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.
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 The previous implementation has been archived and a greenfield rebuild is in progress.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.