MeshUnion Specification

Home / MeshUnion / MeshUnion Specification

MeshUnion

Your Keys. Your Conversations. Your Node.

MeshUnion is a modular, federated communications and archival infrastructure specification designed for individuals, businesses, organizations, and independently operated network hosts.

MeshUnion enables participants to communicate across independently operated nodes while maintaining control over their identities, encryption keys, conversations, archives, storage relationships, and federation policies.

The system is designed around local operation, optional federation, complete end-to-end encryption, persistent searchable communication history, participant-controlled data, and independently provided infrastructure.

Specification Goals

MeshUnion is designed to provide:

Self-hosted communications infrastructure
Federated communication between independent nodes
Business-to-business communication
Peer-to-peer communication
Participant-controlled identities
Complete end-to-end encryption
Participant-controlled encryption keys
Persistent communication archives
Keyword and date-based historical search
Local and federated archive synchronization
Modular AI assistance
Independent storage hosting
One-time and long-duration storage purchasing
Perpetual storage arrangements
Data portability and migration
Host-controlled policies
No mandatory recurring platform charges
Vendor-independent infrastructure
Long-term institutional communication history

Core Principles

Local Ownership

Each node operates independently and maintains control over its local users, policies, data, archives, and infrastructure.

Optional Federation

Federation is optional. A node can operate independently or establish controlled relationships with other nodes.

Participant-Controlled Encryption

Communication content is end-to-end encrypted. Authorized participants and their authorized devices control the cryptographic capability required to decrypt their conversations.

Persistent History

Authorized participation history can be retained locally and across independently selected storage providers for long-term retrieval.

Data Portability

Communication history, archives, identities, and related data should remain portable between compatible nodes and storage providers.

Modular Design

Core capabilities are separated into modules so that implementations can enable, disable, replace, or extend individual capabilities.

Host Autonomy

Each host establishes its own identity, privacy, federation, storage, retention, and participation policies.

Infrastructure Independence

Communication services, storage services, AI services, and federation relationships do not need to be operated by the same provider.

Core Modules

Identity Module

The Identity Module manages participant identities and identity policies.

Features include:

Unique network identities
Host-controlled naming conventions
Organization-controlled naming conventions
Verified identities
Pseudonymous identities
Anonymous identities where permitted
Local identity namespaces
Cross-federation identity resolution
Identity verification
Participant cryptographic identities
Device identities
Identity permissions
Identity visibility controls

The module must allow each host to determine how identities are created, formatted, verified, exposed, and managed.

Authentication Module

The Authentication Module manages participant authentication and access to local services.

Features include:

Local authentication
Credential management
Secure session management
Account recovery mechanisms
Device authorization
Trusted-device management
Device revocation
Multi-factor authentication support
Security key support where implemented

Authentication credentials must not be treated as plaintext encryption keys.

Key Management Module

The Key Management Module manages cryptographic material used to protect participant identities, devices, conversations, attachments, and archives.

Features include:

Account encryption keys
Identity keys
Device keys
Conversation keys
Attachment encryption keys
Archive encryption keys
Secure key derivation
Key rotation
Device key authorization
Device key revocation
Conversation key rotation
Membership-change key rotation
Encrypted key backup
Key recovery mechanisms
Cryptographic identity verification

User credentials may be used to unlock protected cryptographic key material through appropriate key derivation mechanisms. Credentials must not be transmitted to federation or storage providers as a means of obtaining plaintext conversation keys.

Communication Module

The Communication Module provides the primary communication capabilities.

Features include:

Direct messaging
Group messaging
Public conversations
Private conversations
Federated conversations
Organization-to-organization conversations
Peer-to-peer conversations
Multi-organization conversations
Replies
Threads
Mentions
Reactions
Message editing
Configurable message deletion
Message delivery status
Message read status
Notifications
File attachments

Communication events must be represented in a form suitable for local storage, synchronization, archival, and federation.

Conversation Module

The Conversation Module manages conversation membership, permissions, metadata, and history.

Features include:

Conversation creation
Conversation membership
Conversation invitations
Participant management
Organization participation
Host participation
Conversation permissions
Conversation-specific encryption
Conversation history
Conversation archival
Conversation export
Conversation migration

Conversation permissions must be independently configurable from broader host permissions.

Contact Module

The Contact Module manages persistent relationships between participants and organizations.

Features include:

Personal contacts
Organization contacts
Federated contacts
Peer contacts
Customer contacts
Vendor contacts
Partner contacts
Contact groups
Relationship metadata
Contact verification
Shared conversation history
Contact discovery controls
Contact visibility controls

Contacts may retain references to communication history without granting access to conversations for which the participant is not authorized.

Federation Module

The Federation Module manages connections between independently operated nodes.

Features include:

Host-to-host federation
Business-to-business federation
Peer federation
Federation requests
Federation approvals
Federation rejection
Federation revocation
Trust relationships
Federation permissions
Capability-based federation
Selective federation
Cross-federation identity resolution
Federated conversation participation
Federated event synchronization
Federated history synchronization
Federation health monitoring

Federation must not require a node to surrender control of its local users, archives, encryption keys, or unrelated conversations.

Federation Contract Module

The Federation Contract Module defines the capabilities permitted between connected nodes.

Features include:

Connection identity
Connection status
Trust designation
Permitted communication types
Permitted file exchange
Permitted history synchronization
Directory visibility
Archive permissions
AI permissions
Storage permissions
Data retention terms
Connection expiration
Connection revocation

A federation relationship should allow individual capabilities to be approved independently.

Synchronization Module

The Synchronization Module manages the exchange and reconciliation of authorized communication events between nodes.

Features include:

Event synchronization
Message synchronization
Conversation synchronization
Attachment synchronization
Historical event retrieval
Missing-event recovery
Reconnection synchronization
Conflict handling
Synchronization status
Synchronization integrity verification
Selective synchronization
Permission-aware synchronization

Synchronization must not transmit content to nodes that lack authorization to possess or decrypt that content.

End-to-End Encryption Module

The End-to-End Encryption Module protects communication content from unauthorized infrastructure access.

Features include:

End-to-end encrypted messages
End-to-end encrypted conversations
End-to-end encrypted attachments
End-to-end encrypted archives
Participant-controlled decryption capability
Device-specific cryptographic keys
Conversation-specific encryption keys
Key rotation
Membership-change key rotation
Device revocation
Cryptographic integrity verification
Forward secrecy capable architecture

Federation hosts, storage hosts, network operators, and other infrastructure providers must not receive usable plaintext conversation keys merely because they transport or store encrypted content.

Archive Module

The Archive Module maintains persistent historical records of authorized participation.

Features include:

Local conversation archives
Federated conversation archives
Participant-local history
Long-term retention
Configurable retention policies
Permanent archival options
Archive integrity verification
Archive replication
Archive restoration
Archive export
Archive migration
Historical conversation retrieval
Encrypted archive storage

The archive must remain associated with the data owner’s permissions and encryption controls rather than becoming the property of the infrastructure provider.

Search Module

The Search Module provides retrieval of authorized communication history.

Features include:

Keyword search
Phrase search
Participant search
Organization search
Conversation search
Date search
Date-range search
Attachment search
Message-type filtering
Combined search criteria
Historical archive search
Federated history search where authorized
Local encrypted search indexes

Search operations must respect conversation, participant, archive, and federation permissions.

Search functionality should allow queries such as:

Messages containing a specified keyword
Messages from a specific participant
Messages involving a specific organization
Messages within a specified date range
Attachments associated with a conversation
Historical conversations involving a particular contact

Storage Module

The Storage Module manages local and remote storage used by communication nodes.

Features include:

Local storage
Remote storage
Federated storage
Active storage
Archive storage
Deep archive storage
Storage redundancy
Geographic redundancy
Storage capacity monitoring
Storage health monitoring
Encrypted storage
Storage migration
Storage replication
Archive restoration

Storage providers must not require access to plaintext communication content in order to provide storage services.

Storage Hosting Module

The Storage Hosting Module allows participating hosts to offer storage capacity to other network participants.

Features include:

Storage capacity offers
Storage provider profiles
Storage availability
Storage duration
Storage pricing
Storage redundancy options
Geographic storage options
Encrypted archive hosting
Storage contracts
Storage migration
Provider replacement
Storage health reporting

Hosts may independently provide storage without becoming the owner of the stored communication data.

Storage Contract Module

The Storage Contract Module manages one-time, fixed-term, and perpetual storage arrangements.

Supported arrangements include:

One-year storage
Multi-year storage
Five-year storage
Ten-year storage
Custom-duration storage
Perpetual storage

Storage contracts may define:

Capacity
Duration
Price
Number of copies
Geographic requirements
Availability requirements
Migration rights
Data ownership
Encryption requirements
Provider responsibilities

Perpetual storage should represent an arrangement without a scheduled expiration while remaining subject to the continued operation of the storage provider and the network’s migration mechanisms.

Storage Replication Module

The Storage Replication Module maintains multiple copies of encrypted archives.

Features include:

Multiple storage providers
Configurable replica count
Independent replica locations
Replica health monitoring
Replica integrity verification
Automatic replacement of unavailable replicas where configured
Archive recovery
Geographic redundancy
Provider redundancy

Storage Migration Module

The Storage Migration Module allows encrypted archives to move between storage providers.

Features include:

Provider replacement
Archive migration
Provider failure recovery
Contract expiration migration
Storage expansion
Storage reduction
Replica relocation
Integrity verification after migration
Migration status reporting

Migration must preserve encryption controls and data ownership.

AI Assistant Module

The AI Assistant Module provides assistance using information the participant is authorized to access.

Features include:

Communication Q&A
Archive Q&A
Conversation summarization
Project summarization
Historical information retrieval
Search assistance
Action-item extraction
Decision extraction
Commitment identification
Question identification
Topic identification
Conversation classification
Archive analysis

The AI assistant should operate against the participant’s authorized information rather than receiving unrestricted access to the node.

AI Permission Module

The AI Permission Module controls what information AI services can access.

Features include:

User-level AI permissions
Conversation-level AI permissions
Organization-level AI permissions
Archive-level AI permissions
Federated AI permissions
Local AI processing
Optional remote AI processing
AI access auditing
AI data handling policies

AI services must not bypass existing communication or archive permissions.

Federated AI Module

The Federated AI Module enables controlled AI interactions across independent nodes.

Features include:

Permissioned AI-to-AI requests
Cross-organization AI queries
Federated knowledge requests
Remote information retrieval
Explicit AI federation permissions
Organization-level AI policies
User-level AI policies
Conversation-level AI policies
Federated AI audit records

Remote AI access must require explicit authorization and must not provide unrestricted access to a remote archive.

Administration Module

The Administration Module provides host-level management.

Features include:

User management
Organization management
Group management
Identity policies
Conversation management
Federation management
Storage management
Archive management
AI management
Security policies
Retention policies
Privacy policies
Host configuration
Service configuration

Permission Module

The Permission Module provides granular access control throughout the system.

Permission scopes may include:

Host
Organization
User
Group
Conversation
Message
Attachment
Archive
Storage
Federation
AI
Device

Permissions must be independently enforceable across local and federated environments.

Privacy Policy Module

The Privacy Policy Module allows each host to determine how information is exposed.

Features include:

User discoverability controls
Organization discoverability controls
Directory visibility
Anonymous participation policies
External messaging policies
Federation visibility
Contact visibility
Archive visibility
AI visibility
Metadata exposure controls

Audit Module

The Audit Module maintains records of security-sensitive and administrative events.

Features include:

Administrative actions
Permission changes
Federation changes
Device authorization
Device revocation
Archive operations
Storage migrations
Storage changes
AI access events
Security events
Policy changes
Audit integrity verification

Data Portability Module

The Data Portability Module allows participants to retain control of their data when changing infrastructure.

Features include:

Conversation export
Archive export
Contact export
Identity export
Configuration export
Storage migration
Node migration
Archive restoration
Backup and recovery
Compatible data interchange

Network Directory Module

The Network Directory Module provides controlled discovery of participating network resources.

Features include:

Host discovery
Organization discovery
User discovery
Service discovery
Storage provider discovery
Federation capability discovery
Host capability information
Privacy-controlled directory visibility

Optional Plugin Modules

Optional plugins extend the core system without making their capabilities mandatory for every implementation.

Calendar Plugin

Features may include:

Shared calendars
Federated calendars
Event invitations
Scheduling
Availability information
Calendar-based conversation references
Calendar search

Task Management Plugin

Features may include:

Tasks
Assignments
Deadlines
Status tracking
Conversation-linked tasks
Federated task collaboration
AI-generated task suggestions

Document Collaboration Plugin

Features may include:

Shared documents
Federated document access
Document versioning
Document permissions
Encrypted document storage
Conversation-linked documents

File Storage Plugin

Features may include:

Persistent file storage
Federated file sharing
File versioning
File permissions
Encrypted files
Archive integration
Storage-provider integration

Voice Communication Plugin

Features may include:

Encrypted voice communication
Peer-to-peer voice sessions
Federated voice sessions
Group voice sessions
Voice recording where permitted
Voice archive integration

Video Communication Plugin

Features may include:

End-to-end encrypted video communication
Peer-to-peer video sessions
Federated video sessions
Group video sessions
Screen sharing
Recording where permitted

Workflow Plugin

Features may include:

Automated workflows
Event-triggered actions
Federation-triggered workflows
Communication-triggered workflows
Archive-triggered workflows
Administrative workflows
Approval workflows

External Service Integration Plugin

Features may include:

Third-party service connectors
API integrations
Federated service connections
Controlled data exchange
Permission-aware integrations
Integration auditing

Storage Marketplace Plugin

Features may include:

Storage provider discovery
Storage offers
Storage comparison
Storage contract management
Capacity purchasing
Provider reputation information
Migration management

AI Model Plugin

Features may include:

Local AI model integration
Alternative AI model providers
Model selection
Model-specific permissions
Local inference
Remote inference
AI model management

Analytics Plugin

Features may include:

Communication analytics
Organizational analytics
Storage analytics
Network analytics
Federation analytics
Archive analytics
Configurable privacy controls

Translation Plugin

Features may include:

Message translation
Conversation translation
Federated translation
Local translation models
Permission-aware translation

Notification Plugin

Features may include:

Advanced notifications
External notifications
Custom notification rules
Event-based notifications
Federation notifications
Storage notifications
Security notifications

Display and Interface

The interface should provide a unified view of local and authorized federated activity.

Primary interface areas should include:

Network
Contacts
Conversations
Organizations
Channels or groups
Archive
Search
AI Assistant
Storage
Federation
Notifications
Administration
Security
Devices

The interface should clearly distinguish:

Local participants
Federated participants
Local conversations
Federated conversations
Encrypted content
Archive content
Storage providers
AI access
Administrative information
Connection status
Permission status

Security and federation status should be visible without exposing sensitive cryptographic material.

Intended Network Model

A MeshUnion network consists of independently operated nodes.

A node may contain:

Users
Organizations
Conversations
Contacts
Archives
Storage
AI services
Federation relationships
Local policies

Nodes may communicate directly when permitted.

Nodes may also use independent storage providers while retaining ownership and encryption control over their archives.

A network does not require a central authority to operate communication between participating nodes.

Intended Economic Model

The core system is designed to operate without mandatory recurring platform charges.

Network participants may independently purchase infrastructure services from participating hosts.

Possible transactions include:

One-time storage purchases
Fixed-duration storage
Perpetual storage
Storage redundancy
Managed hosting
Infrastructure services
AI processing
Migration services
Backup services
Professional support

Infrastructure providers may establish their own pricing and service terms.

The communication network should not require users to purchase recurring access from a central platform provider.

Security Requirements

Implementations must prioritize:

End-to-end encryption
Participant-controlled keys
Secure authentication
Secure key management
Cryptographic identity verification
Permission enforcement
Encrypted storage
Secure federation
Secure synchronization
Archive integrity
Device authorization
Device revocation
Secure migration
Auditability

Implementations should use established cryptographic algorithms, protocols, and libraries rather than implementing cryptographic primitives independently.

Data Ownership Requirements

Implementations should ensure that:

Participants retain ownership of their communication data.
Storage providers do not become owners of stored archives.
Federation providers do not automatically gain access to unrelated communications.
Encryption keys remain under participant or authorized organizational control.
Archives remain portable.
Storage providers can be replaced.
Nodes can be migrated.
Communication history can be exported.
Authorized users can retrieve historical participation records.

Specification Branding License (SBL)

Standard

Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
Copyleft enforced for network deployments
Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- roxanneardary.com

Optional

Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/meshunion/

License & Notice Requirements

MeshUnion is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

By contributing to any Open Arsenal project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.

Please note the following:

All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
MeshUnion specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments. Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update notice.md.
When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.

For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.

Notice – MeshUnion

Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.

Contributors

This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.

Roxanne Ardary, roxanneardary.com – August 18, 2026
Created the repository for MeshUnion. Designed the federated, self-hosted communications architecture supporting end-to-end encryption, participant-controlled keys, persistent searchable archives, cross-federation connections, modular AI assistance, and independently provided one-time or perpetual storage.
[Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]

License – MeshUnion

This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

Key Points

You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.

For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.