Bluesky has developed AT Protocol, a tech for open social networking. The distributed backend engineering perspective is explored, focusing on scaling performance limits. Moving from a SQL database architecture to NoSQL for scaling, view servers are introduced to maintain updated data. To ensure consistency, an event log like Kafka is implemented for syncing. The goal is to create a decentralized backend where users can contribute and share data. The unique system utilizes a user data repository model, with JSON documents organized into collections. Applications on ATProto involve Appviews for reading and writing JSON documents within user repositories, building a network of interconnected apps. The protocol merges p2p tech with high-scale systems practices, led by engineers with IPFS and Dat backgrounds.
https://atproto.com/articles/atproto-for-distsys-engineers