Detox chat

Chat library of Detox project that provides high-level APIs used when building chat application on top of Detox network.

This repository contains high level design overview (design.md), specification for implementors (spec.md, not written yet) and reference implementation.

Library builds on top of @detox/core and provides simple to use API for interacting with other chat applications on Detox network.

WARNING: INSECURE UNTIL PROVEN THE OPPOSITE!!!

This protocol and reference implementation are intended to be secure, but until proper independent audit is conducted you shouldn't consider it to actually be secure and shouldn't use in production applications.

How to install

npm install @detox/chat

How to use

Node.js:

var detox_chat = require('@detox/chat')

detox_chat.ready(function () {
    // Do stuff
});

Browser:

requirejs(['@detox/chat'], function (detox_chat) {
    detox_chat.ready(function () {
        // Do stuff
    });
})

API

detox_chat.ready(callback)

• callback - Callback function that is called when library is ready for use

detox_chat.generate_seed() : Uint8Array

Generates random seed that can be used as keypair seed in detox_chat.Chat constructor.

detox_chat.generate_secret() : Uint8Array

Generates random secret that can be used for friends connections.

detox_chat.id_encode(public_key : Uint8Array, secret : Uint8Array) : string

Encodes public key and secret into base58 string with built-in checksum.

detox_chat.id_decode(string : string) : Uint8Array[]

Decodes encoded public key and secret from base58 string and checks built-in checksum.

detox_chat.Chat(core_instance : Object, real_key_seed = null : Uint8Array, number_of_introduction_nodes = 3 : number, number_of_intermediate_nodes = 3 : number) : detox_chat.Chat

Constructor for Chat object, uses Detox core instance for connection to the network.

• core_instance - Detox core instance
• real_key_seed - Seed used to generate real long-term keypair (if not specified - random one is used)
• number_of_introduction_nodes - Number of introduction nodes used for announcement to the network
• number_of_intermediate_nodes - How many hops should be made when making connections

detox_chat.Chat.announce()

Announce itself to the network (can operate without announcement).

detox_chat.Chat.connect_to(friend_id : Uint8Array, secret : Uint8Array)

Establish connection with a friend.

• friend_id - Ed25519 public key of a friend
• secret - Secret used for connection to a friend

detox_chat.Chat.nickname(friend_id : Uint8Array, nickname : string|Uint8Array)

Send a nickname to a friend.

• friend_id - Ed25519 public key of a friend
• nickname - Nickname to be sent

detox_chat.Chat.secret(friend_id : Uint8Array, secret : Uint8Array)

Send a secret to a friend that will be used for future connections

• friend_id - Ed25519 public key of a friend
• secret - Personal secret to be used by a friend for future connection

detox_chat.Chat.text_message(friend_id : Uint8Array, date_written : number, text_message : string|Uint8Array) : number

Send a text message to a friend.

• friend_id - Ed25519 public key of a friend
• date_written - Unix timestamp in milliseconds when message was written
• text_message - Text message to be sent to a friend (max 65519 bytes)

Returns unix timestamp in milliseconds when the message was sent (0 if message is empty or too big or connection is not present).

detox_chat.Chat.custom_command(friend_id : Uint8Array, command : number, data : Uint8Array)

Send a secret to a friend that will be used for future connections

• friend_id - Ed25519 public key of a friend
• command - Custom command beyond Detox chat spec to be interpreted by application, 0..223
• data - Data been sent alongside command (max 65535 bytes)

detox_chat.Chat.destroy()

Destroys chat instance.

detox_chat.Chat.on(event: string, callback: Function) : detox_chat.Chat

Register event handler.

detox_chat.Chat.once(event: string, callback: Function) : detox_chat.Chat

Register one-time event handler (just on() + off() under the hood).

detox_chat.Chat.off(event: string[, callback: Function]) : detox_chat.Chat

Unregister event handler.

Event: introduction

Payload consists of three arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array), secret (Uint8Array) and application (Uint8Array). Event is fired when a friend_id is asking for introduction for using application application (exactly 64 bytes) with secret (exactly 32 bytes as used in connect_to method, if supplied secret was smaller that 32 bytes then zeroes are appended). If node decides to accept introduction and establish connection, it returns resolved Promise or returns nothing, in order to reject introduction false or rejected Promise should be returned.

Event: announced

No payload. Event is fired when announcement succeeded.

Event: connection_failed

Payload consists of two arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array) and reason (number), which is one of detox_chat.Chat.CONNECTION_ERROR_* constants. Event is fired when connection to friend_id failed.

Event: connection_progress

Payload consists of two arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array) and stage (number), which is one of detox_chat.Chat.CONNECTION_PROGRESS_* constants. Event is fired when there is a progress in the process of connecting to friend_id.

Event: connected

Payload consists of one argument frind_id (Uint8Array). Event is fired when connection to frind_id succeeded.

NOTE: Secrets are required to be updated by both sides before any further communication takes place.

Event: disconnected

Payload consists of one argument frind_id (Uint8Array). Event is fired when frind_id disconnected for whatever reason.

Event: nickname

Payload consists of three arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array), nickname_text (string) and nickname_array (Uint8Array). Event is fired when frind_id sends a nickname.

Event: secret

Payload consists of two arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array) and secret (Uint8Array). Event is fired when frind_id sends a secret.

If event is rejected (by returning false or rejected Promise from callback), then secret_received is not sent back to friend_id, which means that updated secret was not accepted (if it was used before already or for some other reason).

Event: secret_received

Payload consists of one argument frind_id (Uint8Array). Event is fired when frind_id received a secret.

Event: text_message

Payload consists of five arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array), date_sent (number), date_written (number), text_message_text (string) and text_message_array (Uint8Array). date_sent always increases (and never repeats), otherwise message should be rejected by application. date_written never decreases (may repeat a few times), otherwise message should be rejected by application. Event is fired when frind_id sends a text message.

Event: text_message_received

Payload consists of two arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array) and date (number). Event is fired when frind_id received a text message.

Event: custom_command

Payload consists of three arguments: friend_id (Uint8Array), command (number) and data (Uint8Array). Event is fired when frind_id sends a custom command.

Contribution

Feel free to create issues and send pull requests (for big changes create an issue first and link it from the PR), they are highly appreciated!

When reading LiveScript code make sure to configure 1 tab to be 4 spaces (GitHub uses 8 by default), otherwise code might be hard to read.

License

Implementation: Free Public License 1.0.0 / Zero Clause BSD License

https://opensource.org/licenses/FPL-1.0.0

https://tldrlegal.com/license/bsd-0-clause-license

Specification and design: public domain