Terms

Story - A series of items of data attached to an NFT by a single writer.

Hashchain - A data structure created by iteratively applying a hash function to the output of previous iterations of the hash function. In Solstory’s case there’s additional data added to each node. So instead of h(h(h(h(x)))) it’s h(data_4+h(data_3+h(data_2+h(data_1)))). This lets us validate the data AND previous hash just by knowing the current hash. Applied recursively it lets us validate the entire chain from the most recent hash.

Creator - The entity that created the NFT, understood in the Solstory world as the pubkey(s) with update privileges in the Metaplex metadata (specifically the on-chain pda) for the given NFT.

Writer - A public key identifying either an on or off chain program writing data to NFTs.

Item - An individual piece of data attached to an NFT as part of a story.

Node - Basically a block but in a hash chain.

WriterHead - The Solana PDA managing a single story. Enforces hash chain constraints, points to data location, and allows for data validation.