Abstract¶
This session presents PeerSky Browser, a local-first, peer-to-peer web browser that allows people to access, publish, and share content directly with one another without relying on servers, cloud platforms, or gatekeepers.
Modern academic workflows increasingly depend on proprietary services for writing, analysis, hosting, and communication. PeerSky takes a different approach by running decentralized protocols such as IPFS, Hypercore, and BitTorrent directly on the user’s machine, turning the browser itself into a peer on the network. In this talk, I will demonstrate how familiar browser interactions can be reimagined as decentralized workflows that support the full lifecycle of knowledge creation.
Rather than presenting decentralization as a theoretical idea, this talk focuses on practical UX decisions that make peer-to-peer systems usable in everyday academic settings. Attendees will see how familiar browser actions like opening a folder, saving a file, or sharing a link can map directly to decentralized publishing and collaboration workflows. These patterns enable offline-first work, reduce dependence on vendor-locked platforms, and support sensitive or low-connectivity research contexts.
PeerSky was supported through Google Summer of Code 2025 with UC OSPO and continues to be developed in the open, this session also serves as a case study in how university-led open source projects can produce durable, reusable infrastructure. The goal is not only to present a browser, but to invite discussion on how local-first, peer-to-peer tools can strengthen public-interest research infrastructure across the UC system and beyond.
Website: https://
Akhilesh Thite | University of California, Santa Cruz¶
Akhilesh is a hacker and artist building decentralized tools for a more resilient, accessible, and user-empowered internet. He is the creator of the PeerSky Browser and actively contributes to open-source projects across the decentralized web ecosystem.
He has worked in the DWeb space for several years through both professional roles and open-source contributions. Prior to PeerSky, Akhilesh was a software engineer at Distributed Press, where he helped design and ship decentralized publishing infrastructure supported by a half-million-dollar FFDW grant. His work included co-developing the Social Inbox, which brings ActivityPub interactions directly to decentralized websites, the Social Reader, an offline-capable P2P microblog reader for the Fediverse, and DP-CLI, a command-line tool used by creators and organizations to publish content to IPFS and Hypercore. These experiences directly shaped PeerSky’s approach to offline-first UX, peer-to-peer synchronization, and content addressing.
Akhilesh is an active member of the decentralized web community. He was a 2023 Global DWeb Fellow and has spoken at DWeb Camp and events hosted by the Internet Archive, where he has collaborated with protocol authors, maintainers, and community organizers.
He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Website: https://