SUBSTRATA

[ PROTOCOL NOTES / FIELD DISTRIBUTION ]

KNOW
THE WIRE.

SUBSTRATA gives you experimental local-first tools for private communication and independent publishing. The browser can hold your encrypted identity; network delivery still requires an available transport.

RUN IT.
BREAK IT.
REPORT IT.RELEASE / ALPHA 001
01 / LOCAL TOOLS

FOUR MOVES
TO BEGIN.

  1. MAKE A BROWSER IDENTITY.

    Open the Network Desk’s Identity page. Choose a pseudonym and strong vault passphrase. Your device creates signing and encryption keys and stores private material encrypted.

  2. SWAP PUBLIC CARDS.

    Download or copy the public .subcard JSON. Import a correspondent’s card and compare fingerprints through a trusted, separate channel. A label alone does not prove identity.

  3. SEAL THE WORD.

    Unlock your vault, choose the verified contact, and write a Courier message. The browser signs and encrypts a portable .submsg capsule. Plaintext stays in the tab.

  4. PICK A REAL ROUTE.

    Carry the capsule by file/copy, through a direct WebRTC peer link, or through a paired native LXMF bridge. The recipient verifies the signature and decrypts on-device.

OPEN IDENTITY CONTROL ↗
02 / TRANSPORT

NOT EVERY ROUTE
IS THE SAME.

PORTABLE FILE / COPYNO SUBSTRATA CONNECTION NEEDED

Exchange ciphertext through an outside channel of your choice. Availability and metadata privacy depend on that channel.

DIRECT BROWSER LINKMANUAL WEBRTC SIGNALING

Exchange invitation/reply codes, usually on the same LAN. Chat over DTLS or send separately encrypted Courier capsules. No site relay or STUN/TURN servers.

NATIVE LXMF ROUTERETICULUM / EXPERIMENTAL

Pair the loopback bridge on your machine, attach a verified LXMF destination, and confirm a real send. Interfaces and peers are required; pairing alone does not prove delivery.

TRY A DIRECT PEER LINE ↗
03 / DEVICE EXIT

YOUR DATA.
YOUR EXIT.

A .subvault backup contains wrapped private keys. The full .subarchive additionally carries contacts, encrypted inbox/outbox, and signed press library, together encrypted with a separate archive passphrase.

  • Unlock your vault, then locate NO ACCOUNT. NO HOSTAGE DATA. on Identity.
  • Choose a distinct archive passphrase, confirm it, and download the encrypted file.
  • On another device, use VERIFY & MERGE ARCHIVE. Signatures are checked; a different identity cannot be overwritten.
  • Unlock the restored vault with its original vault passphrase. Keep both passphrases and the archive offline.

IMPORTANT / Browser storage may be evicted. Device erasure is permanent without exported backups. Archives are not uploaded to SUBSTRATA.

OPEN THE DEVICE ARCHIVE ↗
04 / RUN THE UNDERLAY

THE NODE IS
THE NETWORK.

Open-source Reticulum and LXMF components powered an actual encrypted two-node test over isolated TCP. This does not provide free ISP access, physical radio links, or a public mesh.

LINUX x86_64 / ALPHAPRECOMPILED TEST KIT ↓ORIGINAL SOURCE / AGPLREPRODUCE THE BUILD ↓WINDOWS / POWERSHELLBUILD HELPER ↓UNIX / SHELLBUILD HELPER ↓

Inspect scripts and verify SHA-256 checksums. Follow Node Kit to configure interfaces, daemon identities, inbound hook, private spool and localhost pairing. Nothing starts automatically.

BROWSER ≠ NATIVE NODE. A browser P-256 fingerprint is not an LXMF address. Native destinations must be verified separately.

OPEN NODE KIT ↗
05 / OPERATIONAL SECURITY

THREAT MODEL.
NO FANTASY.

WHAT WE PROTECT

  • Message content encrypted for the intended browser public key.
  • Sender and publisher signatures verified before trusting content.
  • Private browser keys password-wrapped in local storage.
  • Full-device archives encrypted before export.

WHAT WE DO NOT

  • Anonymity, IP-address concealment, or traffic-pattern secrecy.
  • Internet access without a provider or compatible transport.
  • Protection from a compromised browser or malicious hosted JavaScript.
  • Revocation of copied keys, delivery receipts, or public network reachability.

Verify fingerprints out of band, keep backups offline, and review source before high-risk use. Hosted JavaScript is itself a trust boundary; independently reproducible offline builds and audits remain future work.

06 / PROGRESS WITHOUT MAKE-BELIEVE

THE HONEST
STATE OF PLAY.

IMPLEMENTED / TESTED IN CODE

Browser vault, signed encrypted Courier, signed publishing, encrypted archive recovery, signature-checking peer capsule framing, local native bridge tests.

LOCAL LOOPBACK PROVED

Two separate native Reticulum/LXMF nodes exchanged a signed encrypted capsule in one controlled isolated test—not over the public internet.

FIELD TESTING NEEDED

Two real mobile browsers on Wi-Fi, native Windows installs, public transports, storage durability and broader device coverage.

NOT YET DELIVERED

Public bootstrap discovery, independent content-hosting mesh, Android native-node release, deployed propagation infrastructure, audited anonymity.

CHECK DEVICE FACTS ↗

WHEN THEY BLOCK ONE PATH,
BUILD THE NEXT.

OPEN THE DESK ↗UPSTREAM SOURCE ↗