262d98a8eb
Prepare the source tree for the v0.4.0 release cut, leaving the version at 0.4.0-dev (the version bump rides a separate release-candidate commit). - CHANGELOG: backfill the missing entry for the route-class transit counters and fipstop routing-tab reorg, then reorganize the Unreleased block from a flat per-commit list into topic-grouped subsections mirroring the 0.3.0 entry (coalescing interim fixes into net-effect descriptions without dropping technical detail), and stamp it as [0.4.0] - 2026-06-21 with a fresh empty Unreleased block. The date is provisional and reconfirmed at the final tag. - Release notes: refresh both RELEASE-NOTES.md and the versioned archive (kept byte-identical) to cover the OpenWrt .apk packaging, the Nix flake, the macOS self-traffic checksum fix (#117), and the route-class transit counters. - README: bump the status badge to v0.4.0 so it matches the prose. Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01A2pYfSypNmmG4HyHwZuLex
FIPS Documentation
FIPS (Free Internetworking Peering System) is a self-organizing encrypted mesh network built on Nostr identities, capable of operating over arbitrary transports — local networks, the public internet, Tor, Bluetooth, or point-to-point links — without central infrastructure.
With FIPS, your machine becomes a node in the mesh with a self-generated cryptographic identity. There are two ways to deploy it.
As an overlay on top of existing IP networks, FIPS lets your node reach any other FIPS node wherever it sits — behind a NAT, on a different ISP, on a phone over cellular, on a laptop with only Bluetooth in range, or behind a Tor onion. The mesh forwards IPv6 traffic transparently and end-to-end encrypted, with no central VPN concentrator or coordinating server.
From the ground up over raw Ethernet, WiFi, or Bluetooth, FIPS provides a complete permissionless network without any pre-existing IP infrastructure, ISP, or DNS. Any node that joins the link gets routable IPv6 addresses, peer discovery, and a path to every other node automatically.
Either way, existing networking software runs over it unchanged: SSH, HTTP servers, file transfer, anything IPv6-native works the same way it would on a local network.
New to FIPS? Start with the Getting Started guide.
Documentation Sections
Tutorials
If you are starting from scratch and want a guided path to a working mesh, go here.
How-To Guides
If you have a specific task in mind — enabling a feature, deploying a component, diagnosing a problem — go here.
Reference
If you need to look up wire formats, configuration keys, command flags, or counter inventories, go here.
Design
If you want to understand how the mesh self-organizes, why FIPS makes the choices it does, or how the pieces fit together, go here.