Skip to main content

Discover nodes and send messages via the AnonComms Mixnet demo app

warning

This page is an early draft and may be incomplete or incorrect. Expect changes, missing prerequisites, and commands that might not work in your setup. We are actively working to complete and verify this content.

A. Outcome + value (required)​

  • Outcome (end goal): User will send anonymous chat messages over the mixnet by discovering mix nodes through Logos capability discovery.
  • Why it matters: Proves two core testnet v0.1 primitives work end-to-end: capability-based node discovery and anonymous message routing via the mixnet.

B. Scope + ownership​

  • Journey name: Use the Mix Push Message App to send messages over the libp2p mixnet

  • Owner (GitHub + Discord): GitHub, Discord: prem_chaitanya

  • Applies to:

  • Runtime target: Logos testnet v0.1.

C. Runnable happy path​

  • Prereqs:

    • Operating Systems: Linux or macOS
    • Build Tools:
      • CMake (3.16 or later)
      • Ninja build system
      • pkg-config
      • nix

  • Commands:

    1. Clone the chat-ui repo

      git clone https://github.com/logos-co/logos-chat-ui.git

    2. Change into the repo directory and check out the demo branch

      cd logos-chat-ui
      git checkout logos-testnet-demo

    3. Run the standalone application. You should not see any errors in the console.

      nix run '.'

      If you don't have flakes enabled globally, add experimental flags:

      nix run '.' --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes'

  • Expected outputs:

    1. Once the app is up and running, the user should see the UI with the following:

      • Status shown as Ready
      • LP Peer count increasing over time before stabilising
      • Mix peer count increasing over time before stabilising
      • Warning message Waiting for network peers... disappears once 3 mix nodes are discovered.

    2. After sending a message from the app (which is possible once the warning message disappears), the app should display the same message in the Messages section. Note that it takes some time for this to happen due to latency introduced by mix nodes.

    3. After sending a message, there are two methods to check if the message was delivered successfully:

      • The message appears in the Messages section in the UI.

      • The following logs appear in the console indicating success:

        [LOGOS_HOST "waku_module" ]: "WakuModulePlugin: Lightpush publish initiated successfully for topic: \"\""
        ChatBackend: Sent message to channel "baixa-chiado"

D. Configuration​

  • Required env vars / flags / config keys: Not Applicable
  • Example config snippet: No config, everything should work out of the box.
  • Default ports/endpoints:
    • The user's machine should be able to connect to external fleet nodes using TCP port 60000 for discovery, sending, and receiving messages.
    • Connectivity and message reception will improve if the user's machine is reachable externally (even if behind a NAT).

E. Hardware requirements (required for node/client journeys)​

  • Target devices: Nothing specific for this app. Any general restrictions placed by Logos modules should be considered.
  • Minimum requirements:
    • CPU — 1 core
    • RAM — 2 GB
    • Storage (type + free space) — at least 20 GB of free space for building everything
    • Network bandwidth — No specific requirements
  • Recommended requirements: Same as minimum requirements
  • Storage profile: No specific storage required.

F. Verify + troubleshoot​

  • Verification step: Run the app and confirm a sent message appears in the Messages section.
  • Known failures (top 3-5):

    1. Orphan processes when killing the app via CLI or GUI

      • Symptom — Sometimes the child processes are orphaned when the app is killed. Check using the command below:

        ps -eaf | grep -i logos_host

      • Cause (if known) — Issue in liblogos

      • Fix/workaround — Kill orphaned processes:

        pkill -f logos_host

    2. Sent messages may not appear in the received messages section if the underlying connectivity of Waku-relay is not healthy.

G. Limits for v0.1​

  • Known issues:
    1. It may take 30 seconds to 1 minute to discover mix nodes. Until then, no messages can be sent using the app.
    2. If the app is killed, some child processes are orphaned and continue running in the background. They must be killed before restarting the app, otherwise it may not work properly. Note that this may also kill any other logos_host processes running.

H. References​

Time and Security (optional)​

  • Estimated time-to-complete: 15-20 minutes
  • Security / safety notes: None