Follow the claim
to its source.
A status-labeled map of the specifications, maintained code, examples, and historical material behind BSV overlays. This is a reading route—not a pile of links.
How this atlas is curated
Status is part
of the meaning.
Overlay vocabulary has evolved. Earlier “confederacy” discovery documents help explain the lineage, but BRC-88 is the current SHIP/SLAP source. BRC-76 introduced GASP; current package documentation describes the behavior people actually implement. Archived repositories are labeled so old examples do not masquerade as present guidance.
See the recommended implementation route →Start here
3 referencesOverlay Services overview
The shortest official introduction to topic managers, lookup services, and overlay architecture.
BRC repository
The canonical index for BSV request-for-comments documents. Always check each document’s status.
TypeScript overlay stack
The actively maintained monorepo containing the overlay engine, server, discovery, GASP, and topic packages.
Core specifications
12 referencesBRC-22 · Topic Manager API
How an overlay decides which outputs belong to a topic and what happens when they are spent.
BRC-24 · Overlay Lookup Services
A standard query interface for retrieving topic-specific data from overlay services.
BRC-62 · BEEF
A compact envelope for transactions and the evidence required to validate their ancestry.
BRC-74 · BUMP
A compact Merkle path format used to prove transaction inclusion.
BRC-76 · GASP
The original graph-aware synchronization proposal. Use the current GASP package docs for implementation behavior.
BRC-81 · Private Overlays
Patterns for overlay services whose membership or data access is restricted.
BRC-87 · Overlay Names
Naming conventions for overlay topics and lookup services.
BRC-88 · SHIP and SLAP
Discover hosts for topics and discover lookup services through on-chain advertisements.
BRC-95 · Atomic BEEF
A self-contained, atomic transaction proof envelope used in modern transaction exchange.
BRC-100 · Wallet Toolbox
The wallet interface context around user-controlled transactions, identity, baskets, and services.
BRC-136 · BASM
Block-aligned sparse Merkle roots help peers compare confirmed topic state and localize differences.
BRC-167 · CHIRP
A chunked Merkle-object layer above UHRP for immutable ordered byte streams, with concurrent multi-host retrieval, per-chunk verification, retry, resume, and range selection.
Current TypeScript stack
5 references@bsv/overlay
Core engine for admission, UTXO state, lookups, propagation, and synchronization.
@bsv/overlay-express
A production-oriented HTTP host for the overlay engine and its standard protocols.
@bsv/overlay-discovery-services
SHIP and SLAP discovery using overlay advertisements.
@bsv/gasp
Graph-aware synchronization that discovers unknown outputs and recursively retrieves required ancestors.
@bsv/overlay-topics
Canonical and demonstration topic implementations, including identity, messagebox, supply chain, UHRP, and KVStore.
Examples in the wild
5 referencesBirdSV sighting transaction
A useful recovery thought experiment: structured sighting data and an image committed in a BSV transaction.
Treechat
An on-chain social reader that also exposes legacy Twetch and Hodlocker archives.
Metanet Apps
An application directory demonstrating discoverable services in the BRC-100 ecosystem.
Dynamic supply chains
A worked example where specialized state and verifiable provenance are more useful than global chain scanning.
OpenClaw overlay plugin
A current integration example showing how an agent-facing plugin can work with overlay services.
History and context
6 referencesBRC-23 · Confederacy Host Interconnect
An earlier host discovery design. BRC-88 supersedes its discovery role.
BRC-25 · Confederacy Lookup Availability
An earlier lookup discovery design. BRC-88 supersedes its discovery role.
BRC-59 · Overlay benefits
The scalability and security case for application-specific overlay networks.
BRC-101 · Overlay transport alternatives
Ideas for transports beyond ordinary HTTP. Read as direction, not a deployment requirement.
Go overlay library
A community Go implementation; evaluate version and compatibility before production use.
Archived Go overlay services
Historically useful, but not the current recommended implementation path.
Know a durable primary source or working public overlay we should review?
Propose an addition on GitHub