







ATProto, by design, refuses to be the place where things happen. Decisions live in apps. Value derives from execution, and execution will demand focus. This is application primacy — and it's why I don't expect an ATmospheric "everything app": numergent.com/2026-05/ATProto-Application-P…
ATProto's Application Primacy
numergent.comMay 11, 2026 at 11:31 AM
ATProto Isn't What You Think
This post takes a look at ATProto from a different angle, and explores the value of some possibly less-noticed pieces of it.

Some thoughts on why ATProto is so exciting from the perspective of what it could unlock software dev wise.
ATProto: Engine of Software 2.0
john.leaflet.pubHot take but I think it’s problematic for atproto that lots of developers i see talking about making stuff focus mostly on things absolutely no end user gives a shit about to fuel their protocols and architecture fetish, and it’s a failure there isn’t another app with like 100k+ users active even.
the point of atproto is to make locked-open apps. apps which are constrained such that they cannot be e.g. bought by billionaires and ruined. yes, doing non-atproto things "enables app developers to do more". yes, non-atproto is "more intuitive" and "it sucks" when you hit atproto's limits.
some thoughts on atproto as a post-app paradigm
Ecosystem Plugins
notes.wesleyfinck.orgsome thoughts on atproto as a post-app paradigm
Ecosystem Plugins
notes.wesleyfinck.orgThis is partly why I think atproto needs a more convincing vision about being a post-app protocol. A future where atproto is a bunch of apps and each app governs their own lexicon diminishes a lot of its potential in the long-term.
Laurens
yeah i think i might actually, theres a very interesting story here that the main thing that matters is a focal point around which consensus over a lexicon can get formed
while the permissionlessness vector of atproto will certainly enable new things we can't imagine the pattern of "____ but on atproto" is key for taking our daily lives back. a framing i prefer is "i can now do {boringDailyLifeThing} without {shittyExtractiveApp}"
dame
i would like to see more atproto apps that aren’t just “already popular app, but on atproto”
while the permissionlessness vector of atproto will certainly enable new things we can't imagine the pattern of "____ but on atproto" is key for taking our daily lives back. a framing i prefer is "i can now do {boringDailyLifeThing} without {shittyExtractiveApp}"
dame
i would like to see more atproto apps that aren’t just “already popular app, but on atproto”

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