OrbisDB is a Practical Upgrade for Databases on Ceramic

Databases on Ceramic

OrbisDB has emerged as a premier database solution for the Ceramic Network. Building on the foundation laid by ComposeDB, OrbisDB brings significant advancements in functionality, performance, and user experience. This blog post will elaborate on the connection between Ceramic and OrbisDB, highlight OrbisDB's new features, and showcase its value to developers.

ComposeDB: The Original Building Block

ComposeDB was the first database and has become an integral technology for many decentralized applications built on Ceramic, such as Passport.xyz, Zuzalu City, CharmVerse, and Lateral DeSci.

ComposeDB has been instrumental in dapp development on Ceramic because it introduces a robust, scalable, and user-friendly approach to data management. It supports structured data models, advanced queries, and the integration of decentralized identities, all while leveraging Ceramic's fast performance and high transaction capacity.

OrbisDB: A Practical Evolution

3Box Labs designed Ceramic as an open network upon which an ecosystem of data-handling solutions could emerge. We launched ComposeDB in 2023 as the first database service on the network.

While ComposeDB represented the first database service offered on Ceramic and introduced many advancements for interacting with Ceramic, the need for simple onboarding, hosted nodes, SQL, and easy integrations with other services led the Orbis team to create OrbisDB.

Built initially as the Ceramic-based infrastructure for Orbis Social, OrbisDB evolved from a template implementation used by leading crypto projects such as Iggy Social, CoinEasy, Autonolas, and Gitcoin Schelling Point, into a slick set of interface services for data on Ceramic, including a UI for no code deployment, integrated hosting, support for additional languages, and a blue sea of possibilities made possible by plugins.

Key Upgrades with OrbisDB

1. Simplified Ceramic Developer Experience:
   • Rapid Ceramic Onboarding: OrbisDB offers a web app and SDK for storing and managing datasets on Ceramic, no-code, or CLI.
   • Hosted nodes: OrbisDB makes Ceramic DevOps easy with an in-built hosted node service.
   • Accelerated Customization: Extend the functionality of your database with plugins. Build plugins for other developers.

1. Database Language Choice:
   • SQL Queries: Using PostgreSQL as its indexing database, OrbisDB offers scalable performance and the benefits of traditional scaling methods.
   • GraphQL: (already available on ComposeDB) and vector embeddings are both in development.
2. Plugin Ecosystem:
   • Optional and Versatile: Developers can easily add plugins to OrbisDB. These plugins are optional and designed to perform operations beyond the core's scope, providing additional functionality and connections to other blockchain services. Recently released plugins for Dune (link) and Base (link) make data visualization and importing on-chain data from any Base smart contract code-free and straightforward.
   • Open source: Plugins are open source. Users can build and share plugins with other developers in the ecosystem.
   • Do anything with plugins:
     • Combine on-chain transactions from Base or other EVMs with verifiable data on Ceramic (e.g., enable mutable and verifiable metadata)
     • Provide sybil-resistance and instant reputation score to all user-generated data using Passport.xyz or Verax attestations.
     • Easily token-gate your applications via pre-defined indexing logic
     • Resolve ENS Domain names directly from any datasets in one click
     • Enable a single query from multiple data sources (API, on-chain, Ceramic data, etc.)

Get Early Access to OrbisDB Studio

OrbisDB represents a practical evolution of databases on Ceramic, building upon the foundations laid by ComposeDB and significantly improving experience, languages, and interoperability.

Projects have already started building on OrbisDB in beta, including Index Network, Plurality, and Flashcards, for various use cases, including a blockchain event listener and storing encrypted user data and educational content.

We're excited to work with Orbis to support the future of decentralized data management. OrbisDB Studio, accessible later this year, will offer the developer experience improvements discussed above. Sign up here to get on the waitlist for early access.

Learn more about OrbisDB at useorbis.com