The main challenge of this project was enabling persistent communication between multiple unknown parties on a decentralised network where everyone owns their personal data. In the client-server architecture that is used almost everywhere on the current internet, the server acts as a central coordinator and takes ownership of all data. One of the core features of the SAFE Network is that it is serverless. The core protocol of Project Decorum is a substitute for the missing central coordinator.

The core protocol consists of a set of rules that describe where and how conversational data should be uploaded to the SAFE Network. These rules can for example predict where the replies to a particular message on the SAFE Network will end up, no matter where the original is located. This means that all applications and SAFE websites that will use this protocol will be compatible with each other. People won't necessarily need to use the same application or website to communicate with each other!

On the data level, the protocol organises conversations in a tree structure, where every leaf of the tree represents a message from a user. Replies to earlier messages create new branches. This tree structure lends itself well to be represented in a "threaded" format, which is done by many well known forums and comment plugins. Anyone can create a new root to start a new tree for a new conversation. This can be used to create a forum, a comment section on a blog, a group chatbox, and so on.