Beaker Docs
  • Welcome
  • Getting Started with Beaker
  • Joining the Social Network
  • Why use Beaker?
  • Beginner
    • Creating New Hyperdrives
    • Changing a Drive's Title or Thumbnail
    • Using the Editor
    • Detaching the Editor
    • Creating Files and Folders
    • Importing and Exporting Files
    • Sharing Hyperdrives
    • Hosting Hyperdrives
  • Intermediate
    • Your Profile Drive
    • Your Address Book
    • Your System Drive
  • Advanced
    • Webterm
    • Creating Mounts
    • Editing File Metadata
    • Forking Hyperdrives
    • Comparing and Merging Hyperdrives
  • APIs
    • beaker.capabilities
    • beaker.contacts
    • beaker.hyperdrive
    • beaker.markdown
    • beaker.peersockets
    • beaker.shell
    • beaker.terminal
  • Developers
    • Introduction to Hyperdrive
    • Index.json Manifest
    • Content-Type Negotiation
    • Frontends (.ui folder)
    • .Goto Files
  • Help
    • Hole-punchability
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  • What is this peer-to-peer thing?
  • What should I learn next?

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Getting Started with Beaker

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Last updated 5 years ago

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Welcome! Beaker is a peer-to-peer browser for Web hackers. It includes a bunch of tools:

  • and more.

In this guide, we're going to familiarize you with Beaker's ideas and tools, but if you want to jump straight into the action, start here:

What is this peer-to-peer thing?

Beaker uses a peer-to-peer protocol called Hyperdrive. "Hyperdrives" are like websites. They store webpages, pictures, media, user data, and so on. Hyperdrives power a lot of Beaker's best features.

"Hyperdrives" are folders you host from your computer. They contain web pages which you can browse and edit. You can create and share hyperdrives using Beaker. .

Peer-to-peer means that you host data directly from your device.

One fun attribute of peer-to-peer is "co-hosting." This is where you help keep a hyperdrive online by storing the data and contributing bandwidth to other users. It happens temporarily when you visit a hyperdrive, but you can turn it on permanently for sites you like.

You can "host" other people's hyperdrives to help keep them online and contribute bandwidth. .

What should I learn next?

A lot of Beaker's experience is the social network of personal websites. If I were you, I'd see .

If you want to start hacking on some websites, read up on and . If you love the idea of remixing other people's work, you should . If you're a fan of command lines, .

The has a directory of useful resources for getting into code:

. Pre-made hyperdrives you can copy.

. More developer-focused guides to teach you about building on Beaker.

You can also .

If you're interested in learning technical details, .

how to join the social network
Joining the Social Network
creating new hyperdrives
using the editor
learn about forking hyperdrives
check out Beaker's Webterm
Creating New Hyperdrives
Using the Editor
Forking Hyperdrives
Beaker Developer Portal
Templates
Tutorials
beaker.contacts
beaker.hyperdrive
beaker.peersockets
see the developer's Introduction to Hyperdrive
Instant website creation
A builtin editor
A terminal environment
Joining the Social Network
Learn more
Learn more
Peer-to-peer Web APIs
find Beaker's new Web APIs here