The vault uses SLIP-0010 HD derivation from the BIP39 seed for the
AES-256-GCM encryption key, not PBKDF2. This replaces the TypeScript
predecessor's (@alkdev/storage/src/graphs/crypto.ts) PBKDF2-based
approach.
Key decisions:
- HD derivation at m/74'/2'/0'/0' produces the encryption key
- PBKDF2 is not implemented in the vault; no password-based derivation
- salt field is unused in v2 (wire-format compat only)
- key_version=1 reserved for TS PBKDF2 data; key_version=2 for vault HD
- TS-encrypted data requires one-time migration to v2
- CURRENT_KEY_VERSION changes from 1 to 2 (source drift flagged)
OQ-20 resolved: the encryption key derivation method is locked. OQ-22
(key rotation workflow) remains open but does not block implementation.
Spec the vault crate from its existing implementation. The vault is
stable (implementation exists); this spec documents what IS so the
implementation-sync agent can reconcile source drift.
New spec documents (crates/vault/):
- README.md — crate index, security constraints, public API
- mnemonic-derivation.md — BIP39, SLIP-0010, BIP-0032, derivation paths
- encryption.md — AES-256-GCM, EncryptedData, key versioning, salt
- service.md — VaultServiceHandle lifecycle, actor dispatch, cache
- protocol.md — VaultProtocol irpc messages, DerivedKey redaction
New ADRs:
- ADR-018: Vault as standalone crate (zero alknet deps; own types/errors)
- ADR-019: Vault assembly-layer-only access (CLI is sole caller)
New open questions:
- OQ-20: Salt/KDF Phase B (open, low priority — salt field reserved)
- OQ-21: Remote vault administration (deferred — needs ADR if ever needed)
- OQ-22: Key rotation mechanism (open, low priority — workflow not specced)
Spec-vs-source drift explicitly flagged (for the sync agent):
- rand::random() used for IVs instead of OsRng (security-critical)
- unwrap() on every RwLock acquisition (must use unwrap_or_else)
- ADR-038 / OQ-SVC-03 references in source comments are stale (old numbering)
- VaultServiceActor::spawn returns a non-functional second actor (source bug)
- KeyVersionMismatch error variant is defined but unused in v1
Critical:
- operation-registry: remove stale duplicate OperationEnv impl that
propagated parent.metadata through composition (violated ADR-014);
collapse to one canonical block with metadata: HashMap::new()
- operation-registry: fix request_id collision — format!("env-{name}")
produced identical IDs across concurrent invocations, corrupting
PendingRequestMap correlation and the abort-cascade tree (ADR-016)
- operation-registry + ADR-015: fix OperationContext.internal visibility —
pub field let handlers mark their own call internal (privilege
escalation per ADR-015); change to pub(crate) with pub fn is_internal
Warnings:
- core-types: add Connection::set_identity/identity (OQ-11) to the
Connection type spec — was specified in auth.md but missing from the
type definition
- operation-registry: add Capabilities: Clone design note — invoke()
clones capabilities through composition; explicit security implication
- call-protocol: add CallAdapter root OperationContext construction
example showing internal: false wire path, complementing
OperationEnv::invoke() internal: true composition path
- overview: remove alknet/agent from ALPN registry — agent is a future
consumer of alknet-call (call-protocol operations), not a separate ALPN
- call-protocol: clarify call.requested payload schema and the
leading-slash convention (wire operationId has slash, registry name
does not)
Suggestions:
- operation-registry: cross-reference ResponseEnvelope definition
- core-types: add StreamError to HandlerError mapping table
ADR-017 locks the client/adapter architecture:
- CallClient opens QUIC connections, shares dispatch loop with CallAdapter
- Connection direction independent of call direction (both sides can call)
- from_call adapter: discovers remote ops via services/list + services/schema,
registers with forwarding handlers (same pattern as from_openapi/from_mcp)
- to_openapi/to_mcp: project local ops to external protocols
- OperationAdapter trait: produces (OperationSpec, Handler) pairs
- Cross-node call tree: abort cascade propagates through from_call handlers
- Credentials from capabilities (ADR-014), adapter ops Internal by default (ADR-015)
The dispatch POC at /workspace/@alkdev/dispatch demonstrated head/worker over
SSH+axum; under the call protocol it's cross-node composition via from_call.
Connection topology (who advertises, who opens) is independent of call
direction — runner pattern, dispatch pattern, and P2P all work.
The 'trusted' flag on OperationContext was the wrong word — it implies a
trust decision was made, but what actually happens is the call originated
internally (from composition) not externally (from the wire). Renamed to
'internal' with clarified semantics: internal calls switch authority
context to the handler's identity, not skip ACL. This prevents the
privilege escalation vector where composition with 'trusted: true' bypassed
all access control (buggy handler + parameterized dispatch).
- Rename trusted -> internal across operation-registry.md, ADR-014
- Update OperationContext field description and LocalOperationEnv code
- Add OQ-17: abort cascade for nested calls (call.aborted cascades to
descendants, default abort-dependents, continue-running opt-in). One-way
door on the protocol event schema; mechanism is a two-way door.
- Add OQ-18: privilege model and authority context (internal = authority
switch not ACL skip, External/Internal operation visibility, scoped
composition env + handler identity). Needs agent crate in view.
- Add abort cascade section and constraint to call-protocol.md
- Update crates/call/README.md with OQ-17, OQ-18, and two new design principles
- Update architecture README.md with OQ-17, OQ-18
Resolve the contradiction between ADR-008's "capability source" model
and operation-registry.md showing vault operations on the wire. ADR-014
establishes: vault is assembly-layer only, capabilities carry outbound
credentials (distinct from inbound identity), call protocol carries no
secret material, adapters take credential sources not static tokens.
- Add ADR-014 (Secret Material Flow and Capability Injection)
- Remove vault/derive, vault/unlock, vault/decrypt from call protocol
registration examples and all spec examples
- Add Capabilities field to OperationContext, propagate through
LocalOperationEnv nested calls
- Add Capability Injection section to operation-registry.md
- Add no-secret-material wire constraint to call-protocol.md
- Add streaming subscribe example (LLM chat with Vercel UI chunks)
- Add Security Model section to overview.md (identity vs capabilities)
- Trim WASM treatment from ~20 lines to a design-constraint note
- Add OQ-16 (resolved: no vault ops on wire), update OQ-08, OQ-15
- Update ADR-003, ADR-008, ADR-013 to remove stale "via call protocol"
vault references
- Rewrite OQ-12: separate two distinct TLS identity use cases (RFC 7250
raw keys as default for P2P, X.509 for domain-hosted/browsers) instead
of conflating them as 'file paths now, ACME later'. ACME is a proven
pattern from the reverse-proxy project, not speculative future work.
- Resolve OQ-13 and OQ-14: remove 'Phase 1' framing from core crate
specs. /{service}/{op} is the correct design for alknet-call, not a
simplification. Batch as correlated call.requested events is the correct
protocol design. Core crates need to be done right from the start.
- Add ADR-013: Rust as canonical implementation language. TypeScript
@alkdev/operations is a reference that informed the design, not a
parallel implementation. The only JS use case is browser SDK adaptation.
Five reasons: memory safety, LLM competence, supply chain attacks,
performance, browser-only JS.
- Add alknet-agent crate to the crate graph (depends on alknet-call, not
alknet-core). Agent service uses call protocol client for tool dispatch
and vault/derive for provider keys — no env vars for secrets. ALPN
alknet/agent added to the registry.
- Add OQ-15: call protocol client and adapter contract. alknet-call needs
both server (CallAdapter) and client (remote invocation over QUIC), plus
the adapter traits (from_*, to_*) that enable composition.
- Clarify alknet-napi as thin NAPI projection layer, not business logic.
- Fix bugs: ProtocolController → ProtocolHandler typo, OperationEnv
invoke() path format inconsistency, RateLimitConfig comment confusion.
- Update endpoint.md TLS section: comprehensive identity model comparison
table, RFC 7250 as default mode, ACME as proven pattern.
Add architecture specs for the alknet-call crate:
- call-protocol.md: CallAdapter, EventEnvelope wire format, bidirectional
stream model with ID-based correlation, PendingRequestMap, protocol
operations (call/subscribe/batch/schema), per-request identity resolution,
connection/stream lifecycle, error codes
- operation-registry.md: OperationSpec, async Handler type, OperationRegistry,
AccessControl with trusted call bypass, OperationEnv with context
propagation (parent_request_id, identity inheritance), service discovery,
irpc integration layering, naming convention (no leading slash in names)
- ADR-012: Call protocol uses bidirectional QUIC streams with EventEnvelope
framing and ID-based correlation. Protocol is stream-agnostic and symmetric.
Resolves OQ-07.
Key design decisions:
- Handler type is async (Fn returning Pin<Box<dyn Future>>)
- OperationEnv::invoke propagates parent context (identity, metadata,
parent_request_id)
- Identity resolution is per-request, not per-connection
- Operation names without leading slash (fs/readFile, not /fs/readFile)
- Batch is a client-side pattern, not a protocol primitive (OQ-14)
- Phase 1 uses service/op paths, node prefix added later (OQ-13)
Also: promote ADR-010 and ADR-011 from Proposed to Accepted, add OQ-13
and OQ-14 to open-questions.md.
iroh uses RFC 7250 raw Ed25519 public keys for TLS instead of X.509
certificates. rustls already supports this. This means the quinn
endpoint can also use raw public keys — same key-based identity model
as iroh, but with direct QUIC over UDP. X.509 is optional, needed
only for domain-facing identity (browser/WebTransport clients).
Update StaticConfig with TlsIdentity enum (X509, RawKey, SelfSigned)
and add iroh_relay field. Remove 'iroh deferred' language — iroh is
a first-class connectivity mode.
iroh's Endpoint natively supports ALPN negotiation and set_alpns(). Our
HandlerRegistry dispatches exactly like iroh's own ProtocolMap/Router
pattern, but shared across both quinn and iroh connection sources. We
use iroh::Endpoint directly (not iroh::Router) because our HandlerRegistry
and AuthContext are shared across sources.
Correct the conflation of quinn/TLS/iroh as interchangeable transports.
They are complementary connectivity modes serving different deployment
contexts: quinn (public IP + TLS), iroh (NAT traversal via relay), TCP
(handler-specific, not core). Clarify that TLS cert = network identity,
not auth identity. Map stealth mode to HTTP handler on standard ALPNs
instead of byte-peeking. Resolve OQ-05 as one-way door. SendStream/
RecvStream now use internal enum dispatch for both quinn and iroh
streams.
Rename the crate from alknet-secret to alknet-vault to better reflect its
purpose as a local key vault (seed management, key derivation, encryption)
rather than a network service.
Symbol renames:
- SecretService → VaultService
- SecretServiceHandle → VaultServiceHandle
- SecretServiceActor → VaultServiceActor
- SecretServiceError → VaultServiceError
- SecretProtocol → VaultProtocol
- SecretMessage → VaultMessage
- ServiceLocked → VaultLocked
- alknet_secret → alknet_vault (crate name)
Update ADR-008 with vault access pattern: the vault is a capability source,
not a service endpoint. The CLI injects derived/decrypted material into
operation contexts — handlers never hold vault references.
Create the alknet-secret crate with BIP39 mnemonic generation, SLIP-0010
Ed25519 HD key derivation, AES-256-GCM encryption, and SecretProtocol
irpc service definition. This is Phase 3.1 from the integration plan.
Architecture changes:
- Promote secret-service.md to reviewed status with full spec format
(crate structure, public API, security model, phase progression,
ADR/OQ cross-references, wire format compatibility section)
- Add ADR-038 (seed lifecycle and memory security): zeroize for v1,
mlock deferred to Phase B
- Add OQ-SEC-01 (mlock/VirtualLock for seed RAM) to open-questions.md
- Update README.md with ADR-038 and secret-service status
Crate structure:
- src/mnemonic.rs: BIP39 phrase generation, validation, seed derivation
- src/derivation.rs: SLIP-0010 HD key derivation, path constants (74')
- src/encryption.rs: AES-256-GCM encrypt/decrypt, EncryptedData type
- src/protocol.rs: SecretProtocol irpc enum, DerivedKey, KeyType
- src/service.rs: SecretServiceHandle with Unlock/Lock lifecycle
- 40 passing tests (unit + integration + doc)
Update four existing specs (overview, server, napi-and-pubsub, call-protocol) to
reflect Phase 0 decisions: three-layer model, IdentityProvider, ForwardingPolicy,
OperationEnv, static/dynamic config split. Review all 9 Phase 0a ADRs (026-034)
for consistency. Fix 4 critical issues from architecture review: missing OQ-SVC-05
in open-questions.md, deprecated hub terminology, undefined AuthService and noq
terms. Replace inline OQ text with cross-references per format rules. Add
ConfigServiceImpl definition to configuration.md. Port absolute workspace paths
to project-relative links by copying referenced docs (feasibility, certbot,
fail2ban, event_source_types) into docs/research/.
The architecture specs were implying that StorageIdentityProvider, irpc
service implementations, and application services (agent, Docker, etc.)
already exist. This commit makes the phasing explicit:
- services.md: deployment topology now clearly labels 'Current (Phase 1)'
vs 'Future (Phase 2+)', notes that application services are downstream
- identity.md: StorageIdentityProvider labeled 'Future — Phase 2+',
clarifying alknet-storage doesn't exist yet
- storage.md: adds phase note that the crate hasn't been built yet,
StorageIdentityProvider is a future impl
- ADR-028: ConfigAuthService is Phase 1 path, StorageAuthService is
Phase 2+ contract
- call-protocol.md: Agent Service Pattern section explicitly framed as
a downstream application concern, not a core requirement
Unified authentication (ADR-023): SSH and WebTransport auth share the same
Ed25519 key material. Token auth uses signed timestamps verified against the
same authorized_keys set. IdentityProvider trait decouples core from identity
storage.
Bidirectional call protocol (ADR-024): Generalizes control channel (ADR-018)
to support hub→spoke and spoke→hub calls. Operation paths use /{spoke}/{service}/{op}
format for three-level routing. EventEnvelope wire format, five call events,
PendingRequestMap for correlation.
Handler/spec separation (ADR-025): Downstream consumers register operations
without modifying core. OperationRegistry maps paths to specs + handlers.
Service discovery via /services/list and /services/schema.
Resolves OQ-17 (transport-aware auth), OQ-21 (spoke routing), OQ-CFG-04 and
OQ-CFG-06 (WebTransport auth and transport-aware auth layer). Adds OQ-18
through OQ-22 for remaining open questions.
Address 5 critical and 7 warning issues from architecture review:
- Fix duplicate sentence in napi-and-pubsub.md server side section
- Add wraith- namespace reservation to server.md constraints (ADR-018)
- Document stealth mode TLS-only requirement in server.md
- Create ADR-019 for --proxy dual semantics (client vs server)
- Clarify NAPI connect() vs CLI wraith connect distinction
- Add SOCKS5h default as privacy design decision in client.md
- Expand reconnection section (always-on, re-register port forwards)
- Add graceful shutdown sections to client.md and server.md
- Specify OpenSSH key format for path-or-buffer inputs across all docs
- Resolve pubsub alternative approach ambiguity (ADR-018 is primary)
- Replace server.md handler impl block with behavioral description
- Standardize iroh endpoint ID terminology (base58-encoded)
- Remove iroh API implementation details from transport.md/server.md
- Add error handling pattern as cross-cutting concern in overview.md
- Update all document statuses from draft to reviewed
