dispatch-d (Dispatch - decentralised).
- decentralisation comes in the form of the server being run by a community, rather than a single entity.
- all accounts are password-less, instead based on an RSA keypair
- accounts are solely identified by a hash of their public key, rather than a username
- all messages are encrypted by a Diffie-Hellman key exchange
- all messages contain a "hash" signature, which is a hash of the message, encrypted with the sender's private key
- all messages are added to a blockchain of messages, held in the server but available to all clients with authorisation to view the server.
- all servers are run by communities, which have config files, for example an allowlist, a blockchain.
- to join a server, the owner must configure the allowlist to include your public key
sequenceDiagram
Note left of Client: Client joining process
Client->>Server: <Here> is my public key
Server->>Client: Confirm your identity by signing <this> with your private key
Client->>Server: <Here> is the signed message
Server->>Client: You are now allowed to send messages <br>when you suffix all messages with that signed message <br> it will time out in 6 hours (customisable by server)
Server->>Client: Here is the latest blockchain.
Note left of Client: Recieving (a) message(s)
Server->>Client: Updated Blockchain
Note left of Client: Sending a message
Client->>Server: I am sending <this> message <br>(including a hash portion with the content <br> of this private-key encrypted message hash) <br> suffixed with the earlier signed message
- the server will probably be written in either Rust, Flask, or Node.js.
- to achieve duplex or duplex-like communication, our options include WebSockets, long-polling, or server-sent events.
- the client will be a javascript library - the frontend will be nothing special, just a simple chat app interfacing with the library which does the heavy lifting.