eleven / messenger Public

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1	# 🤖 The home server
2
3	A tiny, anonymous, content-blind, passkey-gated blob store — the optional
4	backup half of the onboarding design
5	(`docs/onboarding-and-home-server.md` in the design repo). It lets a member
6	keep an **encrypted** list of their chat servers (and, later, credentials)
7	restorable on a fresh device with one passkey ceremony.
8
9	It is **not** a Matrix-style homeserver: it holds no messages, no roster, no
10	identity any instance recognises. It disappearing inconveniences you exactly
11	once — you lose the backup, not the chats.
12
13	## The additive-only invariant (non-negotiable)
14
15	**A client with no enrolment record makes no requests to any home server,
16	ever** — no passive pings, no "check for a backup" lookups. Enrolment is
17	created only by an explicit user action on this page. A web-only user who
18	declines never appears in any home-server log. Instances are not involved at
19	all; the only relationship is client ↔ home.
20
21	## Who sees what
22
23	| Party | Sees |
24	|---|---|
25	| An instance | your per-instance public key + ciphertext (unchanged — instances don't know this server exists) |
26	| The home server (if enrolled) | one WebAuthn credential public key per passkey, one opaque **padded** blob, device link tokens (hashed), IPs/timing |
27	| A stolen device link token | ciphertext reads + overwrites (the server keeps the last 5 versions; destructive ops need a fresh ceremony) |
28	| A compromised enrolled device | the blob — but it already holds live sessions to every instance in it, so nothing new |
29	| Nobody | the relationship between your identities on different instances, except your own devices |
30
31	## What it stores (per user)
32
33	- **users** — a random id. No email, no username, no display name; the
34	credential is the identity.
35	- **credentials** — WebAuthn credential public keys (+ sign count/flags).
36	- **one blob** — opaque client-encrypted bytes. The plaintext is padded to a
37	fixed 16 KiB *before* encryption so length leaks nothing; the last 5
38	versions are retained as overwrite protection.
39	- **device link tokens** — bearer tokens minted after a verified ceremony,
40	stored **hashed** (like the messenger's device tokens).
41	- **ceremony proofs** — 5-minute hashed proofs minted by a verified ceremony;
42	the only credential destructive ops accept.
43
44	## Crypto (all client-side, `web/static/crypto.js`)
45
46	Passkey PRF output → HKDF → per-credential **KEK**. A random long-lived
47	**DEK** encrypts the blob (AES-GCM); the DEK is wrapped once per enrolled
48	passkey's KEK (envelope encryption — a second passkey is recovery redundancy).
49	The PRF output never leaves the client; the serializer strips PRF results
50	before anything is sent. No PRF support = no enrolment on that device;
51	add-device links remain the universal fallback.
52
53	## API
54
55	```
56	POST /api/register/begin WebAuthn attestation options (rate-limited).
57	POST /api/register/finish verify; create user + credential; mint link token
58	+ ceremony proof. With a FRESH ceremony proof on
59	begin, adds a passkey to that account instead
60	(a link token is refused — see below).
61	POST /api/login/begin discoverable assertion options (rate-limited).
62	POST /api/login/finish verify; mint link token + ceremony proof.
63	GET /api/blob bearer link token; If-None-Match: "<version>" → 304.
64	PUT /api/blob bearer link token; If-Match required, 409 on race;
65	hard size cap.
66	GET /api/devices bearer link token; ids + timestamps only.
67	DELETE /api/devices/<id> X-Ceremony-Proof (fresh ceremony) — NOT a link token.
68	DELETE /api/credentials/<id> X-Ceremony-Proof; refuses to remove the last
69	passkey (that would orphan the blob).
70	DELETE /api/blob X-Ceremony-Proof (fresh ceremony).
71	```
72
73	The asymmetry is deliberate: a link token authorises exactly blob read/write
74	and the devices listing — nothing else. Anything that *changes who can get in*
75	(adding a passkey, removing one, revoking devices, deleting the blob) requires
76	a live passkey ceremony — a stolen token can't lock you out, and it can't
77	enrol an attacker's passkey to escalate itself into ceremony power either.
78
79	## Build, run, deploy
80
81	```sh
82	go build ./home # single static binary, UI embedded
83	LCHAT_HOME_ORIGIN=http://localhost:1748 ./home & # env: ADDR, LCHAT_HOME_DB
84	go test ./home
85	```
86
87	`LCHAT_HOME_ORIGIN` is the public origin (the WebAuthn RP identity) — pick the
88	hostname once; changing it orphans existing passkeys. In production it runs as
89	the `lchat-home` systemd service on the router box (unix socket, fronted by the
90	router): build the `home` binary, copy it up, `systemctl restart lchat-home` —
91	data-safe; the DB at `/data/home.db` is never touched by a redeploy.
92
93	### Optional: serving the planet-scale guide at /infrastructure/
94
95	`LCHAT_HOME_INFRASTRUCTURE_DIR=<path>` serves the operator guide
96	(`docs/planet-scale-guide/` in this repo) at `/infrastructure/`, read
97	straight from that directory on disk — unset (the default) means the route
98	404s. The guide's source stays in the repo; only a deploy step copies its
99	built files onto the box:
100
101	```sh
102	scp -r docs/planet-scale-guide/* root@<box>:/data/infrastructure/
103	# then set LCHAT_HOME_INFRASTRUCTURE_DIR=/data/infrastructure in home's
104	# environment and restart
105	```
106
107	Re-run the `scp` (it overwrites in place) whenever the guide changes; no
108	restart is needed for guide-only content updates since it's read from disk on
109	every request, not cached in the process. A restart is only needed the first
110	time `LCHAT_HOME_INFRASTRUCTURE_DIR` is set.
111