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Copyright (C) 2026 Doan Luu Duc Tai <doan@luuduct.ai>
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
PRIVATE CHAT DESIGN AND LIMITATIONS
Status: experimental local implementation on feature/private-chat.
CHAT-APPLICATION.txt records the implemented formats, behavior, commands,
tests, and current limitations. This document preserves the original design.
Nothing is deployed to production.
USER EXPERIENCE
Entry offers CREATE NEW CHAT and OPEN CHAT FILE. Creation asks for a display
name and password, generates a dedicated identity locally, and downloads one
protected file. The user must reopen that file before sending a first message.
Returning users select the file locally and unlock it with its password.
Usernames are labels; cryptographic identities determine access.
Show authenticated total, sent, and received message counts. Let the user
select N recent messages, including zero, and page backwards for older ones.
Sending never requires an updated identity file. Scope is text only between
each visitor and Doan, with no public directory, attachments, or group chats.
Intended host: https://chat.doan.luuduct.ai/ with API under /api/ on the same
origin. It is not configured or deployed yet. The feature branch adds Message
Me links below the name in the home-page box and after Services in navigation.
CRYPTOGRAPHY AND FILES
Fixed encryption: RFC 9980 ML-KEM-1024 + X448 with OpenPGP v6 keys.
Test signing profile: ML-DSA-87 + Ed448. Dedicated application identities must
remain separate from Doan's canonical RSA identity. Advise users not to reuse
chat identities elsewhere; exported keys cannot be technically restricted to
this application alone. Future authentication signatures must bind to the
application, origin, conversation, operation, fresh nonce, and expiry.
The intended chat file contains versioned recovery and identity data, server
identity, and a pinned owner public-key fingerprint. Its exact protected file
format is not finalized. The compatibility probe protects OpenPGP secret-key
material; it does not implement the proposed complete chat-file envelope.
Private keys and passwords must never be uploaded to the server or placed
in a URL, log, analytics event, crash report, or application browser storage.
Both participants need access to their own stored conversation. The browser
signs and encrypts each message for both participants. The plaintext payload
binds the conversation, sender, unique message ID, and protocol version.
Display names can travel inside encrypted conversation details.
STATE AND LIMITS
No intentional persistent browser chat state: no cookies, localStorage,
sessionStorage, IndexedDB, service workers, analytics, or third-party requests.
Keep keys, passwords, session credentials, and loaded history in memory only.
Serve chat content with Cache-Control: no-store. Reload, close, and leave
require the file and password again. Clear references and zero mutable secret
buffers where possible; JavaScript strings and browser/OS copies are not
reliably erasable. Test page restoration and back/forward navigation.
The downloaded identity file is the intentional persistent client artifact.
Browsers and operating systems may retain memory, swap, crash dumps, download
records, or restored pages. The application cannot promise literally zero
traces. The current browser probe checks only its own limited test behavior.
The VPS necessarily retains ciphertext, public-key associations, message IDs,
ordering, counts, and authentication state. Connection addresses, timing, and
ciphertext sizes are visible while serving requests. Avoid retaining these
in application/access logs. Storage and encrypted backups require consistent
database snapshots and a tested recovery procedure before actual chat use.
The private file is a credential. A lost file/password has no username-based
recovery. A copied unlocked identity enables impersonation and historical
decryption. Rotation can protect future use but cannot undo historical
ciphertext or key copies. Static OpenPGP does not automatically provide
forward secrecy. Compromise of a shared owner key can affect every
conversation encrypted to that key.
The browser trusts served code, including WASM and generated JavaScript.
A compromised server, dependency, extension, browser, or OS may expose keys
or plaintext. A pinned key does not defeat a malicious application update
or solve first-visit trust. A separate origin limits ordinary cross-origin
access, not shared-host compromise or every cross-site attack.
LIBREJS AND LICENSING
First-party code is AGPL-3.0-or-later. Third-party licenses and notices remain
accurate. Required legal comments are the exception to the no-comments rule.
Supply machine-readable JS licensing and corresponding Rust/WASM/JS source.
Test actual LibreJS recognition, generated bindings, workers, and WASM before
displaying GNU LibreJS-compliant. The compatibility harness makes no such
claim and is not a public chat application.
Intended badge: yellow, GNU LibreJS-compliant, linked to
https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/ . Hover and keyboard focus explain:
LibreJS compliance concerns software freedom, not a guarantee of privacy
or security. Review the source code, dependencies, and scripts delivered
to your browser. Server-delivered code can change between visits; free
software can still track users or behave maliciously.
REMAINING RELIABILITY WORK
The OpenSSL compatibility experiment is in CHAT-OPENSSL-MIGRATION.txt.
It supersedes the original backend gate, not the remaining application review.
Implement and
test file creation/import, recovery confirmation, signed one-use challenges,
authorization, encrypted sends/replies, replay rejection, N=0 and pagination,
authenticated counters, quotas, rate limits, hostile file and packet limits,
plaintext-only display, session expiry, explicit lock, reload/restoration,
no network leakage, no persistent application storage, and complete backup
restoration. No application is ready merely because its crypto test passes.
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