Spill
The Censorship-Resistant Publishing Platform
An open protocol for distributing content that can't be taken down. Publish anything. Preserve everything. No single point of failure.
What is Spill?
A peer-to-peer protocol designed from the ground up for content that powerful actors want to disappear.
Publish Anything
Documents, video, audio, datasets — any content that needs to survive attempts to suppress it. No file type restrictions, no content gatekeepers.
Indestructible Distribution
Hyperswarm DHT means no central server to seize. Content replicates across every peer. Kill one node, thousands remain.
Open Protocol
Fully auditable, extensible, and free. Anyone can run a node, launch an archive, or build on the protocol. No permission needed.
How It Works
From publish to stream — six steps to indestructible content.
Publish
Content → Hyperdrive
A publisher adds files to their Hyperdrive — a personal, append-only filesystem. Each publisher gets a unique keypair; their drive is their identity.
Catalog
Hyperdrive → Catalog Hypercore
Metadata is written to a catalog Hypercore — a signed, append-only log. This catalog is the publisher's table of contents, replicated to every peer.
Announce
Catalog → Hyperswarm DHT
The catalog key is announced on Hyperswarm, a distributed hash table. Peers discover it by joining topic channels — global or category-specific.
Discover
DHT → Peer Connection
New peers find publishers via DHT lookups. NAT traversal (hole-punching) enables direct connections. No relay servers needed.
Replicate
Protomux → Catalog Sync
Connected peers exchange catalog keys over Protomux multiplexed channels. Each peer builds a local index of all known content across the network.
Stream
Request → Content Delivery
When a user requests content, it's fetched directly from peers who have it. Archiver nodes provide persistent availability — always-on seeders.
Architecture Deep Dive
Under the hood — the protocols that make censorship resistance possible.
Peer Discovery & NAT Traversal
Every Spill node connects to the Hyperswarm DHT — a Kademlia-based distributed hash table. Peers find each other by joining topic hashes. NAT hole-punching enables direct connections without relay infrastructure.
// Join the global Spill topic
const globalTopic = crypto.createHash('sha256')
.update('spill-global-feed')
.digest()
const swarm = new Hyperswarm()
const discovery = swarm.join(globalTopic, {
server: true, // accept incoming connections
client: true // initiate outgoing connections
})
// Category-specific topics for filtered discovery
const categoryTopic = crypto.createHash('sha256')
.update('spill-category-government')
.digest()
swarm.join(categoryTopic, { server: true, client: true })
swarm.on('connection', (socket, peerInfo) => {
// Multiplex channels over this connection
store.replicate(socket)
})The Stack
The Hypercore Protocol stack — peer-to-peer from the ground up.
Hyperswarm
Distributed peer discovery via Kademlia DHT with NAT hole-punching
Hypercore
Signed, append-only logs — the tamper-proof data primitive under everything
Hyperdrive
P2P filesystem for publishers — content-addressed, replicated to every peer
Protomux
Multiplexed protocol channels over a single encrypted connection
Hyperbee
Distributed B-tree index — enables sorted queries across peer-replicated data
Corestore
Manages collections of Hypercores — one store per peer, automatic replication
Bare Runtime
Minimal JS runtime built for P2P — no browser overhead, direct OS access
Distributed Search
New content auto-indexed on arrival — every peer maintains a searchable catalog
Use Cases & Deployments
Spill is a general-purpose platform for any content that faces suppression.
Government Transparency
FOIA documents, leaked memos, declassified files — preserved beyond any single government's reach.
Investigative Journalism
Source materials, court documents, evidence collections — immune to legal takedowns and gag orders.
Censored Media
News, video, audio suppressed by authoritarian regimes or platform policies — distributed beyond their reach.
Academic Freedom
Research papers, datasets, findings that face institutional suppression — permanently accessible to all.
Blog
Updates from the Spill network.