[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/gun)
[](https://travis-ci.org/amark/gun)
[](https://app.fossa.io/projects/git%2Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Famark%2Fgun?ref=badge_shield)
[](https://gitter.im/amark/gun)
[](https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/gun)
**GUN** is an _ecosystem_ of tools that let you build tomorrow's dApps, today.
Decentralized alternatives to [Reddit](https://notabug.io/t/whatever/comments/36588a16b9008da4e3f15663c2225e949eca4a15/gpu-bot-test), [YouTube](https://d.tube/), [Wikipedia](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17685682), etc. are already pushing terabytes of daily P2P traffic on GUN. We are a [friendly community](https://gitter.im/amark/gun) creating a free fun future for freedom:
The ecosystem is one nice stack of technologies that looks like this:
For now, it is best to start with GUN and _just use it_ to learn the basics, since it is _**so easy**_: (**or** want to read more? Skip ahead to the "[What is GUN?](#what-is-gun)" section.)
## Quickstart
- Try the [interactive tutorial](https://gun.eco/docs/Todo-Dapp) in the browser (**5min** ~ average developer).
- Or `npm install gun` and run the examples with `cd node_modules/gun && npm start` (**5min** ~ average developer).
> **Note:** If you don't have [node](http://nodejs.org/) or [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/), read [this](https://github.com/amark/gun/blob/master/examples/install.sh) first.
> If the `npm` command line didn't work, you may need to `mkdir node_modules` first or use `sudo`.
- An online demo of the examples are available here: http://gunjs.herokuapp.com/
- Or write a quick app: ([try now in jsbin](http://jsbin.com/sovihaveso/edit?js,console))
```html
```
- Or try something **mind blowing**, like saving circular references to a table of documents! ([play](http://jsbin.com/wefozepume/edit?js,console))
```javascript
var cat = {name: "Fluffy", species: "kitty"};
var mark = {boss: cat};
cat.slave = mark;
// partial updates merge with existing data!
gun.get('mark').put(mark);
// access the data as if it is a document.
gun.get('mark').get('boss').get('name').once(function(data, key){
// `val` grabs the data once, no subscriptions.
console.log("Mark's boss is", data);
});
// traverse a graph of circular references!
gun.get('mark').get('boss').get('slave').once(function(data, key){
console.log("Mark is the slave!", data);
});
// add both of them to a table!
gun.get('list').set(gun.get('mark').get('boss'));
gun.get('list').set(gun.get('mark'));
// grab each item once from the table, continuously:
gun.get('list').map().once(function(data, key){
console.log("Item:", data);
});
// live update the table!
gun.get('list').set({type: "cucumber", goal: "scare cat"});
```
Want to keep building more? **Jump to [THE DOCUMENTATION](#documentation)!**
# What is GUN?
First & foremost, GUN is **a community of the nicest and most helpful people** out there. So [I want to invite you](https://gitter.im/amark/gun) to come tell us about what **you** are working on & wanting to build (new or old school alike! Just be nice as well.) and ask us your questions directly. :)
On that note, let's get some official shout outs covered first:
### Support
Thanks to:
Robert Heessels,
Lorenzo Mangani,
NLnet Foundation,
Sam Liu,
Daniel Dombrowsky,
Vincent Woo,
AJ ONeal,
Bill Ottman,
Mike Lange,
Sean Matheson,
Alan Mimms,
Dário Freire,
John Williamson
- Join others in sponsoring code: https://www.patreon.com/gunDB !
- Ask questions: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/gun ?
- Found a bug? Report at: https://github.com/amark/gun/issues ;
- **Need help**? Chat with us: https://gitter.im/amark/gun .
### History
[GUN](https://gun.eco) was created by [Mark Nadal](https://twitter.com/marknadal) in 2014 after he had spent 4 years trying to get his collaborative web app to scale up with traditional databases.
After he realized [Master-Slave database architecture causes one big bottleneck](https://gun.eco/distributed/matters.html), he (as a complete newbie outsider) naively decided **to question the status quo** and shake things up with controversial, heretical, and contrarian experiments:
**The NoDB** - no master, no servers, no "single source of truth", not built with a real programming language or real hardware, no DevOps, no locking, not *just* SQL or NoSQL but both (**all** - graphs, documents, tables, key/value).
The goal was to build a P2P database that could survive living inside **any** browser, and could correctly sync data between **any** device after assuming **any** offline-first activity.
Technically, **GUN is a graph synchronization protocol** with a *lightweight embedded engine*, capable of doing *[20M+ API ops/sec](https://gun.eco/docs/Performance)* in **just ~9KB gzipped size**.
## Documentation
This would not be possible without **community contributors**, big shout out to:
**[ajmeyghani](https://github.com/ajmeyghani) ([Learn GUN Basics with Diagrams](https://medium.com/@ajmeyghani/gundb-a-graph-database-in-javascript-3860a08d873c))**; **[anywhichway](https://github.com/anywhichway) ([Block Storage](https://github.com/anywhichway/gun-block))**; **[beebase](https://github.com/beebase) ([Quasar](https://github.com/beebase/gun-vuex-quasar))**; **[BrockAtkinson](https://github.com/BrockAtkinson) ([brunch config](https://github.com/BrockAtkinson/brunch-gun))**; **[Brysgo](https://github.com/brysgo) ([GraphQL](https://github.com/brysgo/graphql-gun))**; **[d3x0r](https://github.com/d3x0r) ([SQLite](https://github.com/d3x0r/gun-db))**; **[forrestjt](https://github.com/forrestjt) ([file.js](https://github.com/amark/gun/blob/master/lib/file.js))**; **[hillct](https://github.com/hillct) (Docker)**; **[JosePedroDias](https://github.com/josepedrodias) ([graph visualizer](http://acor.sl.pt:9966))**; **[JuniperChicago](https://github.com/JuniperChicago) ([cycle.js bindings](https://github.com/JuniperChicago/cycle-gun))**; **[jveres](https://github.com/jveres) ([todoMVC](https://github.com/jveres/todomvc))**; **[kristianmandrup](https://github.com/kristianmandrup) ([edge](https://github.com/kristianmandrup/gun-edge))**; **[Lightnet](https://github.com/Lightnet)** ([Awesome Vue User Examples](https://glitch.com/edit/#!/jsvuegunui?path=README.md:1:0) & [User Kitchen Sink Playground](https://gdb-auth-vue-node.glitch.me/)); **[lmangani](https://github.com/lmangani) ([Cytoscape Visualizer](https://github.com/lmangani/gun-scape), [Cassandra](https://github.com/lmangani/gun-cassandra), [Fastify](https://github.com/lmangani/fastify-gundb), [LetsEncrypt](https://github.com/lmangani/polyGun-letsencrypt))**; **[mhelander](https://github.com/mhelander) ([SEA](https://github.com/amark/gun/blob/master/sea.js))**; [omarzion](https://github.com/omarzion) ([Sticky Note App](https://github.com/omarzion/stickies)); [PsychoLlama](https://github.com/PsychoLlama) ([LevelDB](https://github.com/PsychoLlama/gun-level)); **[RangerMauve](https://github.com/RangerMauve) ([schema](https://github.com/gundb/gun-schema))**; **[robertheessels](https://github.com/swifty) ([gun-p2p-auth](https://github.com/swifty/gun-p2p-auth))**; [sbeleidy](https://github.com/sbeleidy); **[Sean Matheson](https://github.com/ctrlplusb) ([Observable/RxJS/Most.js bindings](https://github.com/ctrlplusb/gun-most))**; **[Stefdv](https://github.com/stefdv) (Polymer/web components)**; **[sjones6](https://github.com/sjones6) ([Flint](https://github.com/sjones6/gun-flint))**; **[zrrrzzt](https://github.com/zrrrzzt) ([JWT Auth](https://gist.github.com/zrrrzzt/6f88dc3cedee4ee18588236756d2cfce))**; **[88dev](https://github.com/88dev) ([Database Viewer](https://github.com/88dev/gun-show))**;
I am missing many others, apologies, will be adding them soon!
## Deploy
To quickly spin up a Gun test server for your development team, utilize either [Heroku](http://heroku.com) or [Docker](http://docker.com) or any variant thereof [Dokku](http://dokku.viewdocs.io/dokku/), [Flynn.io](http://flynn.io), [now.sh](https://zeit.co/now), etc. !
### [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com/)
[](https://heroku.com/deploy?template=https://github.com/amark/gun)
Or:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/amark/gun.git
cd gun
heroku create
git push -f heroku HEAD:master
```
Then visit the URL in the output of the 'heroku create' step, in a browser.
### [Now.sh](https://zeit.co/now/)
```bash
npm install -g now
now --npm amark/gun
```
Then visit the URL in the output of the 'now --npm' step, in your browser.
### [Docker](https://www.docker.com/)
[](https://hub.docker.com/r/gundb/gun/) [](https://microbadger.com/images/gundb/gun "Get your own image badge on microbadger.com") [](https://hub.docker.com/r/gundb/gun/) [](https://hub.docker.com/r/gundb/gun/)
Pull from the [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/gundb/gun/) [](https://microbadger.com/images/gundb/gun). Or:
```bash
docker run -p 8765:8765 gundb/gun
```
Or build the [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/) image locally:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/amark/gun.git
cd gun
docker build -t myrepo/gundb:v1 .
docker run -p 8765:8765 myrepo/gundb:v1
```
Or, if you prefer your Docker image with metadata labels (Linux/Mac only):
```bash
npm run docker
docker run -p 8765:8765 username/gun:git
```
Then visit [http://localhost:8765](http://localhost:8765) in your browser.
## License
Designed with ♥ by Mark Nadal, the GUN team, and many amazing contributors.
Openly licensed under [Zlib / MIT / Apache 2.0](https://github.com/amark/gun/blob/master/LICENSE.md).
[](https://app.fossa.io/projects/git%2Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Famark%2Fgun?ref=badge_large)
[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQAtpf-zi9Pp4__2nToOM8g) . [Twitter](https://twitter.com/marknadal)
