Hubert

P2P Infrastructure

Asynchronous coordination service enabling Gordian Clubs, FROST signing ceremonies, and other multi-party cryptographic protocols to communicate via "dead-drops" without trusted servers or persistent connections. Provides write-once storage semantics where senders publish encrypted payloads at locations derived from ARIDs (Apparently Random Identifiers) — the storage network sees only HKDF-derived storage keys, never the ARIDs themselves. Backends include BitTorrent Mainline DHT (small messages, ~2hr persistence with hourly re-announcement), IPFS (large content up to 10MB via Kubo daemon, IPNS records), Hybrid (automatic size-based routing combining DHT speed with IPFS capacity), and Server (centralized for testing). All payloads encrypted via GSTP; reference encryption hides IPFS ARIDs from DHT observers. Released October 2025

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Details

License BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent License — hubert-rust reference implementation
Dev Status 🧪 Alpha
Dev Status Detail Released — alpha/early production; CLI tool (hubert-rust) and FROST-specific CLI demonstrated; reference implementation public
Owner Blockchain Commons LLC (not-for-profit benefit corporation founded by Christopher Allen, April 25, 2019; Berkeley, California). Specification author: Wolf McNally, Lead Researcher
Owner - List
  • Blockchain Commons
Governing Body Blockchain Commons LLC (not-for-profit benefit corporation)
Governing Body - List
  • Blockchain Commons
Country USA (Berkeley, California)
Start Year 2025
Stack Rust (hubert-rust); IPFS via Kubo daemon HTTP RPC; BitTorrent Mainline DHT via embedded BEP-44 client
Funding Blockchain Commons donations and patron sponsorships
Funding - List
  • Blockchain Commons
Last Investigated Jul 1, 2026

Topology view

This tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.

Topology view: HubertThis tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.HubertBitTorrent Mainline DHT (Based on)BitTorrentMainline DHTGordian Clubs (Based on, Interoperates with, Required by)GordianClubsGordian Envelope (Based on, Composes with)GordianEnvelopeIPFS (Based on, Stores in)IPFSdCBOR (Composes with, Speaks protocol)dCBORSSKR (Composes with)SSKRUniform Resources (Composes with)UniformResourcesXID (Composes with)XIDBlockchain Commons (Developed by, Funded by, Stewarded by)BlockchainCommonsGordian Suite (Member of suite)GordianSuite
  • BitTorrent Mainline DHT (Tool): Based on
  • Gordian Clubs (Tool): Based on, Interoperates with, Required by
  • Gordian Envelope (Tool): Based on, Composes with
  • IPFS (Tool): Based on, Stores in
  • dCBOR (Tool): Composes with, Speaks protocol
  • SSKR (Tool): Composes with
  • Uniform Resources (Tool): Composes with
  • XID (Tool): Composes with
  • Blockchain Commons (Organization): Developed by, Funded by, Stewarded by
  • Gordian Suite (Suite): Member of suite

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Use Case Domains

Platform Evolution & Sovereignty

Affordances

Local-first storage Self-hostable Works offline / mesh

P2P Infrastructure Attributes

Owner - List
  • Blockchain Commons
Origins Blockchain Commons; designed to enable autonomous coordination of cryptographic objects (Gordian Clubs, FROST ceremonies) without trusted infrastructure
Database Backend-dependent — DHT (in-memory distributed), IPFS (Kubo daemon storage), Server (configurable centralized)
Data Formats Gordian Envelopes wrapped in GSTP (Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol) encryption; CBOR (via dCBOR)
Mobile Support Library-level — Rust libraries (hubert-rust, frost-hubert-rust) cross-compile to mobile; mobile-friendly given small message size on the DHT backend; no first-party mobile app yet
Web Support Library-level — HTTP transport possible against IPFS Kubo and other backends; web bindings TBD
Native Apps CLI tools — hubert-cli, FROST ceremony CLI demos
Terms Open source, BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent License
Funding - List
  • Blockchain Commons
Funds Unknown — funded under Blockchain Commons general operating budget; specific Hubert allocation not separately published
Based On Gordian Envelope; GSTP; ARIDs (Apparently Random Identifiers); HKDF (RFC 5869); BitTorrent Mainline DHT (BEP-44); IPFS / IPNS; Kubo
Governing Body - List
  • Blockchain Commons
P2P Architecture Layered service over existing P2P infrastructure (Mainline DHT and IPFS); not a new node network but a coordination semantics layer above them
Overlay Network BitTorrent Mainline DHT; IPFS DHT; Hybrid (automatic backend selection by size)
Content Addressing ARID-derived storage keys (HKDF-derived from ARID; ARID never exposed to network); IPFS CIDs for large payloads with encrypted DHT references
Local-First Yes — Hubert nodes can run locally; supports air-gapped publication and retrieval
E2EE Yes — all payloads GSTP-encrypted; reference encryption hides IPFS ARIDs from DHT observers; storage backends see only encrypted blobs
Byzantine Fault Tolerance Inherits from underlying DHT/IPFS substrate; write-once semantics eliminate race conditions and ensure message immutability
Signature Per-payload cryptographic signing via Envelope + GSTP; integrates with FROST threshold signatures
Permissions ARID-based addressing — only parties knowing the ARID (out-of-band) can compute the storage location; permits in payload Envelopes provide further access control
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Alpha release Oct 2025; BCR-2025-006 specification; reference Rust implementation deployed
Infrastructure Function Asynchronous coordination service — write-once dead-drops for multi-party cryptographic protocol messages; query-addressable storage abstraction over diverse backends
Threat Model Untrusted storage networks; metadata privacy from DHT observers (ARIDs hidden via HKDF derivation; IPFS ARIDs hidden from DHT via reference encryption); does not provide forward secrecy for long-running conversations (would require ratcheting layered above)
Volunteer / Node Model Inherits from underlying substrates — BitTorrent Mainline DHT (volunteer global network), IPFS (volunteer + paid pinning); Hubert itself is a client/library, not a separate node network
Traffic Visibility Storage operators see encrypted blobs at HKDF-derived storage keys; ARIDs themselves never exposed; HTTPS for IPFS Kubo RPC
Active Deployment Scale Small — recently released; ecosystem in early adoption phase

Relationships

How this tool connects to other tools and organizations, from relationships reviewed by the OpenHaven data steward. They describe how projects connect, not how good they are.

Based on
Developed by
  • Blockchain Commons
Funded by
  • Blockchain Commons
Member of suite
  • Gordian Suite
Speaks protocol
Stewarded by
  • Blockchain Commons
Stores in
Composes with
Interoperates with
Required by