alknet/docs/architecture/crates/call/call-protocol.md

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Call Protocol

The wire protocol, stream model, framing, and adapter that alknet-call implements on ALPN alknet/call.

What

The call protocol is a bidirectional, stream-agnostic RPC protocol that runs over QUIC bidirectional streams within a single alknet/call connection. It supports request/response calls, streaming subscriptions, batch operations, and service discovery — all using the same EventEnvelope wire format.

The CallAdapter implements ProtocolHandler for ALPN alknet/call. It receives a Connection from the endpoint, accepts bidirectional streams, and dispatches incoming EventEnvelope messages to the operation registry.

Why

The call protocol is the primary programmatic interface to an alknet node. While SSH provides interactive shell access and HTTP provides REST APIs, the call protocol provides structured, discoverable RPC — the same interface that NAPI clients, MCP tools, and other automation consumers use.

The protocol must be:

• Cross-language: JSON wire format consumable from TypeScript, Python, any language
• Bidirectional: Both sides can initiate calls (server-to-client is as natural as client-to-server)
• Stream-agnostic: QUIC provides stream multiplexing; the protocol shouldn't impose additional constraints
• Discoverable: Clients can query what operations exist and their schemas

See ADR-005 for the decision to use irpc as the call protocol's foundation and ADR-012 for the stream model decision.

Architecture

CallAdapter

The CallAdapter implements ProtocolHandler:

pub struct CallAdapter {
    registry: Arc<OperationRegistry>,
    identity_provider: Arc<dyn IdentityProvider>,
}

#[async_trait]
impl ProtocolHandler for CallAdapter {
    fn alpn(&self) -> &'static [u8] { b"alknet/call" }

    async fn handle(&self, connection: Connection, auth: &AuthContext) -> Result<(), HandlerError> {
        // Accept bidirectional streams, read EventEnvelopes,
        // dispatch to registry, write responses
    }
}

The adapter:

1. Accepts bidirectional streams on the connection
2. Reads length-prefixed JSON EventEnvelope frames from each stream
3. Resolves the peer's identity using AuthContext and IdentityProvider
4. Dispatches call.requested events to the operation registry
5. Writes response EventEnvelope frames back to the appropriate stream
6. Manages the PendingRequestMap for outgoing calls

Stream Model

See ADR-012 for the full rationale.

The call protocol uses bidirectional QUIC streams with EventEnvelope framing. Key properties:

• Either side can open streams: The client opens a stream to call a server operation. The server opens a stream to call a client operation. Both use open_bi() and accept_bi().
• Correlation by request ID: The id field in EventEnvelope correlates requests with responses. A response arriving on stream N can fulfill a request sent on stream M. The PendingRequestMap is keyed by ID, not by stream.
• Stream usage is the client's choice: A client may open one stream per operation, one stream for all operations, or any mix. The server processes EventEnvelopes regardless of stream origin.
• One connection, full access: A single alknet/call connection provides access to all operations (call, subscribe, batch, schema). No need for multiple connections or multiple ALPNs.

Wire Format: EventEnvelope

Every message on the wire is a length-prefixed JSON EventEnvelope:

pub struct EventEnvelope {
    pub r#type: String,    // Event type
    pub id: String,        // Correlation key (request ID, subscription ID)
    pub payload: Value,    // serde_json::Value — schema depends on event type
}

// Frame: 4-byte big-endian length prefix + UTF-8 JSON body

The Value type is serde_json::Value. The envelope is JSON because it must be consumable from JavaScript, Python, and any language. The envelope itself stays JSON for cross-language compatibility.

Binary payloads (postcard, protobuf) are base64-encoded as a JSON string within the payload field. The convention is: if an operation's output schema specifies a binary field, the handler encodes it as a base64 string and the client decodes it. The EventEnvelope structure is not aware of this convention — it carries a serde_json::Value and does not interpret the payload. This is a handler-level concern, not a protocol-level concern.

This is the same framing used by irpc. The Rust implementation in alknet-call is canonical — the @alkdev/pubsub TypeScript adapters serve as a reference and browser adaptation, not a parallel implementation (see ADR-013).

Event Types

Five event types carry request/response and subscription semantics:

Event	Direction	Purpose
call.requested	Caller → Handler	Initiate a call or subscription
call.responded	Handler → Caller	Deliver a result (one for calls, many for subscriptions)
call.completed	Handler → Caller	Signal end of subscription stream
call.aborted	Either side	Cancel the call/subscription
call.error	Handler → Caller	Signal an error

A call is a subscribe that resolves after one event. Both call() and subscribe() send the same call.requested event. The difference is consumption pattern:

• call(): Sends call.requested, resolves on first call.responded
• subscribe(): Sends call.requested, yields each call.responded until call.completed or call.aborted

The id field carries the requestId for correlation.

call.error Payload

{
  "code": "NOT_FOUND",
  "message": "operation not found: /fs/readFile",
  "retryable": false
}

Error codes use an extensible string enum. The protocol defines the following codes:

• NOT_FOUND — operation not in registry
• FORBIDDEN — access denied (insufficient scopes or unauthenticated)
• INVALID_INPUT — input doesn't match the operation's JSON Schema
• INTERNAL — handler error
• TIMEOUT — request timed out (retryable: true)

New error codes may be added in future versions. Clients should treat unknown error codes as INTERNAL with retryable: false.

Protocol Operations

The call protocol defines four top-level operations, expressed through event types and operation names:

Operation	Event Pattern	Description
call	call.requested → call.responded or call.error	Request/response — one result
subscribe	call.requested → many call.responded → call.completed or call.aborted	Streaming — zero or more results
batch	multiple call.requested (different IDs) → multiple call.responded	Multiple operations in one round
schema	call.requested name services/list or services/schema → call.responded	Discover available operations

Batch is not a separate event type — it's multiple call.requested events with different request IDs. The client sends them (on one or many streams) and correlates the responses by ID. See OQ-14.

Bidirectional Calls

Both sides of the connection can initiate calls. The server can call operations on the client just as the client calls operations on the server.

Client                                           Server
  │                                                │
  │── open_bi() → stream ─────────────────────────▶│
  │── call.requested { id: "c1", ... } ────────────▶│  (client calls server)
  │◀─ call.responded { id: "c1", ... } ───────────│
  │                                                │
  │◀─ open_bi() ← stream ──────────────────────────│
  │◀─ call.requested { id: "s1", ... } ────────────│  (server calls client)
  │── call.responded { id: "s1", ... } ───────────▶│
  │                                                │

The server calls client operations using the same PendingRequestMap and the same EventEnvelope format. The operation registry on the client side dispatches call.requested events just like the server side.

This enables patterns where the server pushes notifications, requests configuration from the client, or orchestrates workflows that require the client to perform operations.

Streaming Subscribe Example: LLM Chat

The subscribe operation pattern maps naturally to LLM streaming. An agent handler exposing /agent/chat as a subscription receives a call.requested event and streams call.responded events back as the LLM generates tokens. The output payloads use a normalized streaming UI format (e.g., Vercel AI SDK UI chunks — text-delta, tool-input-delta, etc.):

Client                                               Server (agent handler)
  │                                                    │
  │── open_bi() → stream ──────────────────────────────▶│
  │── call.requested  { id: "c1",                      │
  │                       operationId: "/agent/chat",   │
  │                       input: { messages, model } }  │
  │                                                    │  handler reads capabilities (API key)
  │                                                    │  handler makes HTTP request to LLM provider
  │                                                    │  handler normalizes provider SSE → UI chunks
  │←─ call.responded  { id: "c1", output: { type: "text-start", ... } }        │
  │←─ call.responded  { id: "c1", output: { type: "text-delta", delta: "Hel" } }│
  │←─ call.responded  { id: "c1", output: { type: "text-delta", delta: "lo" } } │
  │←─ call.responded  { id: "c1", output: { type: "text-end", ... } }           │
  │←─ call.completed  { id: "c1" }                                              │

The API key used for the outbound LLM HTTP request comes from OperationContext.capabilities, not from the call protocol input and not from environment variables. See ADR-014 and operation-registry.md → Capability Injection.

PendingRequestMap

Manages in-flight calls and subscriptions. Correlates call.responded events back to the original call.requested:

pub struct PendingRequestMap {
    pending: HashMap<String, PendingEntry>,
}

enum PendingEntry {
    Call {
        tx: oneshot::Sender<Result<Value, CallError>>,
        timeout: Instant,
    },
    Subscribe {
        tx: mpsc::Sender<Result<Value, CallError>>,
        timeout: Option<Instant>,
    },
}

When a call.responded event arrives:

• If PendingEntry::Call → resolve the oneshot, delete entry
• If PendingEntry::Subscribe → push to the mpsc channel, keep entry alive

When call.completed arrives on a subscription → close the mpsc channel, delete entry. When call.aborted arrives → cancel/drop whichever side initiated it. A call.aborted for an unknown requestId is silently discarded.

Timeouts prevent dangling entries. A background task sweeps expired entries periodically.

CallAdapter Stream Handling

The CallAdapter::handle() method:

1. Spawns a task that continuously calls connection.accept_bi() to receive incoming streams
2. For each accepted stream, reads EventEnvelope frames using FrameFramedReader
3. Dispatches call.requested events to the operation registry
4. Writes response EventEnvelope frames using FrameFramedWriter
5. Manages PendingRequestMap for outgoing calls initiated by the server

For outgoing calls (server → client), the adapter:

1. Opens a bidirectional stream with connection.open_bi()
2. Sends call.requested on that stream
3. Adds the request ID to the PendingRequestMap
4. Reads responses from any stream, correlates by ID

AuthContext and Identity Resolution

The CallAdapter receives an AuthContext from the endpoint. The call protocol resolves identity per-request, not per-connection:

Resolution flow:

1. The endpoint provides AuthContext with whatever identity it resolved at the TLS layer (e.g., client certificate fingerprint). This may be None — the AuthContext.identity field is Option<Identity>.
2. When a call.requested event arrives, the CallAdapter constructs an OperationContext with the connection-level AuthContext.identity.
3. If the call.requested payload includes an auth_token field, the CallAdapter resolves it using IdentityProvider::resolve_from_token(). If resolution succeeds, the resulting Identity replaces the connection-level identity in the OperationContext. If resolution fails, the request proceeds with the connection-level identity (which may be None).
4. The OperationContext.identity is passed to the OperationRegistry for ACL checking.
5. If identity is None and the operation's AccessControl has restrictions, the registry returns FORBIDDEN with message "authentication required".

Key point: Identity is resolved per-request, not per-connection. This allows a single connection to upgrade authentication mid-session (e.g., after an auth/login operation returns a token), and allows different operations on the same connection to have different identity levels.

ResponseEnvelope

The universal return type from all operation invocations:

pub struct ResponseEnvelope {
    pub request_id: String,
    pub result: Result<Value, CallError>,
}

pub struct CallError {
    pub code: String,
    pub message: String,
    pub retryable: bool,
}

Local dispatch produces ResponseEnvelope with no serialization overhead. The CallAdapter converts ResponseEnvelope to EventEnvelope for the wire.

Connection and Stream Lifecycle

Connection drop: When the QUIC connection closes, all pending requests in the PendingRequestMap are failed with call.error code INTERNAL and message "connection closed". All subscription channels are closed. The CallAdapter::handle() method returns Ok(()) (clean shutdown) or Err(HandlerError::ConnectionClosed) (unexpected).

Stream reset: When a QUIC stream is reset mid-operation, the FrameFramedReader returns an error. If the stream was carrying a subscription, the PendingRequestMap entry is removed and the mpsc channel is closed. If the stream was carrying a call, the oneshot is resolved with an error. No call.aborted is sent — the stream is gone.

Timeouts: Default timeout for calls is 30 seconds. Default timeout for subscriptions is optional (the client can specify a timeout in the call.requested payload, or leave it open-ended). The PendingRequestMap sweeper runs every 10 seconds and removes expired entries. Timeouts are configurable at the CallAdapter level, not per-operation.

Error handling in CallAdapter::handle(): If a handler panics, the stream is closed and the PendingRequestMap entry (if any) is cleaned up by the next sweeper pass. Other streams and the connection are unaffected.

Abort Cascade and Nested Calls

When a handler composes other operations via OperationEnv::invoke(), it creates a call tree: a parent request (r1) spawns children (r1-a, r1-b), which may spawn their own children. The parent_request_id field on OperationContext records this tree — it is the agency chain (ADR-015).

When call.aborted arrives for a parent request, the protocol cascades the abort to all non-terminal descendants in the tree. The CallAdapter walks the tree (indexed by parent_request_id in PendingRequestMap) and sends call.aborted for each descendant. The default policy is abort-dependents: aborting a request aborts everything downstream, regardless of branch. This is the correct default because aborted parent work has no consumer waiting for results — continuing is wasted work at best and unwanted side effects at worst (e.g., a bash/exec that keeps running after the caller stopped caring).

An opt-in continue-running policy is available for cases where long-running work should survive a parent's abort (e.g., a subscription that should keep streaming). Under continue-running, descendants that have already started continue to completion; descendants that haven't started yet are aborted; no new descendants start.

Handlers clean up resources when their call is cancelled (in Rust, the future is dropped and Drop guards release resources — HTTP streams, file handles, locks). This is a handler-level concern; the protocol's job is to cascade the abort. See ADR-016.

Constraints

• The call protocol does not depend on any database. PendingRequestMap is in-memory. Durable session storage is a consumer concern.
• Operation specs use JSON Schema. The envelope is always JSON. Binary payloads may be base64-encoded in the payload field.
• Batch is not a protocol primitive — multiple call.requested events with correlated IDs provide equivalent semantics. See OQ-14.
• The call protocol is transport-agnostic at the envelope level. The EventEnvelope framing can run over QUIC streams, WebSocket frames, or Worker postMessage. The CallAdapter is the QUIC-specific implementation.
• OperationEnv::invoke() dispatches through the local registry. Remote dispatch (federation, head/worker routing) would be a separate mechanism at a different layer. See ADR-005 and OQ-13.
• The call protocol carries no secret material. Secret material (private keys, API keys, mnemonics, decrypted credentials, raw tokens) must not appear in call.requested payloads, call.responded payloads, or OperationContext.metadata. The wire format carries serde_json::Value and cannot enforce this at the type level — the constraint is architectural, enforced by the operation registry and by convention. Operations that need to share public key material use a dedicated operation that returns only the public component. See ADR-014.
• Abort cascades to descendants. call.aborted for a parent request cascades to all non-terminal descendants in the call tree. Default policy is abort-dependents; continue-running is an opt-in. See ADR-016.

Design Decisions

Decision	ADR	Summary
irpc as call protocol foundation	ADR-005	irpc provides framing and service dispatch
Call protocol stream model	ADR-012	Bidirectional streams, EventEnvelope, ID-based correlation
ALPN per connection	ADR-006	alknet/call is a distinct ALPN, one connection per ALPN
ProtocolHandler receives Connection	ADR-007	CallAdapter gets Connection, can accept/open multiple streams
Vault integration point	ADR-008	Vault is a capability source, accessed at assembly time
Secret material flow	ADR-014	Call protocol carries no secret material; capabilities injected at assembly layer
Privilege model and authority context	ADR-015	internal = authority switch not ACL skip; External/Internal visibility; handler identity + scoped env
Abort cascade for nested calls	ADR-016	call.aborted cascades to descendants; default abort-dependents, continue-running opt-in
Call protocol client and adapter contract	ADR-017	CallClient opens connections; from_call imports remote ops; connection direction independent of call direction

Open Questions

See open-questions.md for full details.

• OQ-13 (resolved): Operation path format is /{service}/{op}. Remote dispatch is a separate mechanism, not a path prefix.
• OQ-14 (resolved): Batch is a client-side pattern of correlated call.requested events, not a protocol primitive.
• OQ-16 (resolved by ADR-014): No vault operations are exposed over the call protocol for now.
• OQ-19 (open): Session-scoped operation registries — agent-written operations overlaid on global registry via OperationEnv trait layering. Protocol doesn't need changes.

References

• operation-registry.md — OperationSpec, Handler, AccessControl, service discovery
• ADR-005: irpc as call protocol foundation
• ADR-012: Call protocol stream model
• Reference implementation: /workspace/@alkdev/alknet-main/crates/alknet-core/src/call/