ma-realms

Build playful, shared worlds on top of did:ma.

ma-realms is a practical, developer-friendly implementation layer for actor-based worlds. It uses the did:ma messaging protocol for secure and fast message delivery between actors, then turns those messages into rooms, movement, presence, and social world mechanics.

Why "ma"

The name comes from the Japanese concept 間 (ma): the meaningful space between things.

In this project, that idea maps naturally to actor communication:

• messages create the "between"
• worlds emerge from those relationships
• simple primitives produce rich interactions

Protocol Positioning

did:ma is intentionally minimalist:

• secure signed messages
• fast transport-friendly framing
• actor-first communication model

The syntax and document style are inspired by W3C DID conventions, while remaining an independent, evolving protocol (not formally registered yet).

What You Get Here

• core: shared realm protocol/domain code used by actor and world
• actor: WASM browser client for humans and bots
• world: world runtime/server

Command Terminology

To keep scripting predictable across actor/world/core layers, this repo uses:

• method: command/action token (for example show, apply, invite)
• attribute: dotted member on a target (for example avatar.name)
• path: dotted nested selector (for example document.ma.transports)

verb is reserved for natural-language interpretation layers and should not be used as the primary name for scripted dotted command segments.

Quick Start

Prerequisites:

• Rust toolchain
• wasm-pack
• Python 3
• Kubo/IPFS running locally at http://127.0.0.1:5001

From this directory (ma-realms):

make check
make dev

make dev will:

• build core, actor, and world
• generate the current actor web CID
• start world in dev mode with that CID wired in

From the parent repo root, use:

make -C ma-realms dev

Common Commands

make help
make core-build
make actor-build
make world-build
make actor-cid
make clean
make distclean

Release Automation

Cross-platform release builds for ma-world live in:

• .github/workflows/release-ma-world.yaml

Targets include Linux, macOS, and Windows artifacts.

Join In

If you enjoy actor systems, decentralized identity, and world-building, this is made for tinkering.

Clone it, run it, fork it, build a strange world with it.