Pals is among the numerous applications designed to operate on Urbit, aiming to provide a foundational architecture for social networking.
With Pals, you establish connections with other users, which can then be leveraged by additional applications to develop unique features, as we will discuss later in this article.
One of the unique features of Pals is its approach to digital identity. Instead of using usernames and passwords, Pals uses your Urbit “key” identity, which is automatically generated for users who create an account on Urbit. This allows users to maintain their privacy and security, as they do not need to share their personal information to participate in this social network.
Installing the Pals app
To install an application, you will need to know the ship from which it is distributed, which is often the Urbit ID of its developer. Click on the “Get Urbit Apps” option.
In the list of applications, click on “Install app” next to pals.
If the application is not already appearing as a suggestion, type in the app search bar for ~paldev/pals to go directly to this developer’s app.
Another way is to search for applications developed by ~paldev and click on the pals option.
A window will open showing some information about the application. Click the “Get App” button.
In the pop-up window, click on “Get pals” to start the installation process.
Once this is done, you will have a new application on your Urbit home screen. Now you can add people you know on the network as your friends.
Adding friends
Pals is essentially a contact list, through which you send and receive friend requests easily, just by entering the Urbit ID.
After installation, open the application by clicking on “Open App”.
You will then see a screen like the one in the image below.
In the “~sampel” field in the “@p” column, you type the Urbit ID of the friend you want to add to the application. After pressing the Enter key, a green confirmation message will appear.
Once the request is confirmed, a smiling face icon indicates mutual status, and the user is added to the status pals. Other statuses are: targets (requests sent) and leeches (requests received). They appear in the “filter” category.
Using tags
Keep a record of who your friends are or how you know them (nickname) with tags, which exist primarily for your own control, but could be used in the future by other applications to group content.
After adding a tag, it appears in the “labels” category, below “filter”.
Some apps that work well with pals:
- ~paldev/rumors, anonymous gossip app
- ~paldev/face, image/avatar app of your friends
- ~dister-nocsyx-lassul/sphinx, search app for finding groups and applications
- ~holnes/whom, profile and contact management app
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