ADR-028's remote_safe/trusted_peer was a parallel, weaker authorization system
that duplicated the existing AccessControl/Identity machinery and couldn't
express the head→N-workers pattern (the primary use case). The flat-namespace
single-peer overlay model (one connection layer in CompositeOperationEnv)
structurally breaks the moment a head has two workers both exposing
/container/exec.
ADR-029 replaces it with:
- Peer-keyed overlays: PeerCompositeEnv { connections: HashMap<PeerId, ...> }
replaces CompositeOperationEnv's singular connection layer. A head node
routes invoke_peer() to the right peer via PeerRef::Specific / PeerRef::Any.
- AccessControl-based peer authorization: the existing AccessControl::check
(peer_identity) gates peer calls — the same mechanism that gates every other
call. remote_safe/trusted_peer/RemoteFilter/list_operations_peer_scoped/
services_list_handler_peer_scoped are retired. The op's AccessControl IS the
peer-authorization policy; no parallel system.
- ScopedPeerEnv: peer-qualified reachability (peer-pinned allowlist) replaces
from_call's namespace_prefix as the disambiguation mechanism. Cross-peer
collision dissolves (separate sub-overlays); same-peer collision stays error.
- services/list-peers opt-in for peer-attributed re-export listing.
POC-validated against real types (scratch module written, type-checked,
removed; build clean, 207 tests pass). Petgraph not needed for v1 (one-hop,
shallow); nested HashMap suffices; extends to multi-hop without redesign (OQ-32).
OQ impact: OQ-25 dissolved (no marking); OQ-28 cross-peer dissolved / same-peer
stays; OQ-26/27/29 stay; new OQ-30 (Any routing policy), OQ-31 (list-peers
semantics), OQ-32 (multi-hop federation).
Research: docs/research/alknet-call-peer-routing/findings.md (POC shapes,
prior art — Ray.io actors, Dapr service invocation, full ADR draft).
ADR-028 marked Superseded; ADR-017 DC-1 amendment updated to point at ADR-029.
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 The previous implementation has been archived and a greenfield rebuild is in progress.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.