Files
fips/docs/design
Johnathan Corgan 60ab868636 Resend a bloom filter announce the peer did not receive
A node counted a FilterAnnounce as delivered as soon as the transport
accepted it, and announces go out only when a filter changes. A dropped
datagram, or a link outage shorter than the dead timeout, therefore
left the peer holding the old filter until something else changed, so
destinations could stay missing from its discovery indefinitely.

Each tick now checks every outstanding announce against the link's
existing receiver reports before sending pending announces, and marks
the peer again when a report covering the announce shows fewer frames
arrived than were sent, or when the announce cannot be confirmed: once,
as soon as a usable report arrives, or after 30 s. A report that shows
neither delivery nor a loss, as when a reordered frame could be a late
one from before the announce, waits for the 30 s fallback. The resend
goes out through the ordinary debounced send path in the same tick.
Reports from another session are ignored, at most one unchecked and
three loss resends are sent per announce per session, and a peer
connection sees at most six resends a minute, and one a minute while
losses persist. Nothing on the wire changes.

The design notes describe the resend and its limits.
2026-09-26 18:59:43 +00:00
..
2026-08-30 10:42:59 +00:00
2026-08-30 10:42:59 +00:00

FIPS Design

Architectural and protocol-level explanations for FIPS — the why and the how behind the wire and the system. For wire formats and configuration keys, see reference/. For task recipes, see how-to/. For end-to-end lessons, see tutorials/.

Reading Order

Start with fips-concepts.md for the novice-friendly framing of what FIPS is and why, then move to fips-architecture.md for the protocol stack, identity model, and two-layer encryption walkthrough. From there, follow the protocol stack from bottom to top. After the stack, fips-mesh-operation.md explains how the pieces work together at runtime. Cross-cutting and supporting documents cover specific subsystems in detail.

Foundations

Document Description
fips-concepts.md What FIPS is, why it exists, mental model
fips-architecture.md Protocol stack, identity, two-layer encryption
fips-prior-work.md Designs and protocols FIPS builds on

Protocol Stack

Document Description
fips-transport-layer.md Transport layer: datagram delivery over arbitrary media
fips-mesh-layer.md FIPS Mesh Protocol (FMP): peer authentication, link encryption, forwarding
fips-session-layer.md FIPS Session Protocol (FSP): end-to-end encryption, sessions
fips-ipv6-adapter.md IPv6 adaptation: TUN interface, DNS, MTU enforcement
fips-native-api.md Native datagram API: pubkey-addressed flows over FSP, and what it is instead of the TUN path

Cross-Cutting

Document Description
fips-mmp.md Metrics Measurement Protocol (link + session)
fips-mtu.md Path MTU model, encapsulation overhead, PMTUD
fips-security.md fips0 interface threat model and default-deny baseline

Mesh Behavior

Document Description
fips-mesh-operation.md How the mesh operates: routing, discovery, error recovery
fips-nostr-discovery.md Optional Nostr-mediated peer discovery and UDP NAT hole-punch
port-advertisement-and-nat-traversal.md Nostr-signaled port advertisement and UDP NAT-traversal protocol; generic, with FIPS as an example implementation

Deeper Dives

Document Description
fips-spanning-tree.md Spanning tree algorithms: root discovery, parent selection, coordinates
fips-bloom-filters.md Bloom filter properties: FPR analysis, size classes, split-horizon
spanning-tree-dynamics.md Spanning tree walkthroughs: convergence scenarios, worked examples

Adjacent Components

Document Description
fips-gateway.md fips-gateway service: outbound (LAN-to-mesh) DNS-proxy + virtual-IP NAT and inbound (mesh-to-LAN) port-forwarding, sharing one nftables table