Under the hood

How Familiar Faces is built

Familiar Faces hosts no Pools. It reads other people’s, checks each person’s rules, and sends one email a week. Here is every setting, every Pool it reads and what it does with each, and what the v0.1 schema can’t say yet.

Settings

What we chose, and why

Setting	Value	Spec	Why Familiar Faces chose it
Pools hosted	none; the well-known file lists an empty set	§8.3 §10.2	Familiar Faces is a client. The groups belong to the places that keep them.
How it finds Pools	hosts’ well-known files, and any registry	§8.3 §8.4 §8.5 §10.1	The same way anyone can. We hold no private directory.
How it finds your Pools	your page’s address, and pages under it, in each Pool’s entries	§3.4 §3.5	Pools and profiles are coupled by URL, so your page is the only key we need.
Unlisted Pools you’re in	only if you give us the address	§3.2 §8.2	They are in no well-known file, on purpose. We don’t go looking.
Sign-in	a link to your Kindling identity email	§4.1 §4.2	No new account, no password, no new profile. Only the owner of the page can open Familiar Faces for it.
What you see	Pools you’re in, and public Pools	§3.2	Never an unlisted or invite-only Pool you’re not in.
Dating Pools	kept out of the friends view, public or not	§3.2	Friendship here. A person’s dating life stays where they put it.
Order of people	the order they joined each Pool	§3.4	No ranking, no score. Nothing to optimize.
Verification	shown beside every person, in words and with an icon	§4.5 §11.2	Always the level from the Pool the person appears through, because a vouch is local to one Pool.
Who can write to whom	each person’s accept_from and no_cold_messages, the Pool’s minimum, two block lists	§7.1 §7.2 §7.3	Checked before a hello is sent, with the reason shown.
Block lists	Kindling public · Circular consortium	§7.3	The same two lists the Board and Ferry Room Players subscribe to.
Handshakes	shown as the host sent them, answered with the host’s own links	§5.2	Familiar Faces is a door. The request and the decision stay with the Pool.
Auto-accept	shown, never set for you	§5.5	Theo has none, so a request waits for him.
Leaving a Pool	one action, a withdrawal message to its keeper	§5.3	Within sixty seconds, from the map or from the email.
Silent inclusion	impossible here	§5.1 §11.2	Familiar Faces can’t add anyone to anything. It only reads.
Transport	email, one digest a week	§6.1	No app and no notifications. Everything works from an inbox.
Message types	intro for a hello, reply, withdrawal, system for the digest	§6.2 §6.3	The schema’s six types; see the gaps below.
Photos	none shown, none copied	§2.5	We point at your page. Your page shows what you choose.
kindling_noindex	honored: a noindex profile never appears	§2.7	It means “in no Pool at all”, so it never reaches us.
Dormant Pools	shown with a notice and the keeper vote	§9.1 §9.3	Chess After Close is resting; its members see why, and the vote.
Money	nothing at the connection layer	§1.3	Hosts chip in by choice, which buys no placement. Thanks, if any, come after.

No Pools of its own

Our well-known file lists nothing

A host publishes /.well-known/kindling-pool so crawlers and registries can find its Pools §8.3 §10.2. Ours says who we are and how to reach us, and lists no Pools, because we keep none. If you want the Tuesday walk, it is on the Board’s file, not ours.

.well-known/kindling-pool

{
  "schema_version": "0.1",
  "pools": [],
  "operator": {
    "name": "Familiar Faces, a friendship app that reads the groups you already belong to",
    "contact": "hello@familiarfaces.example",
    "url": "https://familiarfaces.example"
  }
}

§3.5 coupling

How Theo’s groups were found

A profile may appear in many Pools, and Pools and profiles are loosely coupled by URL §3.5. Theo gave us one address, theo-lindqvist.carrd.example. It appears as an entry in these ten manifests, two of them through a page he keeps under that address, each with its own consent proof §3.4:

Chess After Close · entry added 8 January 2026 · consent email-link · hs-board-chess-after-close-theo
Ada Quillon’s Listeners · entry added 20 June 2026 · consent email-link · hs-ada-quillon-ada-listeners-theo
New in Town · entry added 20 August 2026 · consent email-link · hs-board-new-in-town-theo
Start a Band: Port Ellery · entry added 25 August 2026 · consent email-link · hs-ferry-room-start-a-band-theo
Friday Subs · entry added 2 September 2026 · consent email-link · hs-ferry-room-friday-subs-theo
Rain Check: Everyone · entry added 3 September 2026 · consent email-link · hs-rain-check-rain-check-everyone-theo
Port Ellery Thursdays · entry added 3 September 2026 · consent email-link · hs-rain-check-rain-check-port-ellery-theo
Rides to Appointments · entry added 5 September 2026 · consent curator-vouching · hs-foul-weather-friends-rides-to-appointments-theo · through theo-lindqvist.carrd.example/rides
Meals When It’s Hard · entry added 6 September 2026 · consent email-link · hs-foul-weather-friends-meals-when-its-hard-theo · through theo-lindqvist.carrd.example/meals
Release Night: Kitchen Light at the Ferry Room, Friday 16 October · entry added 21 September 2026 · consent email-link · hs-ada-quillon-release-night-port-ellery-theo

Everyone else on Theo’s map was found the same way, from the same files. We never follow a person into Pools Theo isn’t in. The app shows all ten.

The Pools it reads

Every Pool in Port Ellery’s world, and what we do with it

The library’s board, a musicians’ list, a letter co-op, the friendship side of a non-monogamy community, a supper club, and more. Each row is one manifest, linked to its host’s own copy. The app’s compatibility table says which of these it reads, and why.

Pool	Host	Visibility	Intent tags	How we find it	In Theo’s friends view
Founding Curators	Kindling	`public`	curating, founding-cohort	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Client Builders	Kindling	`public`	building, open-source	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Spec Readers	Kindling	`public`	spec-review, indieweb	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Toward a Working Group	Kindling	`public`	governance	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Writers and Researchers	Kindling	`public`	research, writing, journalism	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Tuesday Morning Walkers	The Board	`public`	walking, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Seed and Cutting Swap	The Board	`public`	gardening, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Conversation Partners, Any Language	The Board	`public`	conversation, language-exchange, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Carpool to the Coast	The Board	`public`	carpool	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Chess After Close	The Board	`public`	chess, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
New in Town	The Board	`public`	new-in-town, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Fix-It Friday Volunteers	The Board	`public`	repair, volunteering	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Friday Subs	Ferry Room Players	`public`	sub, drums, bass, keys, guitar, music	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Start a Band: Port Ellery	Ferry Room Players	`public`	band, music, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Horns and Strings for Records	Ferry Room Players	`public`	horns, strings, session, music	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Songwriters’ Demo Swap	Ferry Room Players	`public`	songwriting, demos, music	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Door and Sound Crew	Ferry Room Players	`public`	crew, sound, volunteering, music	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Circular Correspondents	The Circular	`public`	writing, editing, volunteering	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Scattered Light Stewards	Scattered Light	`public`	peer-support, stewarding	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
The Heron	Scattered Light	`invite-only`	peer-support	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: invite-only
Español ↔ English	Correo Lento	`public`	language-exchange, spanish, english, letters	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Português ↔ English	Correo Lento	`public`	language-exchange, portuguese, english, letters	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Français ↔ English	Correo Lento	`public`	language-exchange, french, english, letters	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Tagalog ↔ English	Correo Lento	`public`	language-exchange, tagalog, english, letters	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Late Supper Matchmakers	Late Supper	`public`	matchmaking, dating	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
The Tuesday Table	Late Supper	`unlisted`	dating	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted, and tagged dating
Second Chapters	Late Supper	`unlisted`	dating, second-chapters	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted, and tagged dating
Many Moons: Harbor Counties	Many Moons	`public`	non-monogamy, community, friendship, dating	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
Solo Poly Supper Club	Many Moons	`public`	non-monogamy, solo-poly, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
The Orchard Street Household	Many Moons	`unlisted`	household, non-monogamy	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted
Platonic Life Partners	Hearthhold	`public`	platonic-partnership, chosen-family	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Intentional Co-Parents	Hearthhold	`unlisted`	co-parenting, chosen-family	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted
Later-Life Housemates	Hearthhold	`public`	housemates, later-life, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Date-Me Docs: Cascadia	Wren’s List	`public`	dating, date-me-doc	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
The Singles Shelf	Second Tide Books	`public`	dating, books	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
Queer Harbor: Dating	Queer Harbor	`unlisted`	dating, queer	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted, and tagged dating
Face Up: Cascadia	Face Up	`public`	dating	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
Heartwood: Nearby	Heartwood	`public`	dating	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
Heartwood: Friends nearby	Heartwood	`public`	friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Sundial: Cascadia	Sundial	`public`	dating	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
Card Catalog: Cascadia	Card Catalog	`public`	dating	Its host’s well-known file	Kept out: tagged dating
Belay Partners	Drip Line	`public`	climbing, belay, partners	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Tuesday Regulars	Drip Line	`public`	bouldering, climbing, friendship, regulars	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
The Saturday Run	Drip Line	`public`	running, friendship, regulars	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
New to Climbing	Drip Line	`public`	climbing, new-to-climbing, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Thursday Night: Women and Nonbinary Climbers	Drip Line	`unlisted`	climbing, bouldering, women-and-nonbinary, friendship	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted
Lend and Borrow	Foul Weather Friends	`public`	mutual-aid, lending, tools	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Rides to Appointments	Foul Weather Friends	`public`	mutual-aid, rides, carpool	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
The Check-In Circle	Foul Weather Friends	`unlisted`	mutual-aid, check-ins, neighbors	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted
Meals When It’s Hard	Foul Weather Friends	`public`	mutual-aid, meals, cooking	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Ada Quillon’s Listeners	Ada Quillon	`public`	music, listening, friendship, songwriting	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Release Night: Kitchen Light at the Ferry Room, Friday 16 October	Ada Quillon	`public`	music, show, kitchen-light	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
House Show in Tacoma, Saturday 17 October	Ada Quillon	`public`	music, show, house-show, kitchen-light	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Portland, Friday 23 October	Ada Quillon	`public`	music, show, kitchen-light	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni	Cape Tarrow Alumni	`public`	mentorship, first-generation, alumni, careers	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Midspan Mentors	Midspan	`public`	mentorship, first-generation	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Midspan Students	Midspan	`invite-only`	mentorship, first-generation, students	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: invite-only
Rain Check: Everyone	Rain Check	`public`	board-games, game-night, tabletop, rain-check, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Port Ellery Thursdays	Rain Check	`public`	board-games, game-night, rain-check, port-ellery	Its host’s well-known file	Shown: Theo is in it
Olympia Thursdays	Rain Check	`public`	board-games, game-night, rain-check, olympia	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Tacoma Thursdays	Rain Check	`public`	board-games, game-night, rain-check, tacoma	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Portland Thursdays	Rain Check	`public`	board-games, game-night, rain-check, portland, role-playing	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Big Game Day	Rain Check	`public`	board-games, game-day, rain-check, rides, lending	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Seen Work: Harbor Trades	Seen Work	`unlisted`	trades, referrals, work	Listed nowhere. Only if a member gives us the address.	Never shown: unlisted
Seen Work Curators	Seen Work	`public`	trades, referrals, curating	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Slack Water 2026	Slack Water	`public`	festival, slack-water, folk, maritime-music, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Slack Water 2025	Slack Water	`public`	festival, slack-water, folk, maritime-music, friendship	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Session Players	Slack Water	`public`	session, folk, fiddle, shanties, music	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Crew and Volunteers	Slack Water	`public`	volunteering, crew, sound, festival-crew	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public
Rides Home	Slack Water	`public`	carpool, rides	Its host’s well-known file	Readable: public

Visibility rules

What Theo can see, and what he never will

Pools Theo is in.
Shown in full, with everyone who said yes to them.
Public Pools.
Readable. Shown when they are next door to his, or when he looks one up. Never pushed at him.
Unlisted and invite-only Pools he isn’t in.
Never shown, and never looked for §3.2.
Anyone’s dating Pools.
Never in a friends view, public or not, and nothing hints they exist.

Plainly, with names

Mae Castellano is in Friday Subs and Start a Band with Theo, so she is on his map. She is also on Queer Harbor’s dating list, which is unlisted, and in Many Moons: Harbor Counties, which is public but tagged dating. Neither appears.

Ada Quillon has a shelf-talker on Second Tide Books’ Singles Shelf. It is public and it is for dating, so it doesn’t appear either.

If Theo joins the Tuesday walk, Carl Jansen appears as a walker. His place in Late Supper’s Second Chapters, unlisted and for dating, never does.

Client conformance

A compliant Pool UI, point by point

§11.2 asks four things of a UI; §11.4 asks three of a messaging client. Here is how Familiar Faces does each.

Renders verification levels beside every profile (§4.5).
Every person on every page carries KindlingDemo.levelBadge: the level in words, with an icon. Unverified is gray and dashed.
Honors the spam-filtering layers (§7).
A hello is checked with canMessage against the sender’s level, the Pool’s own minimum, the person’s accept_from and no_cold_messages, and two block lists, before anything is sent.
Supports withdrawal (§5.3).
Every group on the map has one “Leave” button, and every digest has one link per group. Each sends a withdrawal message to the keeper.
Never performs silent inclusion (§5.1).
Familiar Faces can’t add anyone to any Pool. Requests come from keepers, and are answered with the host’s own accept and decline links.
As a messaging client (§11.4).
Every message we write validates against kindling_message.schema.json, shows the sender’s level, and passes the identity gate first (§7.1).

Block lists

The two lists we check every hello against

Messages from anything on these lists are refused before they reach anyone §7.3.

Kindling public block list

Copy: blocklist.json · published at https://protocol.kindling.foundation/blocklist.json · version 3, 20 September 2026

The block list the Kindling project will publish under SPEC.md §7.3, for identities and implementations with confirmed abuse. The entries here are illustrative until the registry opens. No personal details are ever published.

Type	Target	Reason	Added
`implementation`	scrapekit/0.3	scraping	2 July 2026
`identity`	promo-blast@mail.example	spam	14 August 2026

The Circular consortium block list

Copy: circular/blocklist.json · published at https://thecircular.example/blocklist.json · version 8, 27 September 2026

Shared by every member of the Circular consortium. Each member subscribes; any member may propose an entry, and two others must second it.

Type	Target	Reason	Added
`curator_identity`	listed-them-anyway@mail.example	consent_violation	27 September 2026
`pool_url`	https://free-friends-now.example/pools/everyone.json	consent_violation	26 September 2026
`identity`	bulk-intros@relay.example	spam	3 September 2026
`implementation`	scrapekit/0.3	scraping	3 July 2026

The files

Every document we publish, validated

Each validates against the repository’s JSON Schemas. There is no pools/ folder, because there are no Pools.

.well-known/kindling-pool
Our discovery file: an operator, a contact, and no Pools
handshake/demo-request.json
Maggie’s request to Theo (handshake request, hosted by the Board)
messages/hello-theo-to-ada.json
Theo’s hello to Ada (intro)
messages/reply-ada-to-theo.json
Ada’s reply (reply)
messages/withdrawal-theo-new-in-town.json
Leaving New in Town (withdrawal)
messages/digest-theo-2026-09-28.json
The Monday email (system)

Honest limits

What the v0.1 schema can’t say yet

Where the specification text and a schema disagree, our JSON follows the schema. These are the gaps that touch a client like Familiar Faces.

A client has no place in the protocol.
v0.1 defines Pool hosts, UIs, parsers and messaging clients §11, but nothing for an app that only reads other hosts’ Pools. We publish a well-known file with an empty pools list so crawlers find an operator and a contact, and nothing else. A Pool can’t tell which clients read it.
Nothing says “this Pool is for dating”.
Intent tags are free text §3.2. We keep out any Pool tagged dating, which works for every Pool in this world. A Pool that wrote romance instead would slip through, and a Pool like Many Moons: Harbor Counties, tagged both friendship and dating, is kept out entirely because we can’t tell who meant which.
Unlisted is not private.
The protocol has no access control on a manifest §3.1. Anyone holding the address of an unlisted Pool can read who is in it, and a public Pool lists all its members to anyone. Keeping Mae’s other Pools out of Theo’s view is our choice, not something the protocol enforces.
There is no way to ask to join.
The handshake starts with a curator §5.2. “Ask to join” is an ordinary email to the Pool’s curator_contact, asking them to send a request.
A digest has no message type, and no single Pool.
§6.3 lists four types and the schema six. Neither has a digest, so we send a system message. It spans several Pools, and via_pool holds one, so the digest has none.
Nothing links one person’s pages.
Theo keeps a page for Meals When It’s Hard under his own address. v0.1 has nothing that says two pages belong to one person §3.5, so we count a page under your address as yours, and say so. A page on another host would not be found.
Owning a page, for a client.
§4.2 defines email verification when a Profile first enters a Pool. Nothing says how a reading client confirms that you own a page. We email a link to the Kindling identity already in your entries’ contact_methods.
Verification is per entry.
A vouch is local to one Pool §4.4. Yusra is curator-vouched in New in Town; in another Pool she could be email verified. We show the level from the Pool someone appears through, so one person can show two levels on one screen.
Level names differ between the text and the schema.
§4.5 names email-verified, oauth-verified, curator-vouched and unverified. The schemas say email, oauth, curator-vouched, unverified and cryptographic. Our JSON follows the schemas; our pages use the words.
A Pool’s sender floor can’t name vouching.
Friday Subs asks senders to be at least oauth. §7.1 says a vouched sender passes inside the Pool that vouched for them, but minimum_sender_verification allows only unverified, email or oauth. Theo, email verified, can’t write through Friday Subs; he can write to the same people through Start a Band, which sets no floor.
Mutual interest has no field.
no_cold_messages needs “confirmed mutual interest” §7.2, and nothing records it. Carl Jansen has it on, so Theo can’t write first, and no message type lets the two of them say they’d like to hear from each other.
Dormant is not archived.
§9.4 says archived Pools process no messages. It says nothing about dormant ones. We let hellos through Chess After Close while it rests, and say that it is resting.
The window is configurable in text, not in the manifest.
§5.2 says the 14-day window is “configurable per Pool”. There is no field for it. Friday Subs carries its 48 hours in each request’s expires_at and says so in governance_rules; we read the date, not a setting.
Field names in the text and the schemas differ.
§6.2 calls the Pool reference pool_ref; the schema calls it via_pool. §12.1 names kindling_version; every schema uses schema_version. Our JSON follows the schemas.
No provenance on parsed profiles.
§2.3 names extraction_source, but the parsed-profile schema has no such field and forbids extra ones. We can’t show which lines of Ada’s page were marked up and which were inferred.
Thanks have no place in v0.1.
A chargeable surface at the connection layer is a non-goal §1.3. Thanks after an introduction worked is in the v0.2 draft, which says it can never become a paywall. We follow it already, off the protocol.