voice-cat/docs/protocol.md

# Control Protocol

The control plane runs over **TCP, wrapped in TLS 1.3**. It carries everything that is not
real-time media: handshake, authentication, channel/user/presence state, text chat, and
voice *signaling* (announcing that a media stream is starting/stopping). Real-time voice
travels separately over UDP — see [voice.md](voice.md).

## 1. Framing

Inside the TLS stream, messages are length-prefixed:

```
┌──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  u32 length  │  protobuf-encoded Envelope (length bytes)      │
│  (big-endian)│                                                │
└──────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

- `length` is the byte count of the payload that follows (not including the 4 length
  bytes). Hard cap (e.g. 16 MiB) to bound memory; oversized frame → protocol error +
  disconnect.
- The payload is a single **`Envelope`** protobuf message. We do **not** add our own type
  byte; the type is the `oneof` discriminator inside the Envelope, which keeps the framing
  trivial and lets protobuf own all forward/backward compatibility.

TLS already provides record framing, integrity, and ordering; we only add message
boundaries on top of the TLS byte stream.

## 2. Why Protocol Buffers for control

- Schema-driven codegen for **C++, C#, and Swift** (all first-class) → no hand-rolled
  parsers, no drift between client and server.
- **Forward/backward compatible by construction**: unknown fields are preserved/ignored,
  new fields and new `oneof` arms are additive. This is exactly the "extensible protocol"
  requirement.
- Compact enough for a control plane (text/state, not media). We use **`oneof`** envelopes
  rather than `Any` so the wire stays tight and the switch is exhaustive.

> Media frames do **not** use protobuf — they use a fixed binary header (see voice.md),
> because per-packet protobuf overhead and allocation are unacceptable on the RT path.

## 3. The Envelope

```proto
syntax = "proto3";
package voicecat.v1;

message Envelope {
  // Monotonic per-connection id set by the sender of a request; echoed in the
  // matching response so async callers can correlate. 0 for unsolicited events.
  uint64 request_id = 1;

  oneof body {
    // ── Session / handshake ───────────────────────────────
    ClientHello       client_hello        = 10;
    ServerHello       server_hello        = 11;
    AuthRequest       auth_request        = 12;
    AuthResult        auth_result         = 13;
    Disconnect        disconnect          = 14;
    Ping              ping                = 15;
    Pong              pong                = 16;

    // ── State sync ────────────────────────────────────────
    ServerStateSnapshot server_state      = 20;
    ChannelEvent      channel_event       = 21;   // created/updated/deleted
    UserEvent         user_event          = 22;   // joined/left/updated
    SubscribeRequest  subscribe           = 23;

    // ── Channel operations ────────────────────────────────
    JoinChannelRequest join_channel       = 30;
    JoinChannelResult  join_channel_result= 31;
    LeaveChannelRequest leave_channel     = 32;
    CreateChannelRequest create_channel   = 33;
    EditChannelRequest edit_channel       = 34;
    DeleteChannelRequest delete_channel   = 35;
    MoveUserRequest   move_user           = 36;
    GenericResult     generic_result      = 37;   // ack/err for the above

    // ── Voice signaling (media is on UDP) ─────────────────
    StreamAnnounce    stream_announce     = 40;
    StreamAnnounceResult stream_announce_result = 41;
    StreamStop        stream_stop         = 42;
    StreamStateUpdate stream_state        = 43;   // talking/muted indicator
    UdpBinding        udp_binding         = 44;   // token to bind the UDP 5-tuple

    // ── Text ──────────────────────────────────────────────
    TextMessage       text_message        = 50;
    TextMessageAck    text_message_ack    = 51;
    TypingIndicator   typing              = 52;

    // ── Moderation / permissions ──────────────────────────
    KickRequest       kick                = 60;
    BanRequest        ban                 = 61;
    SetPermissionRequest set_permission   = 62;

    // ── Admin account management (privileged) ─────────────
    // Accounts are admin-provisioned (no self-serve registration in v1).
    // These ride the same TLS control channel and require an admin permission.
    CreateAccountRequest create_account   = 70;
    ResetPasswordRequest reset_password   = 71;
    DeleteAccountRequest delete_account   = 72;
    ListAccountsRequest  list_accounts    = 73;

    // ── Extension escape hatch ────────────────────────────
    Extension         extension           = 200;  // {string ns; bytes payload;}
  }
}
```

Reserved tag ranges keep future families from colliding: **10–19** session, **20–29** state,
**30–39** channels, **40–49** voice signaling, **50–59** text, **60–99** moderation,
**100–199** future (e.g. file transfer = 100–109), **200+** extensions.

## 4. Connection lifecycle

```
Client                                            Server
  │  TCP connect ───────────────────────────────────▶│
  │  ◀──────────────── TLS 1.3 handshake ────────────▶│   server cert (TOFU/PKI, see security.md)
  │                                                   │
  │  ClientHello (proto_version, features[], info) ──▶│
  │  ◀── ServerHello (proto_version, features[],      │   feature intersection negotiated here
  │       server_info, auth_methods, udp_port)        │
  │                                                   │
  │  AuthRequest (guest{nick} | user{name,pass}) ────▶│   password verified w/ Argon2id
  │  ◀── AuthResult (ok, session_id, self, perms,     │
  │       udp_token)                                  │
  │                                                   │
  │  ◀── ServerStateSnapshot (channel tree, users) ───│   initial sync
  │                                                   │
  │  UdpBinding(udp_token) [TCP/TLS] ─────────────────▶│   confirms token, no-ops if mismatched
  │  ◀── UdpBinding(ack=true) [TCP/TLS] ───────────────│
  │                                                   │
  │  ===== UDP side (parallel) =====================  │
  │  (media keys derived from TLS exporter — no 2nd   │
  │   handshake; see security.md §2)                  │
  │  UDP_BINDING frame(udp_token) [plaintext] ───────▶│   binds 5-tuple → session_id
  │  ── voice frames (AEAD, exported keys) ──────────▶│
  │                                                   │
  │  JoinChannelRequest(id, password?) ──────────────▶│
  │  ◀── JoinChannelResult(ok, members, audio_cfg) ───│
  │  StreamAnnounce(kind=mic, opus_params) ──────────▶│
  │  ◀── StreamAnnounceResult(ok, ssrc)               │
  │  ── voice frames flow over UDP ──────────────────▶│
  │                                                   │
  │  Ping / Pong (TCP keepalive) ◀──────────────────▶│
```

Notes:

- **Version negotiation.** Each side sends `proto_version` (integer) and a `features`
  string list. The effective version is `min(client, server)`; the effective feature set
  is the intersection. A client that doesn't understand a feature simply never uses it.
- **Auth over TLS.** Passwords cross the wire only inside TLS 1.3 and are verified against
  an Argon2id hash at rest (see security.md). `auth_methods` in `ServerHello` advertises
  whether `guest` is enabled.
- **UDP token.** `AuthResult.udp_token` is a short-lived opaque token. The client confirms it
  over TCP/TLS (`UdpBinding` request/ack) and also sends it as the payload of a plaintext
  `UDP_BINDING`-type media frame so the server can bind the UDP 5-tuple to the authenticated
  session without trusting the source address. This bootstrap frame is the only UDP message
  that carries identity material in the clear; everything after (voice frames) is AEAD-sealed
  and routed purely by the bound tuple + media-AEAD session.
- **Snapshot then deltas.** After auth the server pushes a `ServerStateSnapshot` (full
  channel tree + visible users), then streams incremental `ChannelEvent`/`UserEvent`
  deltas. Clients reconcile by id.

## 5. Message catalog (selected definitions)

Representative messages; the full `.proto` is the source of truth in `core/proto/`.

```proto
message ClientHello {
  uint32 proto_version = 1;
  repeated string features = 2;        // e.g. "opus", "fec", "screen-audio"
  string client_name = 3;              // "VoiceCat-macOS"
  string client_version = 4;
  string preferred_locale = 5;
}

message ServerHello {
  uint32 proto_version = 1;
  repeated string features = 2;
  string server_name = 3;
  string server_version = 4;
  repeated string auth_methods = 5;    // "guest", "password"
  uint32 udp_port = 6;
  bytes  server_identity_fingerprint = 7;  // Ed25519 key fp for TOFU display
}

message AuthRequest {
  oneof method {
    GuestAuth guest = 1;               // { string nickname; }
    PasswordAuth password = 2;         // { string username; string password; }
  }
}

message AuthResult {
  bool ok = 1;
  string error = 2;
  uint64 session_id = 3;
  User self = 4;
  Permissions permissions = 5;
  bytes udp_token = 6;                 // bind UDP 5-tuple with this
}

message Channel {
  uint32 id = 1;
  uint32 parent_id = 2;                // 0 = root
  string name = 3;
  string topic = 4;
  bool   password_protected = 5;
  uint32 max_users = 6;
  ChannelType type = 7;                // PERMANENT / TEMPORARY
  AudioConfig audio = 8;               // per-channel Opus settings (see voice.md)
  int32  order = 9;
}

message User {
  uint32 id = 1;
  string nickname = 2;
  bool   is_guest = 3;
  uint32 channel_id = 4;
  bool   self_mic_muted = 5;
  bool   self_deafened = 6;
  bool   server_muted = 7;
  repeated StreamInfo streams = 8;     // active media streams this user publishes
}

message StreamInfo {
  uint32 stream_id = 1;                // unique within the user
  uint32 ssrc = 2;                     // media-plane id assigned by server
  StreamKind kind = 3;                 // MIC / SCREEN_AUDIO / AUX_DEVICE
  AudioConfig audio = 4;
  string label = 5;                    // "Microphone", "Desktop audio"
}

message StreamAnnounce {              // client → server: "I'm about to publish media"
  StreamKind kind = 1;
  AudioConfig requested_audio = 2;     // server may clamp to channel policy
  string label = 3;
}
message StreamAnnounceResult {
  bool ok = 1; string error = 2;
  uint32 stream_id = 3; uint32 ssrc = 4;
  AudioConfig effective_audio = 5;     // authoritative params to encode with
}

message TextMessage {
  TextScope scope = 1;                 // CHANNEL / PRIVATE / SERVER
  uint32 target_id = 2;                // channel_id or user_id depending on scope
  uint32 sender_id = 3;                // set by server on relay
  string body = 4;                     // UTF-8, server-bounded length
  uint64 sent_at_unix_ms = 5;          // server timestamp on relay
  string client_msg_id = 6;            // client-chosen, echoed in ack (dedup)
}
```

> **Text is ephemeral (v1).** The server relays messages live to currently-connected,
> subscribed recipients and **does not persist history** — there is no store and no backfill
> on join. Clients may keep their own local scrollback for the session. Server-side history
> is a deliberate non-feature for now (it can be added later behind a capability flag without
> changing `TextMessage`).

## 6. Request / response & errors

- Any message a client expects a direct answer to sets a nonzero **`request_id`**; the
  server echoes it in the response (`*Result` or `GenericResult`). Unsolicited
  server→client events use `request_id = 0`.
- **`GenericResult { bool ok; uint32 code; string message; }`** is the default
  acknowledgement for operations without a richer reply (create/edit/delete channel, move
  user, etc.). Error `code`s are an enumerated, stable list.
- Fatal conditions send **`Disconnect { code; reason }`** then close the TLS connection.

## 7. Keepalive & timeouts

- **TCP:** `Ping`/`Pong` every ~15 s; missing N consecutive pongs → drop. `Pong` echoes the
  `Ping` nonce so RTT is measurable.
- **UDP:** a separate lightweight keepalive on the media channel (voice.md §6) keeps NAT
  bindings alive and detects media-path failure independently of the control channel.

## 8. Extensibility checklist

When adding a feature later (e.g. **file transfer**), the rules are:

1. Add new `oneof` arms in the reserved tag range (file transfer = 100–109) — never reuse
   or renumber existing tags.
2. Advertise a feature string in `ClientHello`/`ServerHello`; only use the feature if both
   peers list it.
3. Prefer extending an existing message with new fields (additive) over inventing a new
   message where it fits.
4. For experimental/out-of-tree features, ride inside `Extension { ns; payload }` until it
   is promoted to a first-class `oneof` arm.

This guarantees a v1 client and a v3 server interoperate at the negotiated lowest common
denominator.