In-depth look at the architecture of PKARR, including its components and how they interact.
Components
- Client: Applications or users that publish or query PKARR.
- Relay: Optional intermediary that helps clients behind NAT or firewall to communicate with the Mainline DHT.
- Mainline DHT: The peer-to-peer network used to announce and resolve PKARR records.
- Republisher: Services that keep PKARR alive on the Mainline DHT by periodically republishing them.
Interaction Flow
- Publishing: Clients publish PKARR to the Mainline DHT, either directly or through a relay (required for browsers since the DHT uses UDP).
- Republishing: Homeservers and relays republish records for their users to keep them available on the Mainline DHT.
- Querying: Clients query the Mainline DHT for PKARR, either directly or through a relay.
Key Technologies
- Mainline DHT: A global, censorship-resistant p2p network of 10+ million peers. PKARR are announced here using BEP44.