The introduction is the product.

Why this exists

They make money on the wait, not the meeting.

• The dating doc.
  docs.google.com/…/date-meA page, a photo, what you’re looking for, an email at the bottom. Already a profile. Kindling reads it as one.
• The friendship spreadsheet.
  notion.site/friends-in-berlinSomeone keeps a list of people who’d like to meet people. Already a Pool. Kindling gives it a manifest and a consent rule.
• The personal page.
  you.carrd.coWhatever you publish, wherever you publish it. The protocol has no opinion about the host, only that you control the URL.

How it works

Two open standards, stacked. The UI is yours.

Layer 1 · Profile. A page you already have becomes a profile.

Layer 2 · Pool. A Pool is a manifest anyone can host.

The whole protocol, playable

Nobody enters a Pool without saying yes.

{
  "schema_version": "0.1",
  "id": "queer-creatives-la",
  "name": "Queer creatives in LA",
  "curator": [
    {
      "identity": "mira@mail.example",
      "display_name": "Mira",
      "verification_level": "email",
      "primary": true
    }
  ],
  "intent_tags": ["friendship", "creative-collaboration", "hiking-buddies", "mentoring", "dating"],
  "visibility": "unlisted",
  "consent_model": "universal-opt-in",
  "curator_contact": "mira@mail.example",
  "charter": "Queer artists, writers, musicians and makers in and around Los Angeles who would like to meet each other: for a hike, a collaboration, some mentoring, a friendship or a date. Not for recruiting, selling or promotion.",
  "geographic_scope": {
    "city": "Los Angeles",
    "region": "California",
    "country": "United States"
  },
  "status": "active",
  "created_at": "2026-09-01T17:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-01T17:00:00Z",
  "entries": []
}

Rules that don’t bend

The character of the protocol is in its MUSTs.

1. §5.1
   Silent inclusion is forbidden. There is no exception.A profile is never added to a Pool without the owner’s explicit consent, whatever the Pool’s consent model.
2. §5.2
   A decline is remembered.Say no once and the same curator may not submit you again without your permission. Silence expires the request in 14 days.
3. §5.3
   Leaving takes sixty seconds.Withdraw from any Pool at any time through the messaging channel. Implementations must process it within a minute of receipt.
4. §2.5
   Your photos are never copied.Referenced by URL only. Kindling and Pools store no photo bytes. Your images stay where you put them.
5. §1.3
   Nothing is charged at the connection layer.The protocol defines no chargeable surface between two people who want to meet. That is a stated non-goal, not a pricing decision.
6. §4.5
   Who you’re talking to is always shown.Every profile carries a visible verification level: email, OAuth, curator-vouched, or unverified. A conforming UI must render it every time.
7. §5.5
   Auto-accept can never be silent.Off by default, at most five rules, a notification for every event, and revocable after the fact. Convenience never outranks consent.
8. §7.2
   Say no to strangers if you want to.Per-profile rules: open to all, pool-mates only, vouched only, no cold messages. Implementations must honor them, and shared block lists sit underneath.
9. §9
   A Pool outlives its curator.Ninety days of inactivity and the Pool goes dormant. Active members can elect a new curator by two-thirds. Failing that it archives, readable and revivable.
10. §6.1
    Email is the floor.Messaging rides on structured email, so it inherits decades of spam filtering and needs no new network. Richer transports may come; email stays as the fallback through v1.

Why a protocol and not an app

If TranquilTech disappeared tomorrow, the Pools would keep working.

Build on it

Clone, validate a Pool, run a query. Under ten minutes, or it’s a bug.

# validate a Pool manifest$ npx kindling-validate https://example.com/pools/queer-creatives-la # parse a profile URL into structured JSON$ npx kindling-parse https://noor.example.com # ask a Pool a question in plain language$ npx kindling-discover --pool https://example.com/pools/queer-creatives-la \--query "who is up for a hike this weekend?"

Three ways to help now

• Specification feedback.Read it. Open issues for ambiguities, gaps, and overreach. Implementers, identity-protocol veterans, and IndieWeb regulars especially.
• Reference implementations.Build a Kindling client in your stack. A list, a search view, a printed zine. Send the link and the registry lists it.
• Founding Pool curators.Run a Pool. Curate it well. Write down what worked. The first curators are deciding what curation is as a craft.

Four ways to conform

• Compliant Pool host §11.1Implements the manifest, the handshake, and continuity, and publishes a .well-known/kindling-pool file.
• Compliant Pool UI §11.2Shows verification level beside every profile, honors all three spam layers, supports withdrawal, never includes silently.
• Compliant parser §11.3Prefers h-card, records what was inferred, respects noindex, stores no photo bytes.
• Compliant messaging client §11.4Validates every envelope, surfaces verification level, applies identity-based gating.

• Read the specification
• Source on GitHub
• Spec as Markdown
• The build guide

Where things stand

Published first. Built on second.

Specification

Stable v0.1 is published and stable. Changes before v0.2 land as opt-in additions or clearly marked deprecations. Section numbers won’t move until a major version.

Running on it

Nothing yet Nothing at TranquilTech, yet. The protocol shipped before any product depends on it, on purpose.

First implementation

Planned Planned inside Mycelial. Pools become how members of a community find each other within and across Groves. First quarter 2027.

Next

Draft v0.2 in draft: cryptographic identity, cross-Pool identity portability, and voluntary post-introduction gratitude, which the spec says cannot be turned into a paywall.

Contacts

Write to the maintainers.

Protocol maintainers

josh@intellibotique.comSpec questions, implementation partnerships, contributing.

Code of conduct

josh@intellibotique.comConduct concerns, incident reports, community standards.