A decentralized, peer-to-peer layer for open AI. Open models from Hugging Face become checksum-verified torrents, held by a global swarm so they survive any single host taking them down. The goal is permanence for open-source AI.

Free, and no account needed for the basics:

• Browse & download - always free, no login at all.
• Claim a handle (and appear on the leaderboard) - sign in with 𝕏 or Hugging Face.
• Submit a model - sign in with Hugging Face (it's how we check the license and namespace).

It's an index and a swarm, not a paid host - the same person can provide, download, and seed all at once.

Type a name at pirateface.co/claim and post one tweet. The handle is then reserved for the 𝕏 account that posted it, and you earn your genesis points.

• Sign in with Hugging Face from the matching account or org → the handle is instant verified and locked to you for good.
• Skip it and the name stays reserved, with no badge - the real Hugging Face owner can always reclaim a reserved name by verifying.

Both are protected:

• The weights can't be faked - every file is checksum-verified against Hugging Face's official SHA-256.
• The handle - anyone can reserve a name (it shows reserved, no ), but only proving the matching Hugging Face identity earns the . A squatter can't lock you out: the real owner reclaims a reserved name by verifying.

Every weight file carries its official Hugging Face SHA-256 - a unique fingerprint of the exact bytes. Download it from anywhere and the hash still has to match, so you always know it's the real weights, never a tampered copy. It's the #1 fear with mirrored models, so it's a first-class feature here.

Every model is a magnet link (a torrent) with a Hugging Face web-seed built in - so it works even with zero peers.

• While it's on Hugging Face: you pull the bytes straight from HF - same weights, checksum-verified, same speed.
• The day HF removes it: the web-seed dies and the download falls back to the peer-to-peer swarm. We mark it Rescued - still reachable, kept alive by whoever's seeding.

That fallback is the whole point: the same bytes as downloading from Hugging Face directly, but with no single point of failure (and the swarm can serve far-from-HF regions faster).

Yes - submit any Apache-2.0 or MIT model that's already on Hugging Face and we mirror it as a checksum-verified torrent.

• Sign in with Hugging Face and own the namespace (your username or an org) → it's added instantly.
• Submit someone else's model → a quick license check first, then it's in.

Pirate Face mirrors from Hugging Face, so the model has to live there first. If yours isn't on HF yet, upload it there (free) and then submit it here.

The one bit of jargon worth knowing. A web-seed (BitTorrent spec BEP-19) is a plain HTTPS URL built into a torrent - here, the model's file on Hugging Face. It's really just the download link, carried inside the torrent as a guaranteed source - which is why models download even with zero peers, and why the swarm takes over the moment that link dies.

Set HF_ENDPOINT=https://pirateface.co and your existing pipeline resolves models through us - straight from Hugging Face while it's up, from the swarm the moment it isn't. Same paths, same API, zero code changes. soon

Every claim, referral, model submission, and seeder earns points - counted retroactively from genesis and shown on the leaderboard.

• Genesis points are earned when you claim, and halve every 1,000 handles - so claiming early counts.
• Referrals earn 50 - paid when the handle you brought in claims.
• Model submissions earn 25 once they're approved.
• Seeding (Proof of Seed) - the biggest earner: points for every byte you seed, multiplied on Rescued models. Coming in Epoch 1, when seeding is linked to your handle.

Points are earned, never sold - and there is no token. If that ever changes, it will be announced on our official 𝕏 first, and only there. What the points become is up to the crew. 🏴‍☠️