NEC-93: Presence envelope: end-to-end encrypted, tagged by surface #144

Merged

nectenda-agent merged 4 commits from worktree-nec-93-presence-envelope-end-to-end-encrypted-ta into main 2026-09-24 22:53:53 +01:00

Conversation 0 Commits 4 Files changed 21 +1365 -49

nectenda-agent commented 2026-09-24 14:31:56 +01:00

Collaborator

Copy link

Task: NEC-93 — https://projectron.nerchure.com/tasks/93

Seals presence (Yjs awareness) end to end. Each non-null state is now an AES-GCM envelope {e,k} under the folder content key, with AAD binding domain label, docName, clientID and clock. Plaintext is padded to 512-byte multiples, removals stay plain, and a client refuses any state that is not sealed. The server needs no code change, because it never read a state's contents. Also adds presence format v1 in packages/shared (surface-tagged pointer, viewport and selection) and the optional additionalData on shared encrypt/decrypt. Docs: crypto.md section 12 (CRYPTO-110..115); security-model.md now lists presence as metadata only, and says it is not authenticated as live. Review changes the approved plan in one place: the padding moved from 256 to 512 bytes, because 256 was measured to leak editor focus (y-codemirror nulls the cursor on blur: about 310 bytes focused, 140 not). Mutation-checked: AAD, plaintext refusal, epoch guard, send ordering and padding each fail their test when broken. Unchaining the receive side fails nothing, because y-protocols' clock check already rejects stale states, and CRYPTO-114 says so rather than claiming otherwise. Found and not fixed here, because it predates this change: close-time retraction leaves remote clocks unchanged, so the QueryAwareness reply after a reconnect is rejected, and peers reappear only on their next renewal (up to ~18 s). multiplexed-provider.ts's onclose comment claims otherwise. Held for human review by risk.mjs (e2ee-constrained, crypto sources, security model), as intended.

Spec: docs/changes/NEC-93-presence-envelope/spec.md

Changelog

Presence (collaborators' names, colours and cursor positions) is now end-to-end encrypted, so the server can no longer see who is where in a note.

Task: NEC-93 — https://projectron.nerchure.com/tasks/93 Seals presence (Yjs awareness) end to end. Each non-null state is now an AES-GCM envelope {e,k} under the folder content key, with AAD binding domain label, docName, clientID and clock. Plaintext is padded to 512-byte multiples, removals stay plain, and a client refuses any state that is not sealed. The server needs no code change, because it never read a state's contents. Also adds presence format v1 in packages/shared (surface-tagged pointer, viewport and selection) and the optional additionalData on shared encrypt/decrypt. Docs: crypto.md section 12 (CRYPTO-110..115); security-model.md now lists presence as metadata only, and says it is not authenticated as live. Review changes the approved plan in one place: the padding moved from 256 to 512 bytes, because 256 was measured to leak editor focus (y-codemirror nulls the cursor on blur: about 310 bytes focused, 140 not). Mutation-checked: AAD, plaintext refusal, epoch guard, send ordering and padding each fail their test when broken. Unchaining the receive side fails nothing, because y-protocols' clock check already rejects stale states, and CRYPTO-114 says so rather than claiming otherwise. Found and not fixed here, because it predates this change: close-time retraction leaves remote clocks unchanged, so the QueryAwareness reply after a reconnect is rejected, and peers reappear only on their next renewal (up to ~18 s). multiplexed-provider.ts's onclose comment claims otherwise. Held for human review by risk.mjs (e2ee-constrained, crypto sources, security model), as intended. Spec: `docs/changes/NEC-93-presence-envelope/spec.md` ## Changelog Presence (collaborators' names, colours and cursor positions) is now end-to-end encrypted, so the server can no longer see who is where in a note.

nectenda-agent added the

area:plugin

area:server

labels 2026-09-24 14:31:56 +01:00

nectenda-agent added 4 commits 2026-09-24 14:31:56 +01:00

Seal presence end to end, and give it a surface-tagged format ... 3a1c8ef597

Awareness states reached the server as readable JSON: names, colours and
caret positions. The server never needed to read them — it coalesces by
client id and clock, vouches by socket, and treats null as removal — so
each non-null state is now an AES-GCM envelope under the folder key,
bound by AAD to the note, client id and clock, and padded to 256-byte
multiples. A client refuses any state that is not sealed.

Presence format v1 (shared/presence.ts) tags pointer, viewport and
selection by surface so text, canvas and Excalidraw share one shape.

Task: NEC-93

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018AVesyLGq78y4Zgn9oE8Aw

Write presence v1 locally, pin the relay on sealed states, and document it ... 5eede39732

The local state now carries v: 1 and null pointer/viewport/selection.
The server needed no change; a new test drives coalescing, QueryAwareness
vouching and close retraction with envelopes and checks the bytes relayed
are the sender's. The multi-vault presence e2e now also asserts the
server's own Awareness holds only {e, k}.

crypto.md gains section 12 (CRYPTO-110..115). security-model.md states
that presence contents are sealed and its rate is not.

Task: NEC-93

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018AVesyLGq78y4Zgn9oE8Aw

Drop an assertion the narrowing already made ... 95b880d994

Task: NEC-93

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018AVesyLGq78y4Zgn9oE8Aw

Pad presence to 512-byte buckets, and stop overclaiming what the seal gives ... e6e0ddc157

Review measured the 256-byte buckets leaking editor focus: y-codemirror
nulls the cursor on blur, and a real focused state (~310 bytes) and an
unfocused one (~140) sealed to different lengths. 512 holds a text state
with caret, pointer and viewport in one bucket; the padding test now uses
real relative positions and fails at 256.

The docs now also say what the seal does not give: presence is not
authenticated as live, so the server can withhold, retract or replay
states, though it cannot read, alter or relocate one.

Task: NEC-93

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018AVesyLGq78y4Zgn9oE8Aw

nectenda-agent referenced this pull request 2026-09-24 15:33:35 +01:00

Hold a reworded spec rule until a test that covers it is touched #150

cruelacid referenced this pull request from a commit 2026-09-24 15:33:37 +01:00

Hold a reworded spec rule until a test that covers it is touched

cruelacid force-pushed worktree-nec-93-presence-envelope-end-to-end-encrypted-ta from e6e0ddc157 to 9f9ed90570 2026-09-24 17:11:13 +01:00 Compare

cruelacid force-pushed worktree-nec-93-presence-envelope-end-to-end-encrypted-ta from 9f9ed90570 to fc272844ac 2026-09-24 22:22:11 +01:00 Compare

cruelacid force-pushed worktree-nec-93-presence-envelope-end-to-end-encrypted-ta from fc272844ac to 541382b010 2026-09-24 22:47:52 +01:00 Compare

nectenda-agent merged commit 541382b010 into main 2026-09-24 22:53:53 +01:00

Sign in to join this conversation.

Reviewers

No reviewers

Labels

Clear labels   

area:docs

docs/

  

area:identity

packages/identity

  

area:ops

deploy/, CI, hosting

  

area:plugin

packages/plugin

  

area:server

packages/server

  

channel:community

Obsidian forum, Obsidian Discord, Reddit

  

channel:direct

Cold outreach to named firms

  

channel:owned

nectenda.com pages, the feedback board

  

channel:press

Hacker News, newsletters, outlets, YouTube creators

  

channel:social

Bluesky, Mastodon, X, YouTube accounts

  

e2ee-constrained

End-to-end encryption changes the shape of the answer

  

gate:at-ga

Held until Gates A-C close and terms/privacy leave DRAFT

  

gate:pre-ga

Safe to do before the launch gates close

  

marketing

Reach and positioning; work published off nectenda.com

  

parity

Relay feature-parity programme

  

relay:absent

4 - Not supported, not requested, not planned at Relay

  

relay:planned

2 - On Relay's roadmap (Active/Planned) or has an open PR

  

relay:requested

3 - Asked for by Relay users or under 'Considering'; not committed

  

relay:supported

1 - Relay ships this today

  

risk:additive

New message type, table or column; backward compatible

  

risk:contract

Changes something existing accounts or stored data depend on

  

risk:none

Client-only; the server is untouched

  

usability

How the product is understood and learned, not what it does

No labels

area:docs

area:identity

area:ops

area:plugin

area:server

channel:community

channel:direct

channel:owned

channel:press

channel:social

e2ee-constrained

gate:at-ga

gate:pre-ga

marketing

parity

relay:absent

relay:planned

relay:requested

relay:supported

risk:additive

risk:contract

risk:none

usability

Milestone

Clear milestone

No items

No milestone

Projects

Clear projects

No items

No project

Assignees

Clear assignees

No assignees

2 participants

Notifications

Subscribe

Due date

The due date is invalid or out of range. Please use the format "yyyy-mm-dd".

No due date set.

Dependencies

No dependencies set

Reference

Nectenda/nectenda!144

No description provided.