argh/SPEC.md

argh Networking Specification

This document describes how packets are sent through the network of nodes, how packets are structured, etc.

Overview

Underlying network protocol

All connections are using unencrypted (TODO) websockets as the underlying network procol.

How a packet travels through the network

(TODO)

Packet Flow

 Network A
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
(                     )
(   Client ——> Node —————.
(               |     )  |
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~'  |
                |        |
 Network B      |        |
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
(               v        v                )
(   Client <—— Node <=> Node ——> Client   )
(               |        |                )
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
                |        |
                |        '————.
 Network C      |             |
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~.       :———> other Networks
(               v     )       |
(   Client <—— Node ——————————'
(   Client <————|     )
(   Client <————|     )
(      ... <————'     )
(                     )
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

Packet Structure

NOTE
Not yet implemented.

A complete packet is a MessagePack-encoded dictionary with the following fields:

field	type	description
uuid	bytes	16-byte big endian uuid
body	bytes	The message body

(TODO)

The client who sends the packet to the first node must already provide a complete packet. Nodes solely verify & relay packets.