I built BXP — an open file system standard for air quality data (like HTTP but for what you breathe)

Source: Dev.to

The Problem

Air pollution kills 7 million people every year.

The tools to measure it exist. Sensors are cheap. Connectivity is everywhere. But the data infrastructure to connect it all? It doesn’t exist.

• Every air quality device uses a different format.
• Every platform is a silo. Nothing interoperates.

The Solution

I built BXP — Breathe Exposure Protocol.

It’s a pure software standard — like HTTP, PDF, or MP3. No hardware required. No licensing fees. Runs on any device.

BXP defines:

• A hierarchical file system architecture for all air exposure data
• A binary .bxp file format with a 32‑byte header and protobuf payload
• A complete schema for 31+ atmospheric agents with WHO thresholds
• A five‑stage protocol: Locate, Detect, Interpret, Protect, Report
• A REST API specification with 15 endpoints
• AES‑256‑GCM encryption, Ed25519 signing, TLS 1.3
• A BXP Health Risk Index (BXP_HRI) composite scoring formula

Why Software Only

• HTTP didn’t require you to build networking hardware.
• PDF didn’t require you to build printers.
• MP3 didn’t require you to build speakers.

BXP doesn’t require you to build sensors.

Any existing data source — government stations, satellites, consumer apps, phone‑native sensors, community reports — can write BXP‑formatted data immediately.

The Standard Is Live

• v2.0 specification is complete. Apache 2.0 licensed.
• Spec:
• Website:
• Contributions welcome

The air is public. The data should be too.