A consistency review of the alknet-http specs found two classes of
issues: internal contradictions from the mid-spec pivot (the to_openapi
gateway pattern landed in prose but not in cross-references), and a
systematic client→server assumption that only holds for the OpenAPI/MCP
case leaking into the WebTransport architecture.
Class 1 (internal contradictions):
- C1: to_openapi was half-refactored — body described the ADR-042
gateway pattern but the decisions table and ADR-036 still said
'paths mirror /{service}/{op}'. ADR-036's to_openapi clause is now
amended as superseded by ADR-042; the stale decisions row and README
Principle 2 are fixed.
- C2: the axum Router route list didn't include the 5 gateway endpoints
(/search, /schema, /call, /batch, /subscribe). Added them; clarified
/openapi.json as the gateway description doc; added gateway paths to
the decoy exclusion list.
- C3: ADR-034 §5 still talked about the 'h3/WebTransport deferral
bucket' that ADR-038 eliminated. Amended §5/Consequences/References
to drop the deferral framing (the auth-model decision stands; only
the 'when' wording was stale).
Class 2 (one-way direction assumption):
- C4/C5/C6: the WebTransport specs framed the session as browser→hub
one-way, when the call protocol is bidirectional and WebTransport is
a general ALPN transport substrate. New ADR-043 reframes WebTransport
as a bidirectional ALPN transport substrate (call protocol is the
first/canonical target; needs no WASM parser), names the call
protocol's bidirectionality over WebTransport sessions, and states
the inbound no-PeerId connection-local overlay as the mirror of
ADR-034 §2. webtransport.md is updated to reflect this framing;
ADR-040 is repositioned (not superseded) as the substrate's non-call-
ALPN mechanism.
- C7: the HTTP/1.1+HTTP/2 surface's one-directionality is now named as
a lossy consequence of HTTP request/response; WebTransport is named
as the surface that restores the bidirectional call model.
- C8: overview.md acknowledges the from/to direction model is
OpenAPI/MCP-specific, not a call-protocol property.
A review subagent pass on ADR-043 + webtransport.md found no critical
issues; warnings W1-W3 (residual browser-as-subject framing, ADR-009
rationale in spec, opening abstract tone) and suggestions S2/S4/S5
were addressed.
Alknet
Status: Pre-alpha — This project is undergoing a major architectural pivot to an ALPN-as-service model. The previous implementation has been archived and a greenfield rebuild is in progress.
A self-hostable networking toolkit built on QUIC+TLS with ALPN-based protocol dispatch. Each protocol handler (SSH, SFTP, Git, HTTP, DNS, messaging, call protocol) registers an ALPN string on a shared endpoint. The ALPN negotiation during the TLS/QUIC handshake routes connections to the correct handler before any application bytes are read.
Core Insight
A service IS an ALPN. One endpoint, one port, many protocols — dispatched by the TLS handshake, not by application-level peeking or separate listeners.
Crates
| Crate | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
alknet-vault |
stable | Local key vault: BIP39/SLIP-0010/AES-GCM key derivation and encryption |
alknet-core |
planned | ProtocolHandler trait, ALPN router, auth/identity, config |
alknet-ssh |
planned | SSH handler (russh), SOCKS5, port forwarding |
alknet-call |
planned | JSON-RPC call protocol (EventEnvelope framing) |
alknet-fs |
planned | Content-addressed file storage (iroh-blobs backend) |
alknet-sftp |
planned | SFTP handler (russh-sftp protocol core) |
alknet-git |
planned | Git smart protocol handler (gix) |
alknet-http |
planned | HTTP handler (axum, REST API, MCP) |
alknet-dns |
planned | DNS handler (hickory-proto, pkarr) |
alknet-msg |
planned | E2E encrypted messaging, mixnet support |
alknet |
planned | CLI binary (assembles and registers handlers) |
Documentation
- ALPN-as-service architecture — pivot proposal
- Cleanup plan — greenfield transition plan
- SDD process — spec-driven development process
- Research references — iroh, russh, russh-sftp deep dives
Reference implementation (previous architecture) is preserved at /workspace/@alkdev/alknet-main/.
License
Licensed under either of
- Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
- MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
at your option.
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in this work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.