what is our “moat” on atproto even? what keeps people using a specific atproto app vs a fully compatible other app?

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.

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}"

the open ecosystem for atproto makes it super easy for one developer to build a compelling and feature rich application in their free time that cannot possibly be maintained by one developer in their free time

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}"

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…

difficult to imagine atproto apps building to significant revenue in a world where you can just clone any given app in an afternoon & still access the backing data

also, I kinda feel like calling the things that consume atproto data "apps" does a disservice to understanding what they are / how they work / what their potential is. But that is a partially-formed hot take I can't fully defend yet.

i would like to see more atproto apps that aren’t just “already popular app, but on atproto”

some thoughts on atproto as a post-app paradigm

difficult to imagine atproto apps building to significant revenue in a world where you can just clone any given app in an afternoon & still access the backing data

Every lexicon, every "app" on ATProto is a "yes and" waiting for your contribution to the vision. We're all first party developers.

ATProto + Permissioned Spaces + Omnivore will be *golden*. There's so much that could be done there that's so much more than *just* Omnivore on atproto too!

Some thoughts on why ATProto is so exciting from the perspective of what it could unlock software dev wise.

the hard pill to swallow is that 99% of people do not care about whether an app is on "atproto" or if its "decentralized" so long as it works you will not sell the decentralization aspect if your app runs like shit and isn't fun to use even moreso if it's VC Claude slop which is 90% of atproto ww