FIPS: Free Internetworking Peering System

A distributed, decentralized network routing protocol for mesh nodes connecting over arbitrary transports.

FIPS is under active development. The protocol and APIs are not yet stable. See Status & Roadmap below.

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, allowing users to generate their own persistent or ephemeral node addresses. Nodes address each other by npub, and the same cryptographic identity serves as both the routing address and the basis for end-to-end encrypted sessions across the mesh.

FIPS allows existing TCP/IP based network software to use the FIPS mesh network by generating a local IP address from the node npub and tunnelling IP packets to other endpoints transparently knowing only their npub. Native FIPS-aware applications do not need this IP tunneling or emulation capability.

All traffic over the FIPS mesh is encrypted and authenticated both hop-to-hop between peers and independently end-to-end between FIPS endpoints.

Features

• Self-organizing mesh routing — spanning tree coordinates with bloom filter guided discovery, no global routing tables
• Multi-transport — UDP, TCP, Ethernet, Tor, and Bluetooth (BLE L2CAP) today; designed for serial and radio
• Noise encryption — hop-by-hop link encryption (IK) plus independent end-to-end session encryption (XK), with periodic rekey for forward secrecy
• 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; built-in .fips DNS resolver with optional static hostname mapping (/etc/fips/hosts)
• Outbound LAN gateway — optional fips-gateway daemon lets unmodified LAN hosts reach .fips destinations via a DNS-allocated virtual IP pool and kernel nftables NAT
• Metrics Measurement Protocol — per-link RTT, loss, jitter, and goodput measurement with mesh size estimation
• ECN congestion signaling — hop-by-hop CE flag relay with RFC 3168 IPv6 marking, transport kernel drop detection
• Operator visibility — fipsctl CLI and fipstop TUI dashboard for runtime inspection and runtime peer management
• Zero configuration — sensible defaults; a node can start with no config file, though peer addresses are needed to join a network

Building

git clone https://github.com/jmcorgan/fips.git
cd fips
cargo build --release

Requires Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024). Linux, macOS, and Windows are supported (see transport matrix below).

Transport support by platform

Transport	Linux	macOS	Windows	OpenWrt
UDP	✅	✅	✅	✅
TCP	✅	✅	✅	✅
Ethernet	✅	✅	❌	✅
Tor	✅	✅	✅	✅
BLE	✅	❌	❌	❌

On Linux, the BLE transport requires BlueZ and libdbus. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install bluez libdbus-1-dev. Then build with BLE enabled: cargo build --release --features ble.

On OpenWrt, BLE is disabled because libdbus is not available on the target. All other transports work and ship in the default ipk.

Installation

After building, choose one of the following methods to install.

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

Requires cargo-deb:

cargo install cargo-deb
cargo deb
sudo dpkg -i target/debian/fips_*.deb

This installs the daemon, CLI tools, systemd units, and a default configuration. Edit /etc/fips/fips.yaml before starting:

sudo nano /etc/fips/fips.yaml
sudo systemctl start fips

The service is enabled at boot automatically. To use fipsctl and fipstop without sudo, add your user to the fips group:

sudo usermod -aG fips $USER    # log out and back in to take effect

Remove with sudo dpkg -r fips (preserves config) or sudo dpkg -P fips (removes everything including identity keys).

Generic Linux (systemd tarball)

./packaging/systemd/build-tarball.sh
tar xzf deploy/fips-*-linux-*.tar.gz
cd fips-*-linux-*/
sudo ./install.sh

See packaging/systemd/README.install.md for the full installation and configuration guide.

macOS (.pkg)

./packaging/macos/build-pkg.sh
sudo installer -pkg deploy/fips-*-macos-*.pkg -target /

This installs binaries to /usr/local/bin/, config to /usr/local/etc/fips/, sets up .fips DNS resolution via /etc/resolver/fips, and registers a launchd daemon. Edit /usr/local/etc/fips/fips.yaml before starting:

sudo nano /usr/local/etc/fips/fips.yaml
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.fips.daemon.plist

Remove with sudo packaging/macos/uninstall.sh (preserves config).

To restart the node after making configuration changes:

sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.fips.daemon.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.fips.daemon.plist

Check logs for troubleshooting:

sudo tail -f /usr/local/var/log/fips/fips.log

Note: On macOS, the TUN device is named utun<N> (kernel-assigned) rather than fips0.

Windows

Build without BLE (requires Linux-only libdbus):

cargo build --release --no-default-features --features tui

The wintun driver is required for TUN support. Download wintun.dll and place it in the same directory as fips.exe. Running the daemon requires Administrator privileges for TUN creation.

Foreground mode:

.\fips.exe -c fips.yaml

Windows Service:

# Install (requires Administrator)
.\fips.exe --install-service

# Manage via standard service tools
sc start fips
sc stop fips

# Uninstall
.\fips.exe --uninstall-service

Place fips.yaml in the current directory or %APPDATA%\fips\, or set the FIPS_CONFIG environment variable.

The control socket uses TCP on localhost:21210 instead of a Unix domain socket. fipsctl and fipstop connect to this port automatically.

Configuration

The default configuration file is installed at /etc/fips/fips.yaml:

# FIPS Node Configuration

node:
  identity:
    # By default, a new ephemeral keypair is generated on each start.
    # Uncomment persistent to keep the same identity across restarts;
    # on first start a keypair is saved to fips.key/fips.pub next to
    # this config file (mode 0600/0644).
    # persistent: true
    #
    # Or set an explicit key (overrides persistent):
    # nsec: "nsec1..."

tun:
  enabled: true
  name: fips0
  mtu: 1280

dns:
  enabled: true
  bind_addr: "127.0.0.1"
  port: 5354

transports:
  udp:
    bind_addr: "0.0.0.0:2121"

  tcp:
    # Accepts inbound connections. No static outbound peers.
    bind_addr: "0.0.0.0:8443"

  # Ethernet transport — uncomment and set your interface name.
  # ethernet:
  #   interface: "eth0"
  #   discovery: true
  #   announce: true
  #   auto_connect: true
  #   accept_connections: true

peers:
  # Static peers for bootstrapping (UDP or TCP):
  - npub: "npub1qmc3cvfz0yu2hx96nq3gp55zdan2qclealn7xshgr448d3nh6lks7zel98"
    alias: "fips-test-node"
    addresses:
      - transport: udp
        addr: "217.77.8.91:2121"
    connect_policy: auto_connect

See docs/design/fips-configuration.md for the full reference.

Usage

DNS Resolution

FIPS includes a DNS resolver (enabled by default, port 5354) that maps .fips names to fd00::/8 IPv6 addresses.

Linux: The .deb package auto-detects and configures whichever resolver is present (systemd dns-delegate, systemd-resolved, dnsmasq, or NetworkManager with dnsmasq); no manual setup is needed. For manual or tarball installs, point your resolver at 127.0.0.1:5354 for the fips domain — e.g., with systemd-resolved:

sudo resolvectl dns fips0 127.0.0.1:5354
sudo resolvectl domain fips0 ~fips

macOS: DNS is configured automatically by the .pkg installer via /etc/resolver/fips. No manual setup is needed.

Then reach any FIPS node by npub with standard IPv6 tools:

ping6 npub1bbb....fips
ssh -6 npub1bbb....fips

macOS note: Use ping6 instead of ping. macOS ships separate ping (IPv4-only) and ping6 (IPv6) binaries; ping will not resolve AAAA records. Similarly, use curl -6, ssh -6, etc. when connecting by .fips hostname.

Monitoring

Use fipsctl to query a running node:

fipsctl show status         # Node status overview
fipsctl show peers          # Authenticated peers and security state
fipsctl show links          # Active links
fipsctl show tree           # Spanning tree state
fipsctl show sessions       # End-to-end sessions and rekey health
fipsctl show bloom          # Bloom filter state
fipsctl show mmp            # MMP metrics summary
fipsctl show cache          # Coordinate cache entries and routes
fipsctl show connections    # Pending handshake connections
fipsctl show transports     # Transport instances
fipsctl show routing        # Routing, discovery, and retry state
fipsctl show identity-cache # Known node identities (npubs)

fipstop provides an interactive TUI dashboard with live-updating views of node status, peers, links, sessions, tree state, transports, and routing:

fipstop                   # connect to local daemon
fipstop -r 1              # 1-second refresh interval

Service Management

sudo systemctl start fips
sudo systemctl stop fips
sudo systemctl restart fips
sudo journalctl -u fips -f

Testing

See testing/ for Docker-based integration test harnesses including static topology tests and stochastic chaos simulation.

Examples

• examples/sidecar-nostr-relay/ — Run a strfry Nostr relay reachable exclusively over the FIPS mesh. The relay container shares the FIPS sidecar's network namespace and is isolated from the host network.
• examples/k8s-sidecar/ — Run FIPS as a Kubernetes Pod sidecar. The sidecar creates fips0 in the Pod's shared network namespace so every other container in the Pod gets mesh access without modification.
• examples/wireguard-sidecar-macos/ — Reach the FIPS mesh from a macOS host through a local Docker container over a WireGuard tunnel. Only traffic destined for fd00::/8 transits the sidecar; regular internet traffic continues to use the host network.

Documentation

Protocol design documentation is in docs/design/, organized as a layered protocol specification. Start with fips-intro.md for the full protocol overview.

If you want to contribute, start with:

• CONTRIBUTING.md
• docs/design/README.md
• testing/README.md

Project Structure

src/          Rust source (library + fips/fipsctl/fipstop/fips-gateway binaries)
packaging/    Debian, macOS .pkg, Windows ZIP, OpenWrt ipk, AUR, systemd tarball
examples/     Deployment examples (Nostr relay, K8s sidecar, macOS WireGuard)
docs/design/  Protocol design specifications
testing/      Docker-based integration test harnesses

Status & Roadmap

FIPS is at v0.2.0. The core protocol works end-to-end over UDP, TCP, Ethernet, Tor, and Bluetooth (BLE) with a small live mesh of deployed nodes.

What works today

• Spanning tree construction with greedy coordinate routing
• Bloom filter guided discovery (no flooding, single-path with retry)
• Noise IK (link layer) and Noise XK (session layer) encryption
• Periodic Noise rekey with hitless cutover for forward secrecy (FMP + FSP)
• Persistent node identity with key file management
• IPv6 TUN adapter with built-in .fips DNS resolver and multi-backend auto-configuration (systemd dns-delegate, systemd-resolved, dnsmasq, NetworkManager)
• Static hostname mapping (/etc/fips/hosts) with auto-reload
• Per-link metrics (RTT, loss, jitter, goodput) and mesh size estimation
• ECN congestion signaling (hop-by-hop CE relay, IPv6 CE marking, kernel drop detection)
• UDP, TCP, Ethernet, Tor, and BLE transports (BLE via L2CAP CoC with per-link MTU negotiation)
• Outbound LAN gateway for unmodified hosts via DNS-allocated virtual IPs and nftables NAT
• Runtime inspection and peer management via fipsctl and fipstop
• Reproducible builds with toolchain pinning and SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
• Linux (Debian, systemd tarball, OpenWrt, AUR), macOS (.pkg), and Windows (ZIP, service) packaging
• Docker-based integration and chaos testing
• Nostr-mediated overlay endpoint discovery and UDP hole punching for NAT traversal — peers publish endpoint adverts on public Nostr relays, exchange candidates via NIP-59 gift-wrapped offers/answers, and establish direct paths through NATs using STUN-assisted punching (behind the nostr-discovery cargo feature)

Near-term priorities

• Native API for FIPS-aware applications (npub:port addressing)
• Security audit of cryptographic protocols

Longer-term

• Mobile platform support
• Bandwidth-aware routing and QoS
• Protocol stability and versioned wire format
• Published crate

License

MIT — see LICENSE.