# Porter

## Overview

Porter can be described as the *“Infura for TACo”*. Porter is a web-based service that performs TACo-based protocol operations for applications.

Its goal is to simplify and abstract the complexities surrounding the TACo protocol to negate the need for applications to interact with it via a Python client. Porter introduces the TACo protocol to cross-platform functionality, including web and mobile applications.

<figure><img src="/files/Ke5PAOfIiMzriJwk7bm0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Any publicly available Porter instance can be used to interface with the TACo nodes, or some application developers opt to [run their own](https://github.com/nucypher/nucypher-porter).

## Public Porter Instances

Public Porter instances are operated by centralized entities and have different security properties than user-operated instances.

To use the default Porter URIs in `taco`:

```typescript
import { domains, getPorterUri } from '@nucypher/taco';

const porterUri = getPorterUri(domains.MAINNET);  // mainnet
// OR
const devPorterUri = getPorterUri(domains.DEVNET);  // lynx testnet

```

Alternatively, you can use your own non-default Porter URIs.


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