Johnathan Corgan
538ce077df
The previous CONTRIBUTING.md read like a stock Rust contributing template that mentioned FIPS. Replace it with an entry-point doc that gives new contributors the FIPS-specific mental model they need to make a useful first PR: the FMP/FSP layering and why mesh-level changes need multi-node testing, the three-branch release model and how to choose a target branch, structured bug reporting expectations, and PR submission requirements (scope discipline, the local-CI ladder, separate requirements for feature PRs vs bug-fix PRs, squash-merge mechanics). Add a contributor-facing AI coding assistant policy: use is welcome, but the contributor must do a thorough manual review and editorial pass before submission. The agent is a tool; the contributor is accountable for the submission. Review effort scales with submission effort -- unreviewed agent output will receive an agent reply in turn, without human review. Add docs/branching.md as the long-form companion covering the release workflow, version conventions, and merge-direction rationale. The new CONTRIBUTING.md is the day-to-day entry point; docs/branching.md is the reference. All cross-references resolve against current HEAD. Previous stale links to fips-intro.md, fips-wire-formats.md, and fips-configuration.md are gone; the doc points at the current docs/design/ layout, docs/getting-started.md, docs/tutorials/join-the-test-mesh.md, and testing/README.md. No code changes.
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.