Is the Blockstack Browser a GUI for the CLI? Does it come with a node? Are there apps?

Browser
#1

“estermer” wrote on Slack:

I noticed after downloading the blockstack browser, it looks like a GUI for the CLI that I downloaded.

Somewhat but not exactly. There are some things you can do in the CLI but can’t do in the Browser and vice versa.

First, am I running a blockstack node when I have the browser open? or when I have the CLI running?

As of now, you are not running a Blockstack Core node. However, that’s going to change, as we’re going to have every browser ship with a mediumweight Blockstack node (it will be a full Blockstack node but won’t have it’s own Bitcoin node).

Second, i noticed the only thing I can see in the browser are the profiles of the users who registered names. Where can I see any apps? like what if I wanted to visit the decentralized version of facebook, would that still be a .com? or a .id?

Yes for now you can only see identities/profiles but apps are coming soon. And that would be on one of the namespaces for apps, like .app, which is coming out soon.

Third, how can I load in my own code to create an app?

We’re coming out with a tutorial for this very soon, so stay tuned.

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#2

@ryan as per the above link it says running a blockstack node just needs as much as resources as a browser tab. But doesnt it need to maintain a complete replica of all the names, zone files in the network ?

Also does the broser run a medium-weight node yet ?

#3

The Blockstack Core node maintains ~10 GB of local disk state, but CPU/RAM-wise it is very lightweight.

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#4

@jude Thanks! Does this 10 GB include the transactions from the bitcoin blockchain as well for it to be able to verify transactions ?

Considering a browser would include a Blockstack node, wouldn’t the space required keep growing as more users and names are registered ? (would be more than ICANN’s 250 million because this includes names for users too )

#5

Does this 10 GB include the transactions from the bitcoin blockchain as well for it to be able to verify transactions ?

No, this only includes the SPV headers and Blockstack-specific state.

Considering a browser would include a Blockstack node, wouldn’t the space required keep growing as more users and names are registered ? (would be more than ICANN’s 250 million because this includes names for users too )

Yes, it would. However, the typical Blockstack ID doesn’t take that much space – a single Bitcoin transaction can process ~150 off-chain name operations, and each off-chain name operation is ~270 bytes. 250 million names could take as few as 68 GB.

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