Add open-source project scaffolding

Add standard open-source project files for public repository
presentability:

- README.md with protocol overview, Nostr identity integration,
  feature highlights, quick start, and project structure
- MIT LICENSE (Copyright 2026 Johnathan Corgan)
- CONTRIBUTING.md with guidelines for issues, PRs, and testing
- Cargo.toml metadata (description, license, authors, repository,
  readme)
- .gitignore expanded with editor/IDE patterns and .claude/

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+# FIPS: Free Internetworking Peering System
+
+A distributed, decentralized network routing protocol for mesh nodes
+connecting over arbitrary transports.
+
+> **Status: Experimental / Pre-release**
+>
+> FIPS is under active development. The protocol and APIs are not stable.
+> Expect breaking changes.
+
+## Overview
+
+FIPS is a self-organizing mesh network that operates natively over a variety
+of physical and logical media — local area networks, Bluetooth, serial links,
+radio, or the existing internet as an overlay. Nodes generate their own
+identities, discover each other, and route traffic without any central
+authority or global topology knowledge.
+
+FIPS uses Nostr keypairs (secp256k1/schnorr) as native node identities,
+making every Nostr user a potential network participant. Nodes address each
+other by npub, and the same cryptographic identity used in the Nostr ecosystem
+serves as both the routing address and the basis for end-to-end encrypted
+sessions across the mesh.
+
+## Features
+
+- **Self-organizing mesh routing** — spanning tree coordinates and bloom
+  filter candidate selection, no global routing tables
+- **Multi-transport** — UDP/IP overlay today; designed for Ethernet,
+  Bluetooth, serial, radio, and Tor
+- **Noise encryption** — hop-by-hop link encryption plus independent
+  end-to-end session encryption
+- **Nostr-native identity** — secp256k1 keypairs as node addresses, no
+  registration or central authority
+- **IPv6 adaptation** — TUN interface maps npubs to fd00::/8 addresses for
+  unmodified IP applications
+- **Metrics Measurement Protocol** — per-link RTT, loss, jitter, and goodput
+  measurement
+- **Zero configuration** — sensible defaults; a node can run with no config
+  file
+
+## Quick Start
+
+### Requirements
+
+- Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024)
+- Linux (TUN interface requires `CAP_NET_ADMIN` or root)
+
+### Build
+
+```
+git clone https://github.com/jmcorgan/fips.git
+cd fips
+cargo build --release
+```
+
+### Run
+
+```
+# With default configuration (ephemeral identity, default ports):
+sudo ./target/release/fips
+
+# With a configuration file:
+sudo ./target/release/fips -c fips.yaml
+```
+
+See [docs/design/fips-configuration.md](docs/design/fips-configuration.md) for
+the full configuration reference.
+
+### Multi-node Testing
+
+See [testing/](testing/) for Docker-based integration test harnesses including
+static topology tests and stochastic chaos simulation.
+
+## Documentation
+
+Protocol design documentation is in [docs/design/](docs/design/), organized as
+a layered protocol specification. Start with
+[fips-intro.md](docs/design/fips-intro.md) for the full protocol overview.
+
+## Project Structure
+
+```
+src/          Rust source (library + daemon binary)
+docs/design/  Protocol design specifications
+testing/      Docker-based integration test harnesses
+benches/      Criterion benchmarks
+```
+
+## License
+
+MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).