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Solidarity Commons Protocol

Protocol Scope

Status

Section titled “Status”

Accepted. Solidarity Commons Protocol is a protocol frame for member-owned civic coordination. It is not a single application, a central platform, or a replacement for regulated systems of record.

Context

Section titled “Context”

The project covers cooperatives, fiscal sponsorship, land stewardship, steward ownership, participatory budgeting, community investment, mutual credit, Holochain validation, ValueFlows, Holochain Resource-Event-Agent (hREA), privacy, federation, and external systems of record.

The civic sources point in the same direction. The International Cooperative Alliance defines cooperatives through member control, autonomy, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for community. The U.S. Solidarity Economy Network frames solidarity economy around cooperation, democracy, justice, sustainability, and plural practice. The software needs to preserve that plurality.

The technical sources also set limits. Holochain application structure separates Holochain applications (hApps), distributed network applications (DNAs), and zomes, which gives the project a way to keep shared rules small. hREA implements ValueFlows for distributed economic coordination on Holochain.

Decision

Section titled “Decision”

Use Solidarity Commons Protocol for the whole project. Treat it as a family of interoperable hApps, shared protocol contracts, and bridge records.

The protocol should cover:

  • identity, membership, roles, agreements, and decision records;
  • document hashes, evidence packets, and export manifests;
  • governance, stewardship, treasury, exchange, and federation records;
  • ValueFlows or hREA references for economic intents, commitments, events, claims, and flows;
  • bridge records that let external systems review, pay, file, or reconcile.

The protocol should not become:

  • the legal source of title, lease, tax, banking, payroll, audit, or registration truth;
  • a universal governance model for every cooperative, land trust, fiscal host, or federation;
  • one database that forces every institution into the same owner, admin, or privacy boundary.

Consequences

Section titled “Consequences”

The protocol layer stays small. Why Holochain Fits keeps distinct civic mechanisms legible. Boundaries and Bridges remains part of the core architecture, not an appendix.

Every implementation choice should preserve member agency, institutional autonomy, and explicit external-system boundaries.