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Glossary

Term Definition
Hermes Event-driven runtime that executes WASM components packaged as applications.
WASM Component Model Standard for composable WASM components with WIT-defined interfaces.
WIT WebAssembly Interface Types language used to describe host APIs and component interfaces.
HDF5 Hierarchical Data Format v5, used as the application/package container and VFS backing store.
VFS Virtual filesystem presented to applications, backed by HDF5 with permissioned directories.
Runtime Extension (HRE) Engine-provided host capability accessible to modules (HTTP, IPFS, sqlite, crypto, etc.).
Reactor Global orchestrator coordinating applications and event dispatch.
Event Queue Singleton MPSC queue for routing events to target applications/modules.
IPFS/libp2p Peer-to-peer system providing pub/sub, DHT, and content-addressed storage.
COSE/CBOR Standards used for signing and encoding application metadata and author payloads.
Athena First backend voting application for Project Catalyst, implemented as a Hermes application leveraging IPFS/pubsub, DHT, HTTP APIs, and signed packages.
Project Catalyst Innovation and voting platform; Athena is the Hermes-based backend MVP for decentralized voting.