alknet/docs/architecture/open-questions.md

status, last_updated

status	last_updated
draft	2026-06-01

Open Questions

Transport

OQ-01: TLS certificate management strategy

• Origin: server.md
• Status: open
• Priority: medium
• Details: Should the server support ACME/Let's Encrypt auto-provisioning (like https_proxy does), or is manual cert management sufficient? Auto-provisioning is more user-friendly but adds complexity and a dependency on the ACME protocol. Self-signed certs with --insecure flag on the client side covers the simple case.
• Cross-references: Server spec, TlsTransport implementation

OQ-02: iroh relay configuration defaults

• Origin: transport.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: Should the default iroh relay be n0's free servers, or should users be required to specify one? n0's relay is convenient for testing and quick start but creates a dependency. Self-hosted relay is better for production. Consider: default to n0, allow --iroh-relay override, and document self-hosting.
• Cross-references: Transport spec, iroh docs

OQ-05: Transport chaining support in CLI

• Origin: transport.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: Should --transport iroh --proxy socks5://... be supported natively, or should chaining be a manual configuration thing? The iroh transport's connect() method would need to route its outbound through the proxy. This is possible (iroh's Endpoint::builder supports proxy configuration) but adds CLI complexity. Consider: defer to Phase 2.
• Cross-references: Transport spec

Client

OQ-06: SSH config file parsing

• Origin: client.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: Should the client read ~/.ssh/config for default host/key/port settings? russh-config crate exists and can parse this. Would reduce CLI verbosity for frequent connections. Consider: --config flag to read from a wraith-specific config instead, avoiding OpenSSH config parsing complexity.
• Cross-references: Client spec

Server

OQ-07: ACME/Let's Encrypt support

• Origin: server.md
• Status: open
• Priority: medium
• Details: Auto-provisioning TLS certs from Let's Encrypt would make TLS mode much easier to set up. But it requires port 80 or port 443 + TLS-ALPN-01 challenge support, and a persistent cert store. Consider: defer to Phase 2, document manual cert setup for MVP.
• Cross-references: Server spec, TlsTransport

OQ-08: Connection limits and rate limiting

• Origin: server.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: Should the server support configurable connection limits, rate limiting, and max simultaneous channels? Useful for preventing abuse on public-facing servers. Consider: --max-connections and --max-channels-per-connection flags.
• Cross-references: Server spec

OQ-04: Authentication beyond Ed25519 keys

• Origin: client.md, server.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: Should password authentication be supported? Should SSH certificates (OpenSSH cert-authority) be supported? Password auth is convenient but less secure. Certificates are useful for large-scale deployments. Consider: password auth as optional flag (--allow-password), certificates as future feature.
• Cross-references: Client spec, Server spec

TUN

OQ-03: Windows TUN support scope

• Origin: tun-shim.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: tun-rs supports Windows via wintun.dll but distributing a DLL adds complexity. Consider: Linux and macOS only for MVP, Windows as a follow-up.
• Cross-references: tun-shim.md

OQ-09: TCP reconstruction approach for TUN

• Origin: tun-shim.md
• Status: open
• Priority: medium
• Details: Should the TUN shim use a userspace TCP stack (like smoltcp or tun2proxy's ip-stack) for reliable TCP reconstruction, or forward raw IP packets through SOCKS5? Raw packet forwarding requires handling segmentation, retransmission, and reordering. Userspace TCP solves this but is more code. Consider: start with SOCKS5 proxying (each TUN packet becomes a SOCKS5 connection) and add TCP reconstruction if needed.
• Cross-references: tun-shim.md

NAPI / PubSub

OQ-10: NAPI wrapper API surface

• Origin: napi-and-pubsub.md
• Status: open
• Priority: medium
• Details: Should the NAPI wrapper expose just a connect() function returning a Duplex stream, or also expose serve() for server-side use from Node.js? Server-side would enable running a wraith server from a Node.js process. Consider: connect() only for MVP, serve() as follow-up.
• Cross-references: napi-and-pubsub.md

OQ-11: napi-rs vs uniffi for FFI bridge

• Origin: napi-and-pubsub.md
• Status: open
• Priority: low
• Details: napi-rs is the standard for Node.js native addons and has the best ecosystem. uniffi supports more targets (Python, Swift, Kotlin) but is less mature for Node.js. Since the primary consumer is TypeScript/Node.js (pubsub/operations ecosystem), napi-rs is the logical choice. But if future Python or mobile consumers are anticipated, uniffi could be worth the investment.
• Cross-references: napi-and-pubsub.md