher, Colin (February 21, 2017). "Alt-right darling Mencius Moldbug wanted to destroy democracy. Now he wants to sell you web services". The Verge. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
References
[edit]- ^ "Urbit: A Solid-State Interpreter" (PDF). urbit.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
- ^ a b "Urbit.org Overview". urbit.org. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
- ^ "Releases · urbit/urbit". GitHub. Archived from the original on January 18, 2025. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
- ^ a b Wolfe, Alexandra (2017). Valley of the Gods: A Silicon Valley Story. Simon and Schuster. pp. 219–222. ISBN 9781476778945.
- ^ a b Lecher, Colin (February 21, 2017). "Alt-right darling Mencius Moldbug wanted to destroy democracy. Now he wants to sell you web services". The Verge. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
- ^ Pogue, James (February 21, 2023). "Inside the New Right's Next Frontier: The American West". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ Yarvin, Curtis (January 13, 2010). "Urbit: functional programming from scratch". moronlab. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f Duesterberg, James (September 9, 2022). "Among the Reality Entrepreneurs". The Point. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ Pein, Corey (2018). "Poor Winners". Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 9781627794862.
- ^ a b c d Sutton, Ruby (October 13, 2022). "My Weekend With the Martians". Astra. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ Yarvin, Curtis; Philip, Monk; Dyudin, Anton; Pasco, Raymond (May 26, 2016). "Urbit: A Solid-State Interpreter" (PDF). Tlon Corporation. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- ^ Smith, Harrison; Burrows, Roger (2021). "Software, Sovereignty and the Post-Neoliberal Politics of Exit". Theory, Culture & Society. 38 (6). Sage Publishing: 143–166. doi:10.1177/0263276421999439. hdl:1983/9261276b-8184-482c-b184-915655df6c19.
- ^ Proven, Liam. "The weird world of non-C operating systems". The Register. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ a b O'Sullivan, Andrea (June 21, 2016). "Can Urbit Reboot Computing?". Reason. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ Auerbach, David (June 10, 2015). "When All It Takes to Be Booted from a Tech Conference Is Being a "Distraction," We Have a Problem". Slate. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
- ^ Townsend, Tess (March 31, 2016). "Controversy Rages Over 'Pro-Slavery' Tech Speaker Curtis Yarvin". Inc.com. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
- ^ Yarvin, Curtis (January 12, 2010). "Urbit namespace". GitHub. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Holmes, Helen (August 29, 2024). "What Do J.D. Vance, Dimes Square, and the Art World Have in Common? More Than You Think". ARTnews.
- ^ Kofman, Ava (June 2, 2025). "Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
Further reading
[edit]- Glickstein, Adina (June 18, 2025). "The Rise and Fall of Urbit". Compact. Retrieved April 9, 2026.