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STATUS-WAKU2-USAGE Status Waku2 Usage raw Best Current Practice Defines how the Status application uses the Waku protocols. Aaryamann Challani <aaryamann@status.im>
Jimmy Debe <jimmy@status.im>

Abstract

Status is a chat application which has several features, including, but not limited to -

This specification describes how a Status implementation will make use of the underlying infrastructure, Waku, which is described in 10/WAKU2.

Background

The Status application aspires to achieve censorship resistance and incorporates specific privacy features, leveraging the comprehensive set of protocols offered by Waku to enhance these attributes. Waku protocols provide secure communication capabilities over decentralized networks. Once integrated, an application will benefit from privacy-preserving, censorship resistance and spam protected communcation.

Since Status uses a large set of Waku protocols, it is imperative to describe how each are used.

Terminology

Name Description
RELAY This refers to the Waku Relay protocol, described in 11/WAKU2-RELAY
FILTER This refers to the Waku Filter protocol, described in 12/WAKU2-FILTER
STORE This refers to the Waku Store protocol, described in 13/WAKU2-STORE
MESSAGE This refers to the Waku Message format, described in 14/WAKU2-MESSAGE
LIGHTPUSH This refers to the Waku Lightpush protocol, described in 19/WAKU2-LIGHTPUSH
Discovery This refers to a peer discovery method used by a Waku node.
Pubsub Topic / Content Topic This refers to the routing of messages within the Waku network, described in 23/WAKU2-TOPICS

Waku Node:

Software that is configured with a set of Waku protocols. A Status client comprises of a Waku node that is a RELAY node or a non-relay node.

Light Client:

A Status client that operates within resource constrained environments is a node configured as light client. Light clients do not run a RELAY. Instead, Status light clients, can request services from other RELAY node that provide LIGHTPUSH service.

Protocol Usage

The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “NOT RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

The following is a list of Waku Protocols used by a Status application.

1. RELAY

The RELAY MUST NOT be used by Status light clients. The RELAY is used to broadcast messages between Status clients. All Status messages are transformed into 14/WAKU2-MESSAGE, which are sent over the wire.

All Status message types are described in 62/STATUS-PAYLOAD. Status Clients MUST transform the following object into a MESSAGE as described below -


type StatusMessage struct {
    SymKey[]     []byte // [optional] The symmetric key used to encrypt the message
    PublicKey    []byte // [optional] The public key to use for asymmetric encryption
    Sig          string // [optional] The private key used to sign the message
    PubsubTopic  string // The Pubsub topic to publish the message to     
    ContentTopic string // The Content topic to publish the message to
    Payload      []byte // A serialized representation of a Status message to be sent
    Padding      []byte // Padding that must be applied to the Payload
    TargetPeer   string // [optional] The target recipient of the message
    Ephemeral    bool   // If the message is not to be stored, this is set to `true` 
}
  1. A user MUST only provide either a Symmetric key OR an Asymmetric keypair to encrypt the message. If both are received, the implementation MUST throw an error.
  2. WakuMessage.Payload MUST be set to StatusMessage.Payload
  3. WakuMessage.Key MUST be set to StatusMessage.SymKey
  4. WakuMessage.Version MUST be set to 1
  5. WakuMessage.Ephemeral MUST be set to StatusMessage.Ephemeral
  6. WakuMessage.ContentTopic MUST be set to StatusMessage.ContentTopic
  7. WakuMessage.Timestamp MUST be set to the current Unix epoch timestamp (in nanosecond precision)

2. STORE

This protocol MUST remain optional according to the user's preferences, it MAY be enabled on Light clients as well.

Messages received via 11/WAKU2-RELAY, are stored in a database. When Waku node running this protocol is service node, it MUST provide the complete list of network messages. Status clients SHOULD request historical messages from this service node.

The messages that have the WakuMessage.Ephemeral flag set to true will not be stored.

The Status client MAY provide a method to prune the database of older records to save storage.

3. FILTER

This protocol SHOULD be enabled on Light clients.

This protocol SHOULD be used to filter messages based on a given criteria, such as the Content Topic of a MESSAGE. This allows a reduction in bandwidth consumption by the Status client.

Content filtering protocol identifers:

The filter-subcribe SHOULD be implemented on RELAY nodes to provide FILTER services.

filter-subscribe:

/vac/waku/filter-subscribe/2.0.0-beta1

The filter-push SHOULD be implemented on light clients to receive messages.

filter-push:

/vac/waku/filter-push/2.0.0-beta1

Status clients SHOULD apply a filter for all the Content Topic they are interested in, such as Content Topic derived from -

  1. 1:1 chats with other users, described in 55/STATUS-1TO1-CHAT
  2. Group chats
  3. Community Channels, described in 56/STATUS-COMMUNITIES

4. LIGHTPUSH

The LIGHTPUSH protocol MUST be enabled on Status light clients. A Status RELAY node MAY implement LIGHTPUSH to support light clients. Peers will be able to publish messages, without running a full-fledged 11/WAKU2-RELAY protocol.

When a Status client is publishing a message, it MUST check if Light mode is enabled, and if so, it MUST publish the message via this protocol.

5. Discovery

A discovery method MUST be supported by Light clients and Full clients

Status clients SHOULD make use of the following peer discovery methods that are provided by Waku, such as -

  1. EIP-1459: DNS-Based Discovery
  2. 33/WAKU2-DISCV5: A node discovery protocol to create decentralized network of interconnected Waku nodes.
  3. 34/WAKU2-PEER-EXCHANGE: A peer discovery protocol for resource restricted devices.

Status clients MAY use any combination of the above peer discovery methods, which is suited best for their implementation.

Security/Privacy Considerations

This specification inherits the security and privacy considerations from the following specifications -

  1. 10/WAKU2
  2. 11/WAKU2-RELAY
  3. 12/WAKU2-FILTER
  4. 13/WAKU2-STORE
  5. 14/WAKU2-MESSAGE
  6. 23/WAKU2-TOPICS
  7. 19/WAKU2-LIGHTPUSH
  8. 55/STATUS-1TO1-CHAT
  9. 56/STATUS-COMMUNITIES
  10. 62/STATUS-PAYLOAD
  11. EIP-1459: DNS-Based Discovery
  12. 33/WAKU2-DISCV5
  13. 34/WAKU2-PEER-EXCHANGE

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.

References

  1. 55/STATUS-1TO1-CHAT
  2. 56/STATUS-COMMUNITIES
  3. 10/WAKU2
  4. 11/WAKU2-RELAY
  5. 12/WAKU2-FILTER
  6. 13/WAKU2-STORE
  7. 14/WAKU2-MESSAGE
  8. 23/WAKU2-TOPICS
  9. 19/WAKU2-LIGHTPUSH
  10. 64/WAKU2-NETWORK
  11. 62/STATUS-PAYLOAD
  12. EIP-1459: DNS-Based Discovery
  13. 33/WAKU2-DISCV5
  14. 34/WAKU2-PEER-EXCHANGE