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Start Your ICN Journey

ICN is post-capitalist infrastructure ready for real-world deployment. Choose your path below to get started with cooperative digital sovereignty.

Choose Your Path

🏭

Cooperatives

Economic entities looking to deploy democratic infrastructure, automate governance, and coordinate with other cooperatives.

✓ Deploy your own CoVM instance
✓ Automate democratic governance
✓ Join cooperative federations
✓ Manage mana and resources
Start as Cooperative
🏛️

Communities

Towns, regions, or civic groups seeking digital tools for democratic governance, public goods management, and civic participation.

✓ Constitutional governance systems
✓ Public goods coordination
✓ Verified citizen participation
✓ Restorative justice tools
Start as Community
👩‍💻

Developers

Technical contributors interested in building cooperative infrastructure, contributing to the codebase, or building applications on ICN.

✓ Access complete Rust codebase
✓ Deploy local federation devnet
✓ Build with HTTP/WebSocket APIs
✓ Contribute to core development
Start Developing
🔬

Researchers

Academics and researchers studying cooperative economics, distributed governance, or post-capitalist systems.

✓ Study live cooperative systems
✓ Access governance data
✓ Contribute to academic papers
✓ Join research collaborations
Start Researching
✊

Activists

Organizers and activists seeking tools for democratic coordination, movement building, and cooperative organizing.

✓ Democratic organizing tools
✓ Secure communications
✓ Movement coordination
✓ Cooperative federation building
Start Organizing
🧭

Curious Explorers

Learn about post-capitalist infrastructure, experiment with the system, and understand how cooperative technology works.

✓ Interactive demos and tutorials
✓ Explore live federation data
✓ Learn cooperative principles
✓ Join community discussions
Start Exploring

Quick Start Options

🚀

Try the Demo

Explore a live ICN federation with pre-loaded data and interactive features.

Launch Demo
⚡

Deploy Locally

Run a 3-node federation on your local machine in under 90 seconds.

Deploy Now
👥

Join Community

Connect with other cooperatives and contributors building the future.

Join Discussion

Understanding ICN Architecture

ICN is built as a layered architecture where each layer serves specific functions. Hover over each layer to learn more.

ICN Architecture Stack

Applications & UI

Pilot Web UI icnctl CLI icn-console
User interfaces for timebanking, governance, and administration

Governance

Proposals Voting CCL Contracts
Democratic decision-making with domain-scoped proposals and voting

Economics & Ledger

Mutual Credit Double-Entry Merkle-DAG
Mutual credit ledger with double-entry accounting and DAG anchoring

Runtime & Compute

Actor System Distributed Compute Storage
Tokio-based actor runtime with distributed compute and persistent storage

Networking

QUIC/TLS Gossip Protocol mDNS Discovery
Secure P2P mesh networking with trust-gated gossip and peer discovery

Identity & Trust

DIDs Ed25519 Trust Graph
Decentralized identity with web-of-participation trust and Ed25519 cryptography

🏭 Cooperative Getting Started

1. Understand the Model

  • • Review cooperative governance patterns
  • • Study mana economics and resource allocation
  • • Understand federation coordination
  • • Learn about CCL policy programming

2. Deploy Your Instance

  • • Set up your cooperative's CoVM instance
  • • Configure initial governance policies
  • • Establish member identities and roles
  • • Connect to relevant federations

👩‍💻 Developer Getting Started

1. Set Up Development Environment

git clone https://github.com/InterCooperative-Network/icn
cd icn
just setup
just test

2. Deploy Local Federation

just devnet-up
# Federation ready in ~90s

🏛️ Community Getting Started

1. Assess Community Needs

  • • Identify governance pain points
  • • Map current decision-making processes
  • • Understand digital participation barriers
  • • Plan for inclusive technology adoption

2. Start with Pilot Programs

  • • Begin with small governance decisions
  • • Train community facilitators
  • • Establish digital identity systems
  • • Connect with other communities

Need Help Getting Started?

Join Our Community

Connect with other ICN users, developers, and cooperatives for real-time support and collaboration.

Matrix Server Coming Soon

We're setting up our Matrix space. Check back soon to chat with the community.

Join Matrix Chat

Professional Support

Need dedicated assistance for your cooperative or community deployment? We offer consulting and training services.

Contact Support