Handshakes

Handshake is a 2-step bi-directional protocol.

1. Secure channel & Schema Negotiation

In the first step, an E2EE secure channel is established between the parties by exchanging symmetric keys & encrypting further messages with the shared key. A schema is negotiated for the data being shared in the second step.

2. Data Exchange

Depending on the nature of the handshake both parties share access to certain private files with each other

A variety of relationships can be modeled using the handshake primitive like “join”-ing a community, “sign”-ing up to an app or “connect”-ing with a user.

Example: Joining a Community

While joining a community, a user account and a community account perform a handshake with the user being the requestor and the community being the approver.

User and Community negotiate a profile schema, based on which the User submits a profile. The community then confirms, adds the user as a member, and shares the resulting member list.

Transport & Channel

Handshake requires a WebSocket or WebRTC based transport channel. Either requestor & approver can create a direct p2p channel by discovering each other’s inbox via the hub OR the messages can be transported by another account acting as a broker.