What is a Connector?¶

A connector (also known as a sidecar, middleware, or plugin) is an external process or lightweight adapter that "attaches" to the surface of an existing application to listen to the events it naturally emits.

Its main function is to act as a translator: it takes a stream of data (which the original application generates for its own purposes) and converts it into actionable events for a secondary system (like a payments or metrics engine).

The primary advantage of this model is that it allows adding new capabilities (such as pay-per-use monetization or tipping) to any open-source software without needing to modify its source code, maintain forks, or wait for the original developers to implement the feature.

What types of events can a connector intercept?¶

A connector can leverage different "surfaces" or data structures depending on the nature of the underlying system. The main interceptable events include:

1. Presence Events (Live Streaming / VOD)¶

Through webhooks or WebSockets connections, the connector intercepts the exact moment a viewer joins a stream and the exact moment they leave. This allows measuring and acting upon real-time presence.

2. Media Consumption Events (Music / Audio)¶

By reading local databases or intercepting the streaming protocol, the connector captures "scrobble" events (playback logs), detecting every time a user listens to a track entirely or partially.

3. Asset Resolution Events (Photography / Files)¶

Acting as a router or reading access logs, the connector detects whenever a third party resolves (opens) a public or shared link of a media asset, identifying the original creator of that asset.

4. Citation or Syndication Events (Feeds / Text)¶

Acting as middleware, the connector captures when an aggregator or crawler (like Artificial Intelligence engines) consumes an article's URL, allowing it to register the provenance and authorship of the extracted text.

By intercepting the activity stream, the connector reads interactions such as replies, boosts, or financial support intents emitted by nodes in a decentralized social network.