First speccing pass for alknet-http (HTTP interface crate: h2/http1.1/h3 server + from_openapi/to_openapi/from_mcp/to_mcp adapters). Specs (crates/http/): - README.md, overview.md — crate index, two-roles-in-one-crate framing, adapter location map, feature gates (h3, mcp), no-env-vars invariant - http-server.md — HttpAdapter for h2/http1.1, axum over QUIC stream, Bearer auth, SSE projection for subscriptions, /healthz, stealth decoy - http-adapters.md — from_openapi (reqwest) and to_openapi (projection), error fidelity (HTTP_<status> per ADR-023), type definitions - http-mcp.md — from_mcp/to_mcp (feature-gated), streamable-HTTP-only - webtransport.md — h3/WebTransport handler, browser streaming path, HTTP/3 request vs WebTransport session distinguished at framing layer ADRs: - ADR-036 HTTP-to-Call Operation Mapping (Proposed) — direct path mapping; to_openapi is projection, not router (the load-bearing one-way door from Phase 0 DH-3) - ADR-037 MCP Stdio Transport Exclusion (Proposed) — streamable HTTP only; stdio is not built (RCE-vector security position) - ADR-038 HTTP/3 and WebTransport as First-Class HTTP Transports (Proposed) — corrects the Phase 0 DH-2 deferral framing; h3 is in scope, not deferred, per ADR-009 §'What this framework is NOT' - ADR-039 HTTP Server and Client Host Colocated in alknet-http (Proposed) — one crate for server + client host (shared HTTP deps, shared operation-spec->HTTP mapping) - ADR-003 Amendment 1 — clarifies alknet-call is a protocol-foundation crate (the alknet-http -> alknet-call dependency edge) Open questions (OQ-38, OQ-39, OQ-40 added under 'Theme: alknet-http'): - OQ-38 WebTransport relay-as-proxy scope (genuine scope question, not a deferral — the decision is made when the use case becomes concrete) - OQ-39 to_openapi published-spec versioning (one-way after first publication) - OQ-40 reqwest client config and connection pooling (two-way-door) Architecture README and overview updated with doc table, ADR table (036-039), current-state note, and crate graph (alknet-http -> alknet-call edge). Reviewed by architecture-reviewer subagent: 3 critical, 4 warning, 5 suggestion issues found and fixed (missing ADR-039, WebTransport stream routing conflation, undefined types, stale OQ-37 deferral language, README OQ table completeness, Bearer-only attribution, cross-references, ADR-038 ALPN quote, feature-gate placeholder, MCP temporal language).
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.