Guides
Longer reads on how DChat actually works - written for people, accurate for engineers.
Messaging
Every message is encrypted on your device with keys only you and the recipient hold, then handed to the swarm - a mesh of relays that pass ciphertext peer to peer until it reaches its destination. Relays cannot read what they carry, and no single relay is special: if one disappears, the route heals around it.
Delivery states
One tick: the swarm holds your message. Two ticks: the recipient's device decrypted and acknowledged it. Offline recipients get their queue, encrypted, the moment they return.
Disappearing messages
Timers are enforced by the clients on both ends. Once expired, the message is gone from both devices - and it was never on a server to begin with.
Groups & channels
Groups are end-to-end encrypted between members; keys rotate when membership changes, so someone removed today cannot read tomorrow. Channels broadcast one-to-many with the same envelope. Moderation - roles, invites, slow mode - is enforced by signed membership state, not by an admin server.
Voice & video
One-to-one calls connect peer to peer where the network allows, falling back to relays that only ever forward encrypted media. Group calls run through an SFU - a media router that switches packets it cannot decrypt. Nobody on the path can listen, including the people who run the path.
Wallet & payments
Your wallet shares the identity keys already on your device - nothing new to back up, nothing held in custody. Sending crypto is a message: pick an amount inside the thread, sign locally, settle on-chain. Standard network fees apply and nothing more.
The security model
DChat's trust model is short: trust your device, trust the math, trust nobody in the middle. Identity is a key pair on your hardware. Transport is end-to-end encryption over a decentralized swarm. Persistence is your devices, not a data center. There is no server to breach, subpoena or quietly switch off - which is not a policy promise, it's an architecture.
The full protocol is written up at parameter level in the cryptographic specification, and the threat model, current limits and audit status are on the security page. Both document what DChat does not protect against as well as what it does.
SDK / API
The DChat SDK lets any app embed encrypted, serverless messaging on the same network - the same SDK our own clients are built on. Identity, transport, groups, calls and payments are exposed as libraries; if the app ships, it talks to the swarm like everyone else. The full API surface, quick-start and architecture are documented in the SDK reference.
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