Desirable Properties ChallengeDP Challenge
Today's web: physical, internet, and application layers above the cityMeta-Layer under construction with scaffolding and cranesCompleted Meta-Layer coordination dome with trust, context, presence, and governance
Physical Infrastructure
Internet Infrastructure
Websites & Applications

META-LAYER

Trust · Context · Presence · Governance

The Desirable Properties Challenge

Help define the foundational properties of a trustworthy Meta-Layer for the Internet.

A global collaboration to build a human-aligned, decentralized, AI-assisted coordination layer that supports trust, agency, accountability, and human flourishing.

Start Here →Collaborate →Discuss & Patch

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Cover of The Desirable Properties of a Meta-Layer, Version 1.0

Version 1.0 · released November 13, 2026

The Desirable Properties of a Meta-Layer

Twenty-four properties for the layered web, written in the open over two years. Read it online, with a discussion layer on every page, or download the PDF.

Download the PDFRead online →About Version 1.0 and the videos

The Layered Web

Short videos on why the web needs a layer above the page, and what the 24 properties are for.

  • The page is not the web

    We think the webpage is the web. It’s worth far more as a place.

    Download widescreen (16:9)

  • Every page is a room with one voice

    Every page on the web has one voice: the owner’s. What if the space above it belonged to all of us?

    Download widescreen (16:9)

  • The conversation already left the page

    We talk about webpages everywhere except on them, and the context gets lost on the way.

    Download widescreen (16:9)

  • AI agents are about to arrive on every page

    Soon there may be more AI agents on a webpage than people. Who sets the rules for them?

    Download widescreen (16:9)

  • Trust has to be built in, not bolted on

    The web keeps adding trust after the damage is done. The layered web is our chance to build it in from the start.

    Download widescreen (16:9)

  • How 24 properties got written

    A challenge from Vint Cerf, two years of open work, and every proposal reviewed in public.

    Download widescreen (16:9)

  • The Layered Web is here

    Version 1.0 is out: 24 Desirable Properties for the layered web. Read it, share it, and help shape Version 1.1.

    Download widescreen (16:9)

For any group, in any field

Find your group's collective north star

Desirable Properties is how hundreds of people agreed on what a better web must do: open calls for input, proposals anyone can make, co-editors who decide in the open, and a steering committee that signs off. The same method helps any community, organization or field turn many voices into a shared set of properties to build toward.

We provide the facilitation and the tooling: the calls for input, Gov Hub for proposals and review, analysis that maps every contribution, and a published book of your properties.

Talk to us about your fieldHow Version 1.0 was made →

New here?

Start here

Each DP needs two co-editors, who decide its proposals. Version 1.0 is finished. Proposals toward Version 1.1 are open. Claim an open seat, propose changes in a workgroup, or comment on a chapter.

Open Start Here →Browse Collaborate pages

What Are Desirable Properties?

Desirable Properties provide the shared design criteria for a Meta-Layer that supports trust, agency, safety, accountability, contextual integrity, collective intelligence, and human flourishing.

The challenge is to continually refine, test, and operationalize these properties through governance, implementation, and real-world experimentation. Read the full framing on About.

Current DP Challenge

Version 1.0 is live. The 0.77 working draft is the record that led here. View full timeline →

24canonical DPs

25active workgroups

Recent activity

View full activity feed →

Browse the DPs

Illustration for Desirable Property DP23: Universal Participation & Linguistic Interoperability
DP23active

Universal Participation & Linguistic Interoperability

The Meta-Layer should enable universal participation and linguistic interoperability–preserving original expression, enabling understanding across languages, making machine interpretation visible and contestable, and showing how participation influences shared understanding and action.

View campaign →
Illustration for Desirable Property DP24: Cross-Layer Resilience and Compromise Containment
DP24active

Cross-Layer Resilience and Compromise Containment

The Meta-Layer should preserve the integrity of identity, authority, interactions, and governance even when the websites, browsers, devices, networks, services, overlays, or AI systems it depends on are compromised – within explicitly declared trust boundaries and threat assumptions.

View campaign →

Missing Something?

The current DPs are not assumed to be complete.

Have we missed a property?

Help identify:

  • Candidate DPs
  • Missing requirements
  • Emerging challenges
  • New implementation opportunities
Submit Candidate DPDP Discovery workgroup

Two Ways to Get Involved

New? Start on Start Here. Pick a path, or do both.

  • Collaborate page

    Join a DP workgroup workspace: Astra, Review (promote, then publish), and Canopi toward Version 1.0.

    Browse Collaborate pages →

  • Discuss & Patch

    Chapter comments are live on book.desirableproperties.org. Passage-level patching on the book is coming soon.

    Open the book →

  • Optional: Deepi

    Compare your notes or papers with the current DPs in about ten minutes.

    Open Deepi →

Start HereMore contribution pathsChallenge timelineAbout the ChallengeOn-chain provenance