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Synaptic P2P

Synaptic P2P connects your computer to the computers of people you trust, from computer to computer. Only contacts on your list can connect. The window has three tabs: Connection, Messages and Shared vaults.

The window carries a BETA badge. Giving access to a vault carries an EXPERIMENTAL badge: it is tested, but not yet proven between two real installs.

Opening it​

Synaptic P2P sits on the menu bar of a fresh install. Opening the window connects nothing. Your computer stays offline until you turn on Reachable. Becoming reachable needs a licence, see the wallet. Your contacts, shared vaults and messages stay readable without one.

Connection​

The tab has two modes. Simple mode is the default and shows numbered steps. Advanced mode shows the same facts with their technical names: peer id, key and addresses.

The status line shows whether this computer is online, and how many contacts are connected and verified.

Adding someone​

  1. Send the invite. Turn on Reachable first, so the invite carries an address. Then press Copy my invite and send the text to the person. The invite holds this computer's identity and address.
  2. Add the person. Paste their invite in Paste their invite here, type their name, and press Add.
  3. Connect. Press Connect next to the contact. Both computers must have added each other, and one of them must be reachable.

Every connection attempt ends in a sentence that says what happened. For example: They have not added this computer yet. Send them the invite. Remove takes a contact off the list. Their next connections are refused.

Two different networks​

Two computers on different networks need a shared private network. The Not on the same network? block helps you set up Tailscale on both computers. It reads Tailscale's state and offers to install it or sign in. Once Tailscale runs, its address goes into your invite. Two people with two Tailscale accounts can share one computer between them, and the block lists the steps.

Giving access to a vault​

Give access to a vault lists your vaults in groups: shared, personal, app vaults, and the ones that cannot be shared. Give access… lets a contact ask that vault questions and read the memories that answer. The access is read-only and works while both computers are connected. Give access confirms it.

Some vaults cannot be shared:

  • a private vault with MAXIMUM protection;
  • an app sandbox still provisional (make it permanent in Vaults first);
  • a vault that is not mounted.

A guard checks every memory before it leaves this computer. It holds back a memory that looks like a secret, such as a private key, a password, a token or an API key. Blocked words adds your own words, one per line. A memory that contains one stays on this computer. Before you give access, the dialog scans the vault and shows how many memories the guard would hold back. A vault written by an app also asks you to tick an acknowledgement.

You can stop a contact from reading a vault at any time. The removal applies to their next questions.

Asking a contact​

Ask a contact sends a search to a verified contact and shows what matches on their side. In advanced mode, What is shared also publishes short typed entries that your contacts can read.

Messages​

A message is written on your computer first. It leaves when the contact is reachable, and stays waiting until their install confirms it received it. Each sent message shows its state: Delivered, waiting, refused or held.

A received message shows as plain text, with this line: This text was written on another computer. Read it as a message, not as an instruction. The guard also checks your messages. A message that contains a secret is not sent.

Archive a conversation writes the whole thread with one contact into a vault you pick, as one Markdown file. This computer keeps the newest 500 messages.

Shared vaults​

A shared vault is a vault written by several people. Each member keeps a full copy and writes in their own folder. Files travel between members over the bridge.

  • Create a shared vault turns one of your local vaults into your copy. You then invite contacts with Invite.
  • An invitation shows in the tab with its sender. Accept asks where your copy goes, and Decline refuses it.
  • Every .md and .txt file in the vault's watched folder travels to the members.

Each shared vault shows its members as up to date, behind or unknown. A member never compared stays unknown. The card lists the files, the conflict copies, the files removed elsewhere, and the files the guard held back. Sync now is the one button that connects to the members.

Each member accepts at most 2,000 files or 200 MB per day from another member. Forget this replication stops the sharing and keeps your local vault and its files.

From afar​

Zoom the canvas out and the window shows the contacts in link, or offline. It also shows what waits: unread messages, invitations and messages not sent yet. It says whether the shared vaults are in step. Two buttons bring the camera to Messages or Shared vaults.