The VaultProtocol is a remote-capable irpc service by construction — #[rpc_requests] generates both Service (local) and RemoteService (remote) trait impls. DerivedKey's dual serialization (JSON redacts, postcard preserves) was designed for this. Enabling remote vault access is a server-setup change, not a protocol change. OQ-21 enriched with full context: - What's already in place (protocol, serialization, actor, auth transport) - What's not in place (IrohProtocol handler forwards all messages without auth checks; needs NodeId allowlist + message filtering in assembly layer) - Operation access policy: Unlock/Lock local-only; Derive/Encrypt/Decrypt remote-capable - Use case: machine node → workers (workers don't hold mnemonics) - Per-machine-node vaults, not shared (compartmentalization) - Breaking vs non-breaking analysis (enabling = non-breaking; protocol evolution = wire break, manageable via ALPN versioning) The auth-wrapping handler lives in the assembly layer (or a dedicated vault-server crate depending on both alknet-core and alknet-vault), not in the vault crate itself — the vault is standalone (ADR-018) and can't import alknet-core's auth model. OQ-21 remains deferred — no commitment to implement, but the door is open and the design space is mapped.
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 The previous implementation has been archived and a greenfield rebuild is in progress.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.