Saorsa Core

Core P2P networking library for Saorsa platform with DHT, QUIC transport, dual-stack endpoints (IPv6+IPv4), and four-word endpoint encoding.

Documentation

• API Reference: see docs/API.md - Comprehensive API documentation with examples
• Architecture Decision Records: see docs/adr/ - Design decisions and rationale
• Security Model: see docs/SECURITY_MODEL.md - Network security and anti-Sybil protections
• Auto-Upgrade System: see docs/AUTO_UPGRADE.md - Cross-platform binary updates
• Architecture overview: see ARCHITECTURE.md
• Contributor guide: see AGENTS.md

Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)

Key design decisions are documented in docs/adr/:

ADR	Title	Description
ADR-001	Multi-Layer P2P Architecture	Layered design separating transport, DHT, identity, and application concerns
ADR-002	Delegated Transport	Using ant-quic for QUIC transport, NAT traversal, and bootstrap cache
ADR-003	Pure Post-Quantum Cryptography	ML-DSA-65 and ML-KEM-768 without classical fallbacks
ADR-004	Four-Word Addresses	Human-readable addressing via word encoding
ADR-006	EigenTrust Reputation	Iterative trust computation for Sybil resistance
ADR-007	Adaptive Networking	Machine learning for dynamic routing optimization
ADR-008	Bootstrap Cache Delegation	Delegating bootstrap to ant-quic with Sybil protection
ADR-009	Sybil Protection	Multi-layered defense against identity attacks
ADR-011	Geographic Placement	Region-aware storage for regulatory compliance
ADR-012	Identity without PoW	Pure cryptographic identity using ML-DSA

Features

• P2P NAT Traversal: True peer-to-peer connectivity with automatic NAT traversal (ant-quic 0.21.x)
• DHT (Distributed Hash Table): Peer phonebook and routing with adaptive scoring and geographic awareness
• Placement System: Intelligent shard placement with EigenTrust integration
• QUIC Transport: High-performance networking with ant-quic
• Four-Word Endpoints: Human‑readable network endpoints via four-word-networking (IPv4+port encodes to 4 words; decoding returns both IP and port; IPv6 word count decided by the crate).
• Post-Quantum Cryptography: Future-ready cryptographic algorithms
• Geographic Routing: Location-aware networking
• Identity Management: Post-quantum ML-DSA-65 signatures (NIST Level 3). No PoW; identities hold only required keys (no embedded word address).
• Auto-Upgrade System: Cross-platform binary updates with ML-DSA-65 signatures, rollback support, and configurable policies
• Persistence: Database-backed internal state (telemetry, caches, coordination)
• Monitoring: Prometheus metrics integration

Quick Start

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
saorsa-core = "0.11.0"

Basic P2P Node

use saorsa_core::{NodeConfig, P2PNode};
use tokio;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Create and start a P2P node
    let config = NodeConfig::default();
    let node = P2PNode::new(config).await?;
    node.run().await?;
    
    Ok(())
}

P2P NAT Traversal

saorsa-core includes full NAT traversal support in the transport and network layers, enabling direct peer-to-peer connections. User-facing messaging examples live in saorsa-node, while this crate provides the transport and DHT primitives.

Data Replication (saorsa-node)

saorsa-core does not replicate application data. saorsa-node:

• Stores chunks locally and tracks replica sets.
• Selects target peers using saorsa-core’s adaptive routing outputs.
• Replicates via send_message and reports success/failure back to EigenTrust.
• Reacts to churn events from DhtNetworkManager::subscribe_events() and re‑replicates.

Minimal wiring helper:

use saorsa_core::adaptive::ReplicaPlanner;
use saorsa_core::DhtNetworkEvent;

let planner = ReplicaPlanner::new(adaptive_dht, dht_manager);
let mut events = planner.subscribe_churn();
tokio::spawn(async move {
    while let Ok(DhtNetworkEvent::PeerDisconnected { peer_id }) = events.recv().await {
        // re-replicate any data that had replicas on peer_id
    }
});

Four-Word Endpoints

• Endpoints are encoded/decoded using the four-word-networking crate's adaptive API.
• IPv4+port → 4 words; decoding returns both IP and port. IPv6 → word count is crate‑defined.
• Four‑words are reserved strictly for network endpoints.

Architecture

Core Components

1. Network Layer: QUIC-based P2P networking with automatic NAT traversal (ant-quic 0.21.x)
2. DHT: S/Kademlia-based peer phonebook with adaptive routing and geographic awareness
3. Placement System: Intelligent shard placement with weighted selection algorithms
4. Identity: Post‑quantum cryptographic identities with ML‑DSA‑65 signatures (no PoW; no embedded four‑word address)
5. Application Storage: Implemented in saorsa-node; saorsa-core tracks trust signals
6. Geographic Routing: Location-aware message routing

Cryptographic Architecture

Saorsa Core implements a pure post-quantum cryptographic approach for maximum security:

• Post‑quantum signatures: ML‑DSA‑65 (FIPS 204) for quantum‑resistant digital signatures (~128‑bit quantum security)
• PQC Encryption: saorsa-pqc primitives for key encapsulation and signatures
• Key Exchange: ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203) for quantum-resistant key encapsulation (~128-bit quantum security)
• Hashing: BLAKE3 for fast, secure content addressing
• Transport Security: QUIC with TLS 1.3 and PQC cipher suites
• No Legacy Support: Pure PQC implementation with no classical cryptographic fallbacks

Recent Changes

• Removed all Proof‑of‑Work (PoW) usage (identity, adaptive, placement/DHT, error types, CLI).
• Adopted four-word-networking adaptive API; four‑words reserved for endpoints only.
• Implemented dual‑stack listeners (IPv6 + IPv4) and Happy Eyeballs dialing.

Data Flow

Application
    ↓
Network API
    ↓
Placement Engine → DHT + Geographic Routing
    ↓              ↓
    ↓         Audit & Repair
    ↓              ↓
QUIC Transport (ant-quic)
    ↓
Internet

Placement System

Saorsa Core includes an advanced placement system for optimal distribution of erasure-coded shards across the network:

use saorsa_core::placement::{
    PlacementEngine, PlacementConfig, GeographicLocation, NetworkRegion
};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Configure placement system
    let config = PlacementConfig {
        replication_factor: (3, 8).into(), // Min 3, target 8 replicas
        byzantine_tolerance: 2.into(),      // Tolerate up to 2 Byzantine nodes
        placement_timeout: Duration::from_secs(30),
        geographic_diversity: true,
        weights: OptimizationWeights {
            trust_weight: 0.4,        // EigenTrust reputation
            performance_weight: 0.3,   // Node performance metrics
            capacity_weight: 0.2,      // Available storage capacity
            diversity_bonus: 0.1,      // Geographic/network diversity
        },
    };
    
    // Create placement engine
    let mut engine = PlacementEngine::new(config);
    
    // Place data with optimal shard distribution
    let data = b"important data to store";
    let decision = placement_orchestrator.place_data(
        data.to_vec(),
        8, // replication factor
        Some(NetworkRegion::NorthAmerica),
    ).await?;
    
    println!("Placed {} shards across {} nodes", 
             decision.shard_count, 
             decision.selected_nodes.len());
    
    Ok(())
}

Key Features

• EigenTrust Integration: Uses reputation scores for node selection
• Weighted Selection: Balances trust, performance, capacity, and diversity
• Byzantine Fault Tolerance: Configurable f-out-of-3f+1 security model
• Geographic Diversity: Ensures shards are distributed across regions
• Continuous Monitoring: Audit system with automatic repair
• DHT Record Types: Efficient ≤512B records with cryptographic validation
• Hysteresis Control: Prevents repair storms with smart cooldown

Configuration

use saorsa_core::NetworkConfig;

let config = NetworkConfig {
    listen_port: 9000,
    bootstrap_nodes: vec![
        "bootstrap1.example.com:9000".parse()?,
        "bootstrap2.example.com:9000".parse()?,
    ],
    enable_four_word_addresses: true,
    dht_replication: 20,
    storage_capacity: 1024 * 1024 * 1024, // 1GB
    ..Default::default()
};

Feature Flags

• default - Metrics and Prometheus integration
• metrics - Prometheus metrics and monitoring
• mocks - Test/dummy helpers for development (off by default)
• h2_greedy - Hyperbolic greedy routing helpers in API
• test-utils - Test utilities including mock DHT for integration tests

Note: DHT, ant-quic QUIC transport, and post-quantum cryptography are always enabled. Four-word networking is a core feature.

Performance

Saorsa Core is designed for high performance:

• Concurrent Operations: Tokio-based async runtime
• Memory Efficiency: Zero-copy operations where possible
• Network Optimization: QUIC with congestion control
• Caching: Multi-level caching with Q-learning optimization

Benchmarks

Run benchmarks with:

cargo bench

Key benchmarks:

• DHT operations: ~10,000 ops/sec
• Storage throughput: ~100 MB/sec
• Geographic routing: <10ms latency
• Placement decisions: <1s for 8-node selection
• Shard repair: Automatic with <1h detection
• Cryptographic operations: Hardware-accelerated

Security

Saorsa Core implements defense-in-depth security designed for adversarial decentralized environments.

For complete security documentation, see docs/SECURITY_MODEL.md.

Cryptographic Foundation

• Post-Quantum Signatures: ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) for quantum-resistant digital signatures (~128-bit quantum security)
• Key Exchange: ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203) for quantum-resistant key encapsulation
• Symmetric Encryption: Provided by upper layers; saorsa-core focuses on PQC key exchange and signatures
• Hashing: BLAKE3 for fast, secure content addressing
• Pure PQC: No classical cryptographic fallbacks - quantum-resistant from the ground up

Network Protection

Protection	Implementation
Node Monitoring	Automatic eviction after 3 consecutive failures
Reputation System	EigenTrust++ with multi-factor trust scoring
Sybil Resistance	IP diversity limits (/64: 1, /48: 3, /32: 10, ASN: 20)
Geographic Diversity	Regional diversity in routing and placement
Routing Validation	Close-group validation and security coordinator checks

Anti-Centralization

The network enforces geographic and infrastructure diversity to prevent centralization:

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Geographic Diversity Distribution        │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Region A      Region B      Region C      ...    │
│  (max 2)       (max 2)       (max 2)              │
│     │             │             │                 │
│     └─────────────┼─────────────┘                 │
│                   ▼                               │
│    Selection prefers 3+ regions                   │
│    (prevents regional collusion)                  │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• ASN Diversity: Max 20 nodes per autonomous system
• Hosting Provider Limits: Stricter limits (halved) for known VPS/cloud providers
• Eclipse Detection: Continuous routing table diversity monitoring

Persistence

Persistence lives in src/persistence/ with pluggable backends and configuration-driven storage policies. See src/persistence/SPECIFICATION.md for current settings.

Geographic Features

Location-aware networking:

• Geographic distance calculations
• Location-based routing
• Regional content distribution
• Privacy-preserving location services

Development

Building

# Standard build
cargo build --release

# With all features
cargo build --all-features

# Feature-specific build
cargo build --features "dht,quantum-resistant"

Testing

# Unit tests
cargo test

# Integration tests
cargo test --test '*'

# Property-based tests
cargo test --features "proptest"

Linting

cargo clippy --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo fmt --all

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Ensure all tests pass
6. Submit a pull request

Code Style

• Follow Rust 2024 idioms
• Use cargo fmt for formatting
• Ensure cargo clippy passes
• Add documentation for public APIs
• Include tests for all new features

License

This project is dual-licensed:

• AGPL-3.0: Open source license for open source projects
• Commercial: Commercial license for proprietary projects

For commercial licensing, contact: [email protected]

Dependencies

Core Dependencies

• tokio - Async runtime
• futures - Future utilities
• serde - Serialization
• anyhow - Error handling
• tracing - Logging

Networking

• ant-quic (0.21.x) - QUIC transport with P2P NAT traversal
• four-word-networking - Human-readable addresses

Cryptography

• saorsa-pqc - Post-quantum cryptography (ML-DSA, ML-KEM)
• blake3 - Hashing
• rand - Random number generation

Storage & Database

• rusqlite - Database operations
• lru - LRU caching

See Cargo.toml for complete dependency list.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• Email: [email protected]

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Saorsa Labs Limited - Building the decentralized future