Patchwork is a user interface for displaying messages from the distributed database to the user, and to allow the user to add new messages. The underlying protocol supports arbitrary message types, patchwork exposes a UI for interacting with a subset of them. Anyone could write and use other UIs while still contributing to the same database. Patchbay[1] for example is a more developer-centric frontend.

Under the hood, patchwork connects to a scuttlebot[2] server. Scuttlebot in turn is based on secure-scuttlebutt (ssb).

[1] https://github.com/ssbc/patchbay [2] http://scuttlebot.io/

The downvotes on replies are baffling over here. Here's what AljoschaMeyer said, and it's all accurate:

Patchwork is a user interface for displaying messages from the distributed database to the user, and to allow the user to add new messages. The underlying protocol supports arbitrary message types, patchwork exposes a UI for interacting with a subset of them. Anyone could write and use other UIs while still contributing to the same database. Patchbay[1] for example is a more developer-centric frontend. Under the hood, patchwork connects to a scuttlebot[2] server. Scuttlebot in turn is based on secure-scuttlebutt (ssb). [1] https://github.com/ssbc/patchbay [2] http://scuttlebot.io/

Thank you, I enabled [dead] and I too am baffled at why useful responses are getting killed.

edit- they got unkilled.

correct, patchwork is the UI, ssb is the database.