Johnathan Corgan
7865557f8a
Brings v0.3.0 release content forward into the next-branch development line, preserves next's own version state, and updates operator-facing version references to v0.4.0-dev. Kept from master: - docs/releases/release-notes-v0.2.1.md and -v0.3.0.md (cumulative archive of shipped releases) - RELEASE-NOTES.md root mirror at v0.3.0 (tracks the most recent shipped release; will be replaced when the v0.4.0 release cycle begins on this line) - CHANGELOG entries: [0.3.0] and [0.2.1] sections inserted under the existing Breaking and [Unreleased] sections - All code, config, test, and documentation updates from master (openwrt yaml resync, doc-config IP placeholders, etc.) Kept from next (resolved against master's release-prep changes): - Cargo.toml / Cargo.lock at 0.4.0-dev (next's package version) - CHANGELOG ## Breaking section (next-specific v0.4.0 wire-format breaking work) and the empty ## [Unreleased] block for future v0.4.0 non-breaking work Updated to v0.4.0-dev for consistency with Cargo.toml: - README badge (v0.3.0--dev -> v0.4.0--dev) and status-section prose, rewritten to describe v0.4.0 wire-format-breaking work on this branch (Noise XX unification, FMP node profiles, slimmer MMP, extensible bloom-filter encoding) instead of the v0.3.0 testing-and-polishing narrative that applied while v0.3.0 was unreleased - docs/reference/cli-fips.md example version string
FIPS Documentation
FIPS (Free Internetworking Peering System) is a self-organizing encrypted mesh network built on Nostr identities, capable of operating over arbitrary transports — local networks, the public internet, Tor, Bluetooth, or point-to-point links — without central infrastructure.
With FIPS, your machine becomes a node in the mesh with a self-generated cryptographic identity. There are two ways to deploy it.
As an overlay on top of existing IP networks, FIPS lets your node reach any other FIPS node wherever it sits — behind a NAT, on a different ISP, on a phone over cellular, on a laptop with only Bluetooth in range, or behind a Tor onion. The mesh forwards IPv6 traffic transparently and end-to-end encrypted, with no central VPN concentrator or coordinating server.
From the ground up over raw Ethernet, WiFi, or Bluetooth, FIPS provides a complete permissionless network without any pre-existing IP infrastructure, ISP, or DNS. Any node that joins the link gets routable IPv6 addresses, peer discovery, and a path to every other node automatically.
Either way, existing networking software runs over it unchanged: SSH, HTTP servers, file transfer, anything IPv6-native works the same way it would on a local network.
New to FIPS? Start with the Getting Started guide.
Documentation Sections
Tutorials
If you are starting from scratch and want a guided path to a working mesh, go here.
How-To Guides
If you have a specific task in mind — enabling a feature, deploying a component, diagnosing a problem — go here.
Reference
If you need to look up wire formats, configuration keys, command flags, or counter inventories, go here.
Design
If you want to understand how the mesh self-organizes, why FIPS makes the choices it does, or how the pieces fit together, go here.