# Reference



Reference is the technical description of how the P2P building blocks work. It's information-oriented: comprehensive, accurate, and dry. Use it to look up an API signature or a module.

If you're trying to accomplish a specific task, see **[How To](/p2p/how-to)**. For the design rationale, see **[How the stack fits together](/p2p/explanation/how-the-stack-fits-together)**.

<Callout type="info">
  **Bare is the runtime underneath.** A small, zero-core JavaScript runtime with its own docs: the module system, native addons, embedding in native and mobile apps, and compiling to a standalone binary all live on the [Bare tab](/bare). [How the stack fits together](/p2p/explanation/how-the-stack-fits-together) maps the layers.
</Callout>

<Callout type="info">
  **Pear is the platform on top.** Install the `pear` CLI when you want peer-to-peer app distribution, over-the-air updates, and one command to stage and release—the core you write here moves across unchanged. Start on the [Pear tab](/), or read [How the stack fits together](/p2p/explanation/how-the-stack-fits-together).
</Callout>

## In this section [#in-this-section]

### Primitives [#primitives]

The core peer-to-peer primitives everything else here is built on:

* [Hypercore](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/hypercore), [Hyperbee](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/hyperbee), [Hyperdrive](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/hyperdrive), [Autobase](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/autobase), [Autobee](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/autobee), [HyperDHT](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/hyperdht), [Hyperswarm](/p2p/reference/building-blocks/hyperswarm).

### Helpers [#helpers]

Higher-level utilities that combine the building blocks:

* [Corestore](/p2p/reference/helpers/corestore), [Localdrive](/p2p/reference/helpers/localdrive), [Mirrordrive](/p2p/reference/helpers/mirrordrive), [Secretstream](/p2p/reference/helpers/secretstream), [Compact-encoding](/p2p/reference/helpers/compact-encoding), [Protomux](/p2p/reference/helpers/protomux), [HRPC](/p2p/reference/helpers/hrpc), [Hyperschema](/p2p/reference/helpers/hyperschema), [blind-peering](/p2p/reference/helpers/blind-peering), [blind-peer](/p2p/reference/helpers/blind-peer).

### Tools [#tools]

CLI utilities built on the P2P stack:

* [Hypershell](/p2p/reference/tools/hypershell), [Hypertele](/p2p/reference/tools/hypertele), [Hyperbeam](/p2p/reference/tools/hyperbeam), [Hyperssh](/p2p/reference/tools/hyperssh), [Drives](/p2p/reference/tools/drives).

For the runtime these modules run on, see [Bare's Reference](/bare/reference). For Pear's CLI, configuration, and release tooling, see [Pear's Reference](/pear/reference).

## Stability legend [#stability-legend]

Module pages call out a stability indicator. The four levels:

| Stability                       | Description                                                 |
| ------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| <Status level="stable" />       | Unlikely to change or be removed in the foreseeable future. |
| <Status level="experimental" /> | New, untested, or has known issues.                         |
| <Status level="deprecated" />   | Being removed or replaced in the future.                    |
| <Status level="unstable" />     | May change or be removed without warning.                   |