Headstone Platform | Founding Architecture Document
Version: 0.1.0-draft
Status: Foundational
Governing Principles: Freedom · Individual Rights · Equality
Preamble
Every person is a node in a network they did not choose to enter and cannot fully leave. You carry the genetics of people who died before photography existed. Your health outcomes echo decisions made by grandparents you never met. Your children will inherit patterns you don't yet know you're setting.
The Tree is the architecture that makes those connections visible, navigable, and — crucially — governed by the people within them.
The Tree is not a social network. It is not a genealogy website. It is not a data broker wearing a friendly face. It is a consent-first, value-returning, individually-sovereign connection graph that treats your relationships as yours — not as product to be monetized by someone else.
The metaphor is literal:
- Roots go down. Ancestors. Foundation. What you came from.
- Trunk is you. Your LifeLine. The present moment of your existence.
- Branches reach up. Descendants. Legacy. What you pass forward.
- Where trees touch — families overlap, communities form, shared data creates shared value.
- The forest — the collective. What emerges when millions of trees connect with consent.
This document defines how that works.
Table of Contents
1. Core Data Model
2. Connection Types
3. Data Sharing Model
4. Collective Data Pools
5. Value Distribution
6. Genetic & Ancestry Layer
7. The Forest Layer
8. Privacy Boundaries
9. Posthumous Connections
10. Anti-Exploitation Safeguards
11. Technical Architecture Summary
12. Governance Model
13. Open Questions & Future Work
1. Core Data Model
1.1 The Node
Every person in Headstone is represented by a Node. A Node is:
Node {
id: UUID (self-generated, not issued by Headstone)
lifeline_ref: Pointer to the individual's LifeLine store
public_key: Ed25519 or secp256k1 public key
display_handle: Optional human-readable alias
created_at: Timestamp
status: living | deceased | unknown
guardian_nodes: [Node IDs] // for minors or incapacitated individuals
legacy_nodes: [Node IDs] // posthumous custodians
}
Design principle: The Node ID is self-generated. Headstone never assigns identity. A person owns their node the way they own their name — it came from them, not from a registry.
1.2 The Edge
Connections between Nodes are Edges. An Edge is a signed, mutual, typed relationship:
Edge {
id: UUID
node_a: Node ID
node_b: Node ID
type: ConnectionType (see §2)
verification: VerificationRecord
consent_a: ConsentRecord (node_a's terms)
consent_b: ConsentRecord (node_b's terms)
sharing_policy: SharingPolicy (see §3)
created_at: Timestamp
updated_at: Timestamp
status: active | paused | dissolved | posthumous
}
An Edge only exists when both nodes have signed their consent record. Unilateral connection requests are pending, not edges. A person cannot be added to someone else's tree without their agreement.
Exception: Deceased persons (see §9). Historical/ancestral records can be linked with appropriate posthumous governance rules.
1.3 The Tree Structure
Each person's tree is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) with the individual at the center:
[Child A] → [Grandchild A1] / [Grandparent] → [Parent] → [YOU] → [Child B] \ [Child C] Horizontal: [Sibling], [Spouse/Partner], [Extended Family] Social layer: [Friend], [Community], [Professional]
The DAG structure prevents cycles while still allowing complex blended families, adoptions, and non-traditional family structures through typed edges.
2. Connection Types
2.1 Type Taxonomy
ConnectionType {
category: genetic | legal-family | social | community | professional | geographic | memorial
subcategory: (see below)
weight: 0.0–1.0 // strength/closeness, user-defined
direction: bidirectional | ancestral | descendant | lateral
}
2.2 Genetic/Family Connections
This page summarizes the full specification. See the full document for complete details.