distributed-topic-tracker

Decentralized auto-bootstrapping for iroh-gossip topics using the mainline BitTorrent DHT.

Quick Start

Add dependencies to Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
anyhow = "1"
tokio = "1"
rand = "0.9"
iroh = "*"
iroh-gossip = "*"

distributed-topic-tracker = "0.2"

Basic iroh-gossip integration:

use anyhow::Result;
use iroh::{Endpoint, SecretKey};
use iroh_gossip::net::Gossip;
use ed25519_dalek::SigningKey;

// Imports from distributed-topic-tracker
use distributed_topic_tracker::{TopicId, AutoDiscoveryGossip, RecordPublisher};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<()> {
    // Generate a new random secret key
    let secret_key = SecretKey::generate(&mut rand::rng());
    let signing_key = SigningKey::from_bytes(&secret_key.to_bytes());

    // Set up endpoint with discovery enabled
    let endpoint = Endpoint::builder()
        .secret_key(secret_key.clone())
        .bind()
        .await?;

    // Initialize gossip
    let gossip = Gossip::builder().spawn(endpoint.clone());

    // Set up protocol router
    let _router = iroh::protocol::Router::builder(endpoint.clone())
        .accept(iroh_gossip::ALPN, gossip.clone())
        .spawn();

    // Distributed Topic Tracker
    let topic_id = TopicId::new("my-iroh-gossip-topic".to_string());
    let initial_secret = b"my-initial-secret".to_vec();
    let record_publisher = RecordPublisher::new(
        topic_id.clone(),
        signing_key.verifying_key(),
        signing_key.clone(),
        None,
        initial_secret,
    );

    // Use new `subscribe_and_join_with_auto_discovery` on Gossip
    let topic = gossip
        .subscribe_and_join_with_auto_discovery(record_publisher)
        .await?;

    println!("[joined topic]");

    // Work with the topic (GossipSender/Receiver are clonable)
    let (_gossip_sender, _gossip_receiver) = topic.split().await?;
    
    Ok(())
}

Protocol

• Details (spec): PROTOCOL.md
• Architecture: ARCHITECTURE.md
• Feedback: Issue #5

Features

• Decentralized bootstrap for iroh-gossip topics
• Ed25519 signing and HPKE shared-secret encryption
• DHT rate limiting (per-minute record caps)
• Resilient bootstrap with retries and jitter
• Background publisher with bubble detection and peer merging

Testing

Unit Tests

Run core component tests:

cargo test

End-to-End Tests

Verify peer discovery across Docker containers:

# Requires Docker and Docker Compose
./test-e2e.sh

The E2E test confirms multiple nodes discover each other via DHT and join the same gossip topic.

Roadmap

• Finalize crate name and publish to crates.io
• Tests and CI
• Add more examples
• Optimize configuration
• Major refactor
• Make iroh-gossip integration a feature (repurposed for rustpatcher)
• API docs

License

Licensed under Apache-2.0 or MIT you choose.

• LICENSE-APACHE
• LICENSE-MIT

Contributing

• Test and provide feedback: Issue #5
• PRs, issues, and reports welcome.

Contributions are dual-licensed as above unless stated otherwise.