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Invented example · built on Kindling · Why Kindling · The library · The spec · The Circular

familiar facesfriends from the groups you’re already in

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No app loads this, on purpose. Familiar Faces keeps no Pools of its own: it is a friendship app that reads the groups you already belong to, like the Tuesday walk that leaves from the library steps.

Hellos · both directions

Someone asks you in. You say hello.

First, a request that reached Theo: Maggie would like him on the Tuesday walk. Then the other direction: Theo says hello to Ada, a songwriter in Start a Band, under her own rule. Both are live. Press the buttons.

One · a request

Maggie asked you in

Theo uses Familiar Faces. Maggie, who keeps the Tuesday walk at the library, asks him in; Familiar Faces shows him the request beside the groups he is already in. This is the Kindling handshake §5.2. Nobody is added to a group without saying yes §5.1.

From the Board, on behalf of Maggie O’RourkeTo theo-lindqvist.carrd.exampleSent 27 September 2026

Maggie O’Rourke would like to add you to Tuesday Morning Walkers.

What it’s for
An easy walk around the harbor loop, Tuesdays at eight, leaving from the library steps. Any pace. We stop for herons. This is not a fitness group.
Who’s asking
Maggie O’Rourke Email verified
She keeps the walk. Rosa at the reference desk keeps it with her.
Where it lives
On the library’s Board. The Board’s own page for it. We only show you the request.
Who can see it
Public: anyone reading the Board, and any app that reads the Board’s list.
Who’s there
  • Maggie O’Rourke Email verified
  • June Okafor Email verified
  • Carl Jansen Vouched for by the curator
  • Rosa Delgado-Park Signed in with OAuth
Your rules
You take messages from anyone with a verified address §7.2. Saying yes doesn’t change that.
Auto-accept
You have no auto-accept rules, so the request waits for you §5.5.
Leaving
One button, any time. It takes effect within sixty seconds §5.3.
What it costs
Nothing. Nobody pays to join or to be introduced.

Waiting for your answer13 days left

A no is remembered. Maggie can’t ask again unless you tell the Board she may.

Behind the scenes

These buttons play Maggie’s side, and the clock. Nothing is sent anywhere.

The Pool sent a handshake request.

The log, and the exact JSON
  1. 2026-09-27T09:00:00Z

    The Pool sent a handshake request.

    {
  "schema_version": "0.1",
  "type": "handshake-request",
  "handshake_id": "hs-familiar-faces-tuesday-walkers-theo-demo",
  "pool": {
    "url": "https://board.elleryfreelibrary.example/pools/tuesday-walkers.json",
    "name": "Tuesday Morning Walkers",
    "charter": "An easy walk around the harbor loop, Tuesdays at eight, leaving from the library steps. Any pace. We stop for herons. This is not a fitness group.",
    "curator_identity": "maggie@mail.example",
    "curator_verification": "email",
    "intent_tags": [
      "walking",
      "friendship"
    ],
    "visibility": "public"
  },
  "profile_url": "https://theo-lindqvist.carrd.example",
  "sent_at": "2026-09-27T09:00:00Z",
  "expires_at": "2026-10-11T09:00:00Z",
  "accept_url": "https://board.elleryfreelibrary.example/handshake/hs-familiar-faces-tuesday-walkers-theo-demo/accept",
  "decline_url": "https://board.elleryfreelibrary.example/handshake/hs-familiar-faces-tuesday-walkers-theo-demo/decline"
}

Beside the groups you’re in

  • New in Town · The Board
  • Chess After Close · The Board
  • Friday Subs · Ferry Room Players
  • Start a Band: Port Ellery · Ferry Room Players

One room, many doors: this is the Board’s request and the Board’s Pool. Answer at the Board instead, and it counts the same.

Two · a hello

Theo says hello to Ada

Ada’s page says she wants honest ears on her demos. Her rule is pool-mates-only: she takes messages only from people who share a group with her (accept_from: "shared-pool", §7.2). Theo shares Start a Band with her, so he can write. Untick it to see what happens if he didn’t.

Ada Quillon (she/her)

Email verified

You’re both in Start a Band

Writes songs on a nylon-string guitar. Wants honest ears on her demos and will return the favor.

  • Through Start a Band: yes. Ada takes messages only from people who share a group, and you do.

Can Theo write to Ada?

Checked with KindlingDemo.canMessage, against Ada’s own rules, the group’s rules and two block lists §7.1 §7.3.

Yes. You’re both in Start a Band, and Ada takes messages from people who share a group with her. Allowed by their rules. (§7)

Not on the Kindling block list or the Circular’s.

What if? Theo’s groups

Ada will see who you are, how you’re verified, and which group you share. Nothing else.

The messages, as JSON

  1. Nothing has been sent yet.

Sample files, validated against the schema: Theo’s hello (an intro) and Ada’s reply (a reply), sent as email §6.1 §6.3.