Soul2Soul

Soul2Soul is a publishing protocol where creators and publications maintain independent control. Authors write in their preferred tools, retain cryptographic ownership of their work, and can revoke access at any time. Publications coordinate editorial and promotional functions without owning the underlying content. Every article carries embedded proof of authorship and agreement terms, making authenticity verifiable and removing platform dependency. The result is a publishing ecosystem that functions like a decentralized WordPress - where magazines are fully customizable static websites, content has cryptographic provenance, and neither party needs to trust a centralized intermediary to maintain their relationship.

The Impossible Choice

Author collectives face an impossible choice: trust a platform with risks of policy shifts and shutdowns, or set up their own server with WordPress-like software that places control of the entire website—and everyone's content—in one person's hands. We live in a world that changes frequently. We can agree on some things and disagree on others. Our associations and cooperations are often temporary. Current publishing methods lack the flexibility to support genuine collaborative freedom, instead enforcing dependencies and manufactured consent. Writers who want to work together temporarily—investigative teams, seasonal publications, or issue-based coalitions—have no good options for maintaining individual sovereignty while coordinating collective output.

The secret sauce

The secret sauce for equal balance between author and magazine is removing the means of production from the equation entirely. In publishing, someone generally controls the printing press or the application. Soul2Soul makes the generator autonomous and transparent, removing it from anyone's control or vicinity.

Soul2Soul has no frontend. Instead, you install a plugin in Obsidian, turning that local-first note-taking app into a CMS that leverages its native functionality like frontmatter and the new bases. The HTML is generated using Handlebars templates built by developers in a Git repository and staged through a parallel sets of contracts. The magazine's multisig can decide to upgrade to the newest version.

The HTML generator consists of a Lit Action—open-source code bound to a cryptographic key—that decrypts content, renders HTML, signs the final webpage, uploads it to IPFS, and anchors the magazine's current state in an on-chain smart contract. This entire process is executed by a selection of independent nodes reaching consensus within secure hardware. The result is publishing infrastructure that belongs to no one and everyone: authors, magazines, and developers collaborate through cryptographic agreements, but no party controls the means of production because the generator is mathematically guaranteed to execute only the transparent, auditable code visible to all.

All roles—authors, editorial boards, and developers—have been designed from first principles for genuine sovereignty within collaboration.

Roadmap

Soul2Soul is a labor of love. It is not funded. In its current state, several personal blogs are generated by the protocol while I iron out the remaining kinks. Do you share the vision and would you like to contribute in some shape or form, do send an email to joera@joeramulders.com

Goals for 2024:

• Easy plugin distribution - downloadable version of Obsidian plugin or acceptance as official community plugin
• One-minute website launch - deploying a new website from a starter theme completed in under a minute
• Simple hosting solution - based on on-chain agreement between magazine and hosting provider

2025 focus:

Looking for early adopters to try the protocol and provide feedback on the publishing workflow.