Internet Computer wiki

Welcome!

This is a general source of information about the Internet Computer (IC), the world's fastest and most powerful blockchain network. Created for and by the IC community, topics vary from cryptography, network governance, user experience, tokenomics, developer tutorials and more.

Introduction to the Internet Computer

The Internet computer is the fastest and most scalable general-purpose blockchain. It was launched as an open source project by DFINITY in May 2021 with the aim of realising a blockchain singularity through hosting dapps, content, and performing computation for billions of users. In building the Internet Computer there have been a number of notable technological developments in cryptography (chain-key cryptography), programming languages such as Motoko and others.

Most common place to start

• Internet Computer: Infographic
• Glossary

For a general audience

• Internet Computer overview
• Internet Computer vision
• Internet Computer roadmap

For a more technical audience

• "Internet Computer for Geeks" paper
• The "How it works" series with videos and in-depth articles on various topics.
• Technical AMAs on Reddit by different IC and DFINITY teams

Internet Identity Introduction

One of the core benefits of building on the Internet Computer is that end users do not need to pay fees or use tokens to access and use dapps. As an alternative to authenticating from a wallet, users can authenticate with an Internet Identity. Learn more information about Internet Identity (II), a blockchain authentication framework supported by the Internet Computer:

• What is Internet Identity
• How to create an Internet Identity
• Internet Identity technical overview
• Internet Identity dapp

IC for Dapp Users

If you use or are interested in using dapps on the Internet Computer, this section will help you understand the user experience benefits of the IC, how to use Internet Identity, or find more IC dapps.

Examples:

• Introduction to the Internet Computer for dapp users
• Index of dapps on the Internet Computer

See more in Internet Computer for dapp users

IC for ICP Token-holders, Stakers, and Neuron Holders

The Internet Computer is governed by on-chain governance system called the Network Nervous System (NNS). To participate on governance, users need to stake ICP tokens. This section will explain how the NNS works, ICP tokens, staking, voting, rewards, and options for managing one's ICP.

Examples:

• ICP token
• Tutorials for acquiring, managing, and staking ICP
• Staking, voting and rewards
• Governance of the Internet Computer
• Network Nervous System
• Total supply, circulating supply, and staked_ICP

See more in Internet Computer token-holders, investors, and neuron holders.

IC for Smart Contract and Dapp Developers

The Internet Computer (IC) is a new platform for executing smart contracts. This section contains information for developers, including links to documentation, developer forums, and relevant dashboards.

Examples:

• Canisters (dapps/smart contracts)
• Developer documentation on smartcontract.org
• IC community developer forum
• Bitcoin integration

If you've been programming smart contracts on Ethereum before, you should read The Internet Computer for Ethereum Developers.

See more in Internet Computer for smart contract and dapp developers.

IC for the Curious, Researchers and Blockchain Enthusiasts

This section is for those interested in how the Internet Computer works under the hood. It touches many different subject areas from cryptography, consensus protocols, virtual machines, operating systems, networking, distributed systems, etc.

Examples:

• How the Internet Computer Works
• Internet Computer dashboard
• Internet Computer performance
• DFINITY Foundation
• Bitcoin integration
• Third-party security audits

See more in Internet Computer for researchers and blockchain enthusiasts.

For Node Providers

Node providers invest in and operate node hardware, which powers the Internet Computer with processing and storage capacity. Running these nodes in data centers provides the high performance and the cost-effectiveness of the Internet Computer. Every node provider is allowed a limited amount of nodes.

• Node Provider Onboarding
• IC OS Installation Runbook - Dell Poweredge
• IC OS Installation Runbook - Supermicro
• Storage Runbook
• Node rewards

Technical Working Groups

• Identity & Authentication
• Developer Tooling
• Ledger & Tokenization
• Scalability & Performance

FAQs, Tutorials, and How-tos

Tutorials are guided introductions to user stories, intended for first-time users and characterized by a shallow learning curve. How-Tos are step-by-step instructions for specific, narrow goals.

FAQs

• FAQ

Best Practices

Example:

• Managing ICP holdings
• Managing Internet Identity
• Maximizing Voting and NNS Rewards

See more in Best Practices

Tutorials

Example:

• Tutorials for acquiring, managing, and staking ICP
• How-To: Claim neurons for seed participants
• How-To: Create an NNS motion proposal
• How-To: Set your neuron to follow another neuron
• sample wiki page

See more in How-Tos.

Contributing to the Wiki

How to contribute

Anyone can read the wiki. You can also edit pages, all you need to do is create an account. See more in Contributing to the wiki.