DAO technology is still in the early stages of adoption. The challenge that DAOs face is that the blockchain is an immutable record, making it difficult to adapt and experiment. To overcome this challenge, many DAOs have relied on running off-chain operations with a trusted group of actors. However, we believe that for DAOs to truly be unstoppable, they must run on blockchains.
To address this, we have created a new DAO framework called Aragon OSx. It is designed to be lean and modular, enabling organizations to easily customize and adapt their governance. By following the Unix philosophy and creating simple, composable building blocks, organizations can find a governance solution that works for them and can be changed as their organization evolves.
Just like an operating system manages permissions to apps on a computer, our operating system for DAOs manages permissions to external programs. The DAO core acts as the trusted kernel, granting permissions to plugins that can perform complex actions. The plugins are small, composable building blocks that can be mixed and matched to create different types of organizations. They solve specific problems and can be installed, uninstalled, or upgraded as needed.
Developers have control over their own plugins, allowing them to design and customize their functionality. The plugins can be upgradeable or non-upgradeable, depending on the developer’s preference. We provide the operating system and basic plugins, but builders have the flexibility to create their own plugins for specific functions.
By combining the concept of an operating system with the Unix philosophy, we have created Aragon OSx, an adaptable framework for DAOs. It allows DAOs to run on blockchains and easily adapt their governance as they learn and grow.