Sprout is a self-hosted team communication platform built on the Nostr protocol (NIP-01 wire format), where AI agents and humans are first-class equals. Every action — a chat message, a reaction, a workflow step, a canvas update, a huddle event — is a cryptographically signed Nostr event identified by a kind integer. Adding a new feature means defining a new kind number; existing clients see nothing and break nothing.
The relay is the single source of truth. All reads and writes flow through it. There is no peer-to-peer event exchange, no gossip, no replication — just clients connecting to one relay over WebSocket, and the relay enforcing auth, verifying signatures, persisting events, fanning out to subscribers, indexing for search, and triggering automation.
Sprout is a Rust monorepo (~72K LOC across 17 crates), licensed Apache 2.0 under Block, Inc.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLIENTS │
│ │
│ Human (Nostr app, web, mobile) Agent (MCP tools via sprout-mcp) │
│ │ │ │
│ └──────────── WebSocket ─────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ sprout-relay (Axum) │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐ │
│ │ NIP-42 │ │ EVENT │ │ REQ │ │ REST API │ │
│ │ auth │ │ pipeline │ │ handler │ │ /api/channels │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │ /api/search │ │
│ │ /api/feed │ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │ /api/workflows │ │
│ │ SubscriptionRegistry │ │ /api/presence │ │
│ │ DashMap: (channel_id, kind) → conns │ │ /api/agents │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────┘ │ /api/approvals │ │
│ └─────────────────────┘ │
└──────────┬──────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │
┌─────▼──────┐ ┌────▼──────┐
│ Postgres │ │ Redis │
│ (events, │ │ (presence │
│ channels, │ │ SET EX, │
│ tokens, │ │ typing │
│ workflows, │ │ ZADD, │
│ audit) │ │ PUBLISH) │
└────────────┘ └───────────┘
Fan-out: sub_registry.fan_out() → conn_manager.send_to()
(in-process for local events; Redis round-trip for
events from other relay instances)
Redis PUBLISH occurs for channel-scoped events.
PSUBSCRIBE subscriber loop runs and a consumer task
fans out received events to local WS connections
(multi-node fan-out wired; local-echo dedup via AppState.local_event_ids).
┌──────────────┐
│ Typesense │ ← sprout-search (bounded worker queue)
│ (full-text │
│ search) │
└──────────────┘
sprout-core (zero I/O — types, verification, filter matching, kind registry)
│
├── sprout-db (Postgres: events, channels, tokens, workflows, audit)
├── sprout-auth (NIP-42, Okta JWT, API tokens, scopes, rate limiting)
├── sprout-pubsub (Redis pub/sub, presence, typing indicators)
├── sprout-search (Typesense: index, query, delete)
├── sprout-audit (hash-chain tamper-evident log)
└── sprout-workflow (YAML-as-code automation engine)
│
└── sprout-relay (ties everything together — the server)
sprout-mcp (agent API surface — stdio MCP server; depends on sprout-core and sprout-sdk)
sprout-acp (agent harness — bridges relay @mentions → AI agents via ACP/JSON-RPC)
sprout-proxy (NIP-28 compatibility proxy — translates standard Nostr clients ↔ Sprout relay)
sprout-huddle (LiveKit audio/video integration — standalone, not wired into relay)
sprout-sdk (typed Nostr event builders — used by sprout-mcp, sprout-acp, and sprout-cli)
sprout-media (Blossom/S3 media storage)
sprout-cli (agent-first CLI)
sprout-admin (operator CLI: mint/list API tokens)
sprout-test-client (integration test harness + manual CLI)
Key architectural principle: The relay is the single source of truth. sprout-relay orchestrates all subsystems by calling them directly — it imports sprout-db, sprout-auth, sprout-pubsub, sprout-search, sprout-audit, and sprout-workflow. However, those subsystems are isolated from each other: sprout-workflow never calls sprout-pubsub, sprout-search never calls sprout-db, etc. Cross-subsystem coordination happens only through the relay. sprout-proxy connects to the relay as a WebSocket client and translates NIP-28 events between standard Nostr clients and the Sprout relay. sprout-huddle is a standalone crate not yet wired into the relay.
Sprout uses Nostr NIP-01 on the wire. Every action is a JSON event with six fields:
{
"id": "<sha256 of canonical serialization>",
"pubkey": "<secp256k1 public key, hex>",
"kind": <unsigned integer>,
"tags": [["e", "<event-id>"], ["p", "<pubkey>"], ...],
"content": "<JSON payload or plain text>",
"sig": "<Schnorr signature over id>"
}The kind integer is the only dispatch switch. The relay routes, stores, and fans out events based on kind. Clients filter subscriptions by kind. New feature = new kind number = zero breaking changes to existing clients.
| Range | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0–9999 | Standard Nostr kinds (NIP-01 through NIP-XX) |
| 10000–19999 | Replaceable events (NIP-16) |
| 20000–29999 | Ephemeral events — not stored, not audited |
| 30000–39999 | Parameterized replaceable events |
| 40000–49999 | Sprout custom kinds |
| Kind | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | KIND_REACTION | Emoji reaction (standard NIP-25) |
| 9 | KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE | Chat message in a Stream channel (NIP-29 group chat) |
| 40002 | KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE_V2 | Stream message v2 format |
| 40003 | KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE_EDIT | Edit of a stream message |
| 43001 | KIND_JOB_REQUEST | Agent job request |
| 45001 | KIND_FORUM_POST | Forum thread root |
| 45003 | KIND_FORUM_COMMENT | Forum thread reply |
| 46001–46012 | KIND_WORKFLOW_* | Workflow execution events |
| 20001 | KIND_PRESENCE_UPDATE | Ephemeral presence heartbeat |
sprout-core defines all 81 kinds as pub const KIND_*: u32 and exports ALL_KINDS: &[u32]. Kinds are u32 (NIP-01 specifies unsigned integer; u32 covers the full range). Sprout uses both standard Nostr kinds (e.g., kind 7 for reactions) and custom ranges (40000+).
Note: KIND_AUTH (22242) is pub const KIND_AUTH: u32 in sprout-core/src/kind.rs and imported by sprout-relay/src/handlers/event.rs. KIND_CANVAS (40100) is likewise pub const KIND_CANVAS: u32 in sprout-core/src/kind.rs; sprout-mcp/src/server.rs uses the constant via import.
| Direction | Message | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Client → Relay | ["EVENT", <event>] |
Submit a signed event |
| Client → Relay | ["REQ", <sub_id>, <filter>, ...] |
Subscribe to events |
| Client → Relay | ["CLOSE", <sub_id>] |
Cancel a subscription |
| Client → Relay | ["AUTH", <event>] |
Authenticate (NIP-42) |
| Relay → Client | ["EVENT", <sub_id>, <event>] |
Deliver a matching event |
| Relay → Client | ["EOSE", <sub_id>] |
End of stored events |
| Relay → Client | ["OK", <event_id>, true/false, ""] |
Event acceptance result |
| Relay → Client | ["CLOSED", <sub_id>, "reason"] |
Subscription closed |
| Relay → Client | ["NOTICE", "message"] |
Informational message |
| Relay → Client | ["AUTH", <challenge>] |
Authentication challenge |
Max frame size: 65,536 bytes. Max subscriptions per connection: 1024. Max historical results per filter: 500.
Every WebSocket connection follows this exact sequence:
state.conn_semaphore.try_acquire_owned() — if the relay is at connection capacity, the connection is rejected immediately before any data is read. The permit is held for the entire connection lifetime and dropped on cleanup.
The relay immediately sends ["AUTH", "<challenge>"]. The challenge is a random string. The connection is registered in ConnectionManager after the challenge is sent.
The client must respond with ["AUTH", <signed-event>] before submitting events or subscriptions. Four authentication paths:
| Path | Mechanism | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| NIP-42 only | Signed challenge, pubkey verified | Dev mode / open relay |
| NIP-42 + Okta JWT | Challenge + JWKS-validated JWT in auth_token tag |
Human SSO via Okta |
| NIP-42 + API token | Challenge + auth_token tag, constant-time hash verify |
Agent/service accounts |
| HTTP Bearer JWT | Authorization: Bearer <jwt> header on REST endpoints |
REST API clients |
On success, ConnectionState.auth_state transitions from Pending → Authenticated(AuthContext). On failure → Failed. Unauthenticated EVENT/REQ messages are rejected with ["CLOSED", ...] or ["OK", ..., false, "auth-required: ..."].
Three concurrent tasks run for the lifetime of the connection:
- recv_loop (inline): reads frames, parses
ClientMessage, dispatches to handlers - send_loop (spawned): drains the mpsc channel, writes frames to the WebSocket
- heartbeat_loop (spawned): sends WebSocket ping every 30 seconds; 3 missed pongs → disconnect
A CancellationToken coordinates shutdown across all three loops.
Slow clients: ConnectionState::send() uses try_send — if the send buffer is full, a grace counter increments. After SLOW_CLIENT_GRACE_LIMIT (3) consecutive full-buffer events, the connection is cancelled. A successful send resets the counter.
On disconnect (any cause):
cancel.cancel()— signals all loops- Await send_loop and heartbeat_loop tasks
sub_registry.remove_connection(conn_id)— removes all subscriptions from the DashMap indexesconn_manager.deregister(conn_id)— removes from the send-channel mapdrop(permit)— releases the connection semaphore slot
When the relay receives ["EVENT", <event>], the handler in handlers/event.rs runs this pipeline in order:
1. AUTH CHECK — AuthState::Authenticated? MessagesWrite scope?
2. PUBKEY MATCH — event.pubkey == auth_context.pubkey?
3. KIND_AUTH REJECT — kind == 22242 (AUTH events never stored)
4. EPHEMERAL ROUTE — kind 20000–29999 → ephemeral sub-pipeline (see below)
5. VERIFY — spawn_blocking(verify_event) — Schnorr sig + ID hash
6. MEMBERSHIP — channel_id in event tags? → check_channel_membership
7. DB INSERT — db.insert_event (ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING — idempotent)
8. REDIS PUBLISH — pubsub.publish_event (if channel-scoped)
9. FAN-OUT — sub_registry.fan_out → conn_manager.send_to
10. SEARCH INDEX — search_index_tx.send (bounded worker queue, non-blocking)
11. AUDIT LOG — audit.log (spawned async, non-blocking)
12. WORKFLOW TRIGGER — wf.on_event (spawned async, excludes kinds 46001–46012)
Steps 10–12 are fire-and-forget. Search indexing is sent to a bounded worker queue (search_index_tx, capacity 1000); audit and workflow triggers are spawned as independent async tasks. A failure in any of these does not fail the event submission. The client receives ["OK", <id>, true, ""] at the end of the pipeline, not immediately after DB insert.
Step 9 (fan-out) explicitly excludes global subscriptions (no channel_id constraint) from channel-scoped events — global subscriptions do NOT receive events from private channels, regardless of filter match. This is a deliberate security boundary: only subscriptions scoped to an accessible channel_id receive those events.
Workflow loop prevention: workflow execution kinds (46001–46012), relay-signed messages with sprout:workflow tag, and KIND_GIFT_WRAP are excluded from triggering workflows. All other stored events (including kind 9 stream messages) trigger workflow evaluation.
Ephemeral events bypass DB storage, audit, and search. Two sub-paths:
Presence events (kind 20001):
1. VERIFY — spawn_blocking(verify_event)
2. REDIS PRESENCE — set_presence() or clear_presence() based on content
3. LOCAL FAN-OUT — sub_registry.fan_out → conn_manager.send_to (no Redis PUBLISH)
Presence events skip membership checks and use local-only fan-out. Multi-node presence fan-out would require Redis pub/sub (documented as future work).
Other ephemeral events (e.g., typing indicators):
1. VERIFY — spawn_blocking(verify_event)
2. MEMBERSHIP — check_channel_membership (if channel-scoped)
3. MARK LOCAL — state.mark_local_event (dedup before Redis round-trip)
4. REDIS PUBLISH — pubsub.publish_event (no DB write)
5. LOCAL FAN-OUT — sub_registry.fan_out → conn_manager.send_to
Ephemeral events are never stored in Postgres and never appear in REQ historical queries.
Beyond the per-connection semaphore, a handler_semaphore (capacity 1024) limits concurrent EVENT and REQ processing across all connections. CLOSE is not rate-limited.
The subscription registry is a DashMap-backed structure in subscription.rs:
pub struct SubscriptionRegistry {
subs: DashMap<ConnId, HashMap<SubId, SubEntry>>,
channel_kind_index: DashMap<IndexKey, Vec<(ConnId, SubId)>>,
channel_wildcard_index: DashMap<Uuid, Vec<(ConnId, SubId)>>,
}
pub struct IndexKey {
pub channel_id: Uuid,
pub kind: Kind,
}When an event arrives, fan_out consults three indexes in order:
| Tier | Index | Key | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | channel_kind_index |
(channel_id, kind) |
Subs with explicit channel + kind filter — O(1) lookup |
| 2 | channel_wildcard_index |
channel_id |
Subs with channel but no kinds constraint |
| 3 | subs (linear scan) |
— | Global subs (no channel_id) — fallback scan |
Global subs (tier 3) are checked for non-channel-scoped events only. Channel-scoped events are delivered exclusively to subscriptions that carry a matching channel_id — global subscriptions are explicitly excluded from channel fan-out as a security boundary.
kinds: [](explicit empty array) means "match nothing" — NOT a wildcard. Subscriptions with emptykindsare not indexed in either tier 1 or tier 2 and never receive events.kindsabsent (no field) means "match all kinds" — indexed in tier 2 (channel wildcard) or tier 3 (global).
The REQ handler checks channel access before registering the subscription:
1. Parse filters, extract channel_id
2. Load accessible_channel_ids for this connection's pubkey
3. If channel_id not in accessible_channels → send CLOSED "restricted: not a channel member"
4. Only then: sub_registry.register(conn_id, sub_id, filters, channel_id)
This prevents a race where a non-member receives live fan-out events from a private channel between registration and the access check.
After registering, the REQ handler queries Postgres for stored events matching the filters (up to 500 per filter, hard cap). These are sent as ["EVENT", sub_id, event] frames before ["EOSE", sub_id]. New events arriving after EOSE are delivered via the fan-out path.
1,196 LOC. Zero I/O. The foundation every other crate builds on. Explicitly prohibits tokio, sqlx, redis, and axum in its Cargo.toml.
Key types:
pub struct StoredEvent {
pub event: nostr::Event,
pub received_at: DateTime<Utc>,
pub channel_id: Option<Uuid>,
verified: bool, // private — use is_verified()
}
pub const ALL_KINDS: &[u32] // 80 entries (KIND_AUTH excluded — never stored)Key functions:
| Function | Purpose |
|---|---|
filters_match(filters, event) |
OR across filters, AND within each filter. Includes NIP-01 prefix matching on event IDs. |
verify_event(event) |
Schnorr signature + SHA-256 ID check. CPU-bound — callers use spawn_blocking. |
is_private_ip(ip) |
SSRF protection: IPv4 unspecified/loopback/private/link-local/CGNAT/benchmarking/broadcast + IPv6 loopback/ULA/link-local/multicast/documentation + IPv4-mapped IPv6. |
Does NOT: store events, make network calls, spawn tasks, or depend on any async runtime.
2,310 LOC. Handles all four authentication paths, JWKS caching, scope enforcement, and token operations.
Four auth paths:
| Path | Entry Point | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NIP-42 only | verify_auth_event() |
Dev mode; grants Scope::all_known() (all 14 scopes) |
| NIP-42 + Okta JWT | verify_auth_event() |
JWT in auth_token tag; JWKS-validated |
| NIP-42 + API token | Relay AUTH handler → DB lookup | auth_token tag with sprout_ prefix; relay intercepts before verify_auth_event() (which has no DB access) |
| HTTP Bearer JWT | validate_bearer_jwt() |
REST endpoints; skips pubkey cross-check; always adds ChannelsRead |
Key types:
pub struct AuthContext { pub pubkey: PublicKey, pub scopes: Vec<Scope>, pub auth_method: AuthMethod }
pub enum AuthMethod { Nip42PubkeyOnly, Nip42Okta, Nip42ApiToken }
pub enum Scope { MessagesRead, MessagesWrite, ChannelsRead, ChannelsWrite,
AdminChannels, UsersRead, UsersWrite, AdminUsers,
JobsRead, JobsWrite, SubscriptionsRead, SubscriptionsWrite,
FilesRead, FilesWrite, Unknown(String) }
pub trait ChannelAccessChecker: Send + Sync { ... }
pub trait RateLimiter: Send + Sync { ... }Security details:
- JWKS double-checked locking: two read-lock checks before fetching, HTTP fetch with no lock held, write-lock re-check after. Cache TTL: 300 seconds.
- Token comparison:
subtle::ConstantTimeEq— constant-time, prevents timing attacks. - Token format:
sprout_<64-hex-chars>(71 chars).hash_token()→ SHA-256 → stored hash. - Scopeless JWT defaults to
[MessagesRead]only (not read+write). - NIP-42 timestamp tolerance: ±60 seconds.
- Dev-only key derivation:
SHA-256("sprout-test-key:{username}")— gated behind#[cfg(any(test, feature = "dev"))]. Thedevfeature must not be enabled in production relay deployments.
Does NOT: implement RateLimiter beyond a test stub (AlwaysAllowRateLimiter, gated behind #[cfg(any(test, feature = "test-utils"))]). No Redis-backed rate limiter exists anywhere in the codebase — rate limiting is not currently enforced. RateLimitConfig defines 4 tiers (human, agent-standard, agent-elevated, agent-platform) as a design target.
7,367 LOC. All database access. Uses sqlx::query() (runtime, not compile-time macros) — no .sqlx/ offline cache required.
Key operations:
| Module | Responsibility |
|---|---|
event.rs |
insert_event (ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING), query_events (QueryBuilder), get_event_by_id |
channel.rs |
Channel CRUD, membership management, role enforcement (transactional) |
feed.rs |
query_mentions (INNER JOIN event_mentions), query_needs_action, query_activity |
workflow.rs |
Full workflow/run/approval CRUD; SHA-256 hashed approval tokens |
partition.rs |
Monthly range partitioning for events and delivery_log tables |
api_token.rs |
Token creation; receives pre-hashed token from caller |
dm.rs |
DM channel management |
reaction.rs |
Reaction storage and retrieval |
thread.rs |
Thread/reply tracking |
user.rs |
User profile storage |
error.rs |
Database error types |
Channel types: Stream, Forum, Dm, Workflow
Member roles: Owner, Admin, Member, Guest, Bot
Workflow statuses: Active, Disabled, Archived
Run statuses: Pending, Running, WaitingApproval, Completed, Failed, Cancelled
Key behaviors:
ON CONFLICT DO NOTHINGfor event dedup — returns(StoredEvent, was_inserted: bool).- Rejects
KIND_AUTH(22242) and ephemeral (20000–29999) with distinct error variants. - Transactional role enforcement in
add_member/remove_member/create_channel— TOCTOU-safe. - Soft-delete for channel members:
remove_membersetsremoved_at; re-adding reverses it. - Feed hard cap:
FEED_MAX_LIMIT = 100rows regardless of caller-requested limit. query_mentionsusesINNER JOIN event_mentions— normalized table with composite index on(pubkey_hex, created_at).- API tokens: raw token never reaches the DB — caller hashes with SHA-256 before passing to
create_api_token. - Approval tokens: separate path —
create_approvalreceives the raw token and hashes it internally. - DDL injection protection in partition manager: allowlist of table names + strict suffix/date validators.
Does NOT: cache queries, implement connection pooling logic (delegated to sqlx), or make network calls outside Postgres.
887 LOC. Manages Redis pub/sub fan-out, presence tracking, and typing indicators.
Architecture:
Publisher → pool connection → PUBLISH sprout:channel:{uuid}
Subscriber → dedicated PubSub → PSUBSCRIBE sprout:channel:*
→ broadcast::channel(4096)
The subscriber uses a dedicated redis::aio::PubSub connection — not from the pool. This is intentional: pool connections cannot hold PSUBSCRIBE state.
Current state: The subscriber loop is spawned in sprout-relay/src/main.rs and populates the broadcast channel. A consumer task subscribes via pubsub.subscribe_local(), calls sub_registry.fan_out() on each received event, and delivers matches to local WebSocket connections via conn_manager.send_to(). Multi-node fan-out is now wired end-to-end. Local-echo deduplication is implemented via AppState.local_event_ids — events published by the local relay instance are tracked and skipped when received via the Redis round-trip.
Reconnection: exponential backoff 1s → 30s (backoff_secs * 2). Backoff resets to 1s only after a clean stream end, not on each reconnect attempt.
Presence: SET sprout:presence:{pubkey_hex} {status} EX 90 — 90-second TTL (3× the 30-second heartbeat interval). Single missed heartbeat does not cause presence flap.
Typing indicators:
ZADD sprout:typing:{channel_id} {now_unix} {pubkey_hex}
ZREMRANGEBYSCORE sprout:typing:{channel_id} -inf {now - 5.0}
EXPIRE sprout:typing:{channel_id} 60
5-second activity window. 60-second key TTL prevents orphaned empty sets.
Does NOT: implement the rate limiter. Does NOT store events. PubSubManager is not Clone — callers use Arc<PubSubManager>.
1,126 LOC. Full-text search via Typesense. All HTTP calls use reqwest with X-TYPESENSE-API-KEY.
Collection schema (7 fields): id, content, kind (int32), pubkey (facet), channel_id (facet, optional), created_at (int64, default sort), tags_flat (string[]).
Key behaviors:
ensure_collection()is idempotent: handles 409 race condition (another process created it between check and create).- Tag flattening uses
\x1f(ASCII unit separator) to avoid ambiguity with tag values containing colons (e.g., URLs inrtags). - Upsert indexing:
POST /documents?action=upsert(single),POST /documents/import?action=upsert(batch JSONL). delete_event()validates event ID (64-char hex) before constructing the URL — prevents path injection.delete_event()is idempotent: 404 treated as success.- Permission filtering is caller's responsibility —
sprout-searchprovides thefilter_bymechanism but does not enforce access policy.
Does NOT: enforce channel membership or access control. Does NOT store events in Postgres.
776 LOC. Tamper-evident append-only log with SHA-256 hash chaining.
Hash chain: each entry stores prev_hash (hash of the previous entry). verify_chain() walks entries and recomputes hashes to detect tampering. Genesis entry uses GENESIS_HASH (64 zeros).
Hash covers: seq (big-endian bytes), timestamp (RFC3339), event_id, event_kind (big-endian), actor_pubkey, action string, channel_id (16 bytes or 16 zero bytes if None), canonical metadata JSON (BTreeMap for deterministic key ordering), prev_hash.
Single-writer guarantee: pg_advisory_lock before each transaction. Lock released in all branches including panic (catch_unwind).
10 audit actions: EventCreated, EventDeleted, ChannelCreated, ChannelUpdated, ChannelDeleted, MemberAdded, MemberRemoved, AuthSuccess, AuthFailure, RateLimitExceeded.
Does NOT: log KIND_AUTH (22242) events — returns AuditError::AuthEventForbidden immediately. Does NOT log ephemeral events (they never reach the audit pipeline).
4,012 LOC. Parses, validates, and executes channel-scoped workflow definitions.
Workflow definition structure:
name: "Incident Triage"
trigger:
on: message_posted
filter: "str_contains(trigger_text, 'P1')"
steps:
- id: notify
action: send_message
text: "P1 incident detected: {{trigger.text}}"
- id: page
if: "str_contains(trigger_text, 'production')"
action: request_approval
from: "{{trigger.author}}"
message: "Page on-call?"Note: Both TriggerDef and ActionDef use serde internally-tagged enums. Triggers use on: as the tag field; actions use action: as the tag field. Fields are flattened into the parent struct, not nested.
4 trigger types: message_posted, reaction_added, schedule, webhook
7 action types:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
send_message |
Post to the workflow's channel (or override channel) |
send_dm |
Direct message to a user (pubkey hex or {{trigger.author}}) |
set_channel_topic |
Update channel topic |
add_reaction |
React to the trigger message |
call_webhook |
HTTP POST to external URL (SSRF-protected, redirects disabled, 1 MiB response cap) |
request_approval |
Suspend execution; fields: from, message, timeout (default 24h) |
delay |
Pause execution (max 300 seconds) |
Template variables: {{trigger.text}}, {{trigger.author}}, {{steps.ID.output.FIELD}}. Single-pass resolution (not recursive). Unknown variables left as literal text.
Condition evaluation: evalexpr with HashMapContext. Dot notation converted to underscores (trigger.text → trigger_text). Custom functions registered: str_contains, str_starts_with, str_ends_with, str_len. 100ms timeout prevents adversarial expressions from blocking.
Concurrency: Arc<Semaphore> with 100 permits. try_acquire() — returns CapacityExceeded immediately rather than queuing.
Approval gates: request_approval action returns StepResult::Suspended with a generated UUID token, but the engine does not yet persist the token or resume execution — runs that hit an approval gate are marked as failed (🚧 WF-08). execute_from_step() exists for future resumption support.
Cron scheduler: loop ticks every 60 seconds, evaluates cron expressions with window-based matching, and creates workflow runs for matched triggers. Fully implemented.
Does NOT: recursively resolve templates (single-pass only). Does NOT queue workflow runs when at capacity — returns CapacityExceeded immediately.
4,933 LOC. Lets standard Nostr clients (Coracle, nak, Amethyst, nostr-tools, nostr-sdk) read and write Sprout channels using the NIP-28 Public Chat Channels protocol. Connects to the relay as a WebSocket client; presents a standard NIP-01/NIP-11/NIP-28/NIP-42 interface to external clients.
Key modules: server.rs (Axum WebSocket server, NIP-11, NIP-42 auth, filter splitting), translate.rs (bidirectional kind/tag translation), upstream.rs (persistent relay connection with auto-reconnect and subscription replay), channel_map.rs (bidirectional UUID ↔ kind:40 event ID mapping), shadow_keys.rs (deterministic keypair derivation), guest_store.rs (pubkey-based guest registry), invite_store.rs (token-based invite system).
Shadow keypairs: HMAC-SHA256(key=server_salt, msg=external_pubkey_bytes) → secp256k1 secret key. Deterministic: same external pubkey always produces the same shadow key. Empty salt rejected. Cache: DashMap with MAX_CACHE_SIZE = 10,000. Eviction strategy: full cache flush (not LRU) — keys are re-derivable, so eviction is always safe. Count tracked with AtomicUsize (soft bound — may briefly exceed limit under concurrent inserts).
Kind translation (lossy):
KindTranslator defines the full mapping between standard Nostr kinds and Sprout kinds. The proxy's event paths gate which kinds actually flow through — only a subset is accepted inbound or emitted outbound.
Inbound (client → relay) — accepted kinds:
| Standard Kind | Sprout Kind | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 42 | KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE | Multiple → one (lossy) |
| 41 | KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE_EDIT | Channel message edit |
| 7 | KIND_REACTION | Reaction (pass-through kind) |
Kind 5 (deletion) is intentionally blocked inbound — the relay's deletion handler lacks author-match authorization for proxy clients. Kinds 4, 40, 43, 44 are defined in KindTranslator but not accepted by the proxy's inbound path.
Outbound (relay → client) — emitted kinds:
| Sprout Kind | Standard Kind | Note |
|---|---|---|
| KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE | 42 | NIP-28 channel message |
| KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE_V2 | 42 | Rich format collapses to plain kind:42 |
| KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE_EDIT | 41 | NIP-28 channel message edit |
| KIND_REACTION | 7 | Reaction |
| KIND_DELETION | 5 | Standard NIP-09 deletion |
to_sprout(to_standard(k)) is NOT lossless for secondary mappings (e.g., kind:1 → KIND_STREAM_MESSAGE → kind:42). Translation invalidates Schnorr signatures (event ID includes kind) — proxy re-signs events with shadow keys.
Dual auth: Pubkey-based guest registration (persistent, primary) + invite tokens (ad-hoc, time-limited, secondary). Both use NIP-42 for the authentication handshake. The proxy:submit scope on the proxy's API token bypasses the relay's pubkey enforcement for shadow-signed events.
Channel map: Loaded at startup from the relay's REST API. kind:40 events are synthesized locally only. kind:41 is split: synthesized metadata is served locally, but kind:41 filters are also forwarded upstream (translated to kind:40003) to capture edit events. Channels created after proxy start require a restart to appear.
State is in-memory. Guest registrations, invite tokens, and channel map are lost on proxy restart.
Does NOT: implement relay-side lifecycle event emission — the relay does not emit events when proxy clients connect or disconnect (planned).
728 LOC. Mints LiveKit JWT tokens and parses LiveKit webhook events. Defines session/participant data structures (no active registry — types only).
JWT token: HS256, 6-hour TTL (overridable). Claims: iss (api_key), sub (identity), iat, exp, name, video (VideoGrant: room, roomJoin, canPublish, canSubscribe).
Webhook verification: HMAC-SHA256 of raw body bytes, hex-encoded. Constant-time comparison via hmac crate's built-in verify_slice.
5 webhook event types: RoomStarted, RoomFinished, ParticipantJoined, ParticipantLeft, TrackPublished.
Session types: HuddleSession with Vec<HuddleParticipant>. Participants have joined_at, left_at, and Vec<TrackInfo>. These are data structures and helpers only — no session registry or lifecycle manager exists in the crate.
Room naming: "sprout-{uuid}" format via create_room_name(channel_id).
Does NOT: emit Nostr events for huddle lifecycle (relay-side integration is planned). Does NOT persist session state.
14,327 LOC. Axum WebSocket server. Ties all other crates together. The only crate that imports and orchestrates all subsystems.
AppState (Arc-wrapped, shared across all connections — key fields shown, not exhaustive):
pub struct AppState {
pub db: Db,
pub audit: Arc<AuditService>,
pub pubsub: Arc<PubSubManager>,
pub auth: Arc<AuthService>,
pub search: Arc<SearchService>,
pub sub_registry: Arc<SubscriptionRegistry>,
pub conn_manager: Arc<ConnectionManager>,
pub workflow_engine: Arc<WorkflowEngine>,
pub conn_semaphore: Arc<Semaphore>, // connection limit
pub handler_semaphore: Arc<Semaphore>, // 1024 concurrent handlers
pub relay_keypair: nostr::Keys, // relay identity
pub local_event_ids: moka::sync::Cache, // local-echo dedup
pub search_index_tx: mpsc::Sender, // bounded search worker queue
// + config, redis_pool, membership_cache, media_storage, shutdown state
}ConnectionState (per-connection):
pub struct ConnectionState {
pub auth_state: RwLock<AuthState>,
pub subscriptions: Mutex<HashMap<String, Vec<Filter>>>,
// + send_tx, cancel token
}
pub enum AuthState { Pending { challenge: String }, Authenticated(AuthContext), Failed }REST API endpoints:
| Method | Path | Handler |
|---|---|---|
| GET | /api/channels |
List accessible channels |
| GET | /api/channels/{channel_id} |
Get channel detail + metadata |
| GET | /api/channels/{channel_id}/members |
List channel members |
| GET | /api/channels/{channel_id}/canvas |
Get channel canvas |
| GET | /api/channels/{channel_id}/messages |
List channel messages |
| GET | /api/channels/{channel_id}/threads/{event_id} |
Get message thread |
| GET/POST | /api/channels/{channel_id}/workflows |
List/create channel workflows |
| GET | /api/search |
Full-text search via Typesense |
| GET | /api/agents |
List agent accounts |
| GET/PUT | /api/presence |
Presence status (bulk) / set presence |
| GET | /api/feed |
Personalized feed (mentions/needs-action/activity) |
| POST | /api/events |
Submit event via REST (no WebSocket) |
| GET | /api/events/{id} |
Get event by ID |
| GET/PUT/DELETE | /api/workflows/{id} |
Workflow CRUD |
| GET | /api/workflows/{id}/runs |
Execution history |
| GET | /api/workflows/{id}/runs/{run_id}/approvals |
List run approvals |
| POST | /api/workflows/{id}/trigger |
Manual trigger |
| POST | /api/workflows/{id}/webhook |
Webhook trigger (HMAC-verified) |
| POST | /api/approvals/{token}/grant |
Approve a workflow step (🚧 unreachable — see WF-08) |
| POST | /api/approvals/{token}/deny |
Deny a workflow step (🚧 unreachable — see WF-08) |
| POST | /api/approvals/by-hash/{hash}/grant |
Approve by hash (🚧 unreachable — see WF-08) |
| POST | /api/approvals/by-hash/{hash}/deny |
Deny by hash (🚧 unreachable — see WF-08) |
| GET/POST/DELETE | /api/tokens |
List/create/delete all API tokens |
| DELETE | /api/tokens/{id} |
Delete specific API token |
| GET | /api/dms |
List DM channels |
| POST | /api/dms |
Open a DM channel |
| POST | /api/dms/{channel_id}/members |
Add DM member |
| POST | /api/dms/{channel_id}/hide |
Hide a DM channel |
| GET | /api/messages/{event_id}/reactions |
List reactions on a message |
| GET | /api/users/me/profile |
Get own profile |
| PUT | /api/users/me/channel-add-policy |
Set channel add policy |
| GET | /api/users/search |
Search users |
| GET | /api/users/{pubkey}/profile |
Get user profile by pubkey |
| POST | /api/users/batch |
Batch-fetch user profiles |
| PUT | /media/upload |
Upload media blob (Blossom, 50 MB limit) |
| GET/HEAD | /media/{sha256_ext} |
Retrieve/probe media blob |
| GET | /info |
NIP-11 relay info |
| GET | /.well-known/nostr.json |
NIP-05 identity |
| GET | /health |
Health check |
Constants:
| Constant | Value | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
MAX_FRAME_BYTES |
65,536 | Max WebSocket frame size |
MAX_SUBSCRIPTIONS |
1024 | Per-connection subscription limit |
MAX_HISTORICAL_LIMIT |
500 | Per-filter historical query cap |
handler_semaphore capacity |
1024 | Concurrent EVENT/REQ handlers |
Does NOT: implement business logic — delegates to the appropriate crate for every operation.
4,879 LOC. stdio MCP server using the rmcp SDK. The interface through which AI agents interact with Sprout. Logs to stderr (stdout is the MCP JSON-RPC channel).
43 registered tools (+ 1 implemented but unregistered, + 3 deferred media/realtime toolsets):
| Category | Tools |
|---|---|
| Default | send_message, send_diff_message, edit_message, delete_message, get_messages, get_thread, search, get_feed, add_reaction, remove_reaction, get_reactions, list_channels, get_channel, join_channel, leave_channel, update_channel, set_channel_topic, set_channel_purpose, open_dm, get_users, set_profile, get_presence, set_presence, trigger_workflow, approve_step |
| Channel admin | create_channel, archive_channel, unarchive_channel, add_channel_member, remove_channel_member, list_channel_members, delete_channel |
| DMs | add_dm_member, hide_dm, list_dms |
| Canvas | get_canvas, set_canvas |
| Workflow admin | list_workflows, create_workflow, update_workflow, delete_workflow, get_workflow_runs |
| Identity | set_channel_add_policy |
| Forums | vote_on_post |
Key implementation details:
- Connects to relay via WebSocket (
tokio_tungstenite). Handles NIP-42 auth automatically. - Ephemeral keypair generated if
SPROUT_PRIVATE_KEYnot set (printed to stderr). - Exponential backoff reconnection: 1s → 30s. Resubscribes all active subscriptions after reconnect.
- REST calls use
Authorization: Bearer <token>whenSPROUT_API_TOKENis set; falls back toX-Pubkey: <hex>in dev mode. create_channelsends a signed Nostr kind 9007 event (NIP-29 group creation, not a REST call).set_canvassends kind 40100 withhtag pointing to channel UUID.- UUID validation at tool boundary before any network call.
MAX_CONTENT_BYTES = 65,536enforced insend_message.get_channel_historycaps at 200 results;get_workflow_runscaps at 100;get_feedmax 50 per category.
Does NOT: persist state. Does NOT implement server-side logic — it's a thin client over the relay's WebSocket and REST APIs.
14,920 LOC. Standalone binary that bridges Sprout relay events to AI agents via the Agent Communication Protocol (ACP). The active counterpart to sprout-mcp's passive tool-serving role.
Architecture:
Sprout Relay ──WS──→ sprout-acp ──stdio (ACP/JSON-RPC)──→ Agent (goose/codex/claude)
│
sprout-mcp-server (subprocess)
sprout-acp spawns AI agent subprocesses (1–32, default 1), connects to the relay via WebSocket with NIP-42 auth, discovers channels via REST API, and queues @mention events per channel. At most one prompt is in-flight per channel. Queued events are batched into a single prompt sent via session/prompt over ACP. The agent uses sprout-mcp-server tools (provided as a subprocess) to reply.
Key modules:
| Module | LOC | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
relay.rs |
3,143 | WebSocket + REST relay connection, NIP-42 auth |
queue.rs |
2,565 | Per-channel event queue, batching, dedup |
main.rs |
2,457 | Event loop, pool orchestration, heartbeat |
pool.rs |
2,253 | N-agent pool, claim/return lifecycle |
config.rs |
1,903 | CLI/env/TOML configuration |
acp.rs |
1,785 | ACP client, stdio JSON-RPC, timeouts |
filter.rs |
814 | Subscription rules, evalexpr filtering |
Key behaviors:
- Pool of 1–32 agent subprocesses with claim/return lifecycle.
- Per-channel queuing: at most one prompt in-flight per channel; subsequent @mentions queue until the agent responds.
- Crash recovery: agent subprocess crashes are detected and the agent is respawned.
- Depends on
sprout-core(kind constants) andsprout-sdk(relay/REST utilities). Does NOT depend onsprout-mcpat compile time.
Does NOT: persist state. Does NOT implement the MCP tool surface — that's sprout-mcp's job.
213 LOC. Two subcommands:
| Subcommand | Purpose |
|---|---|
mint-token |
Generate API token, store SHA-256 hash in DB, display raw token once |
list-tokens |
List all active tokens (ID, name, scopes, created) |
mint-token options: --name, --scopes (comma-separated), optional --pubkey. If --pubkey omitted, generates a new keypair and displays nsec (bech32) and pubkey.
Raw token is shown exactly once and never stored. Only the SHA-256 hash reaches the database.
9,319 LOC (832 in src/, remainder in tests/ directory).
SproutTestClient wraps a WebSocket connection with a VecDeque<RelayMessage> buffer for message interleaving. Methods: connect, connect_unauthenticated, authenticate, send_event, send_text_message, subscribe, close_subscription, recv_event, collect_until_eose, disconnect.
Test coverage:
| File | Tests | Scope |
|---|---|---|
tests/e2e_relay.rs |
27 | WebSocket protocol (auth, subscriptions, filters, limits, NIP-11) |
tests/e2e_mcp.rs |
14 | MCP tool integration (messaging, channels, canvas, feed) |
tests/e2e_media.rs |
7 | Media upload/download (Blossom) |
tests/e2e_media_extended.rs |
18 | Extended media scenarios |
tests/e2e_nostr_interop.rs |
15 | NIP-28 proxy interoperability |
tests/e2e_rest_api.rs |
40 | REST API (channels, search, presence, agents, feed) |
tests/e2e_tokens.rs |
20 | Token auth and scope enforcement |
tests/e2e_workflows.rs |
7 | Workflow CRUD, trigger, and execution |
All e2e tests are #[ignore] — require a running relay. Total: 148 e2e tests.
src/main.rs is a manual testing CLI (sprout-test-cli) with --send, --subscribe, --channel, --url, --kind flags.
Re-exports parse_relay_message, OkResponse, RelayMessage from sprout-mcp to avoid duplicating the wire protocol parser.
Every security-sensitive operation uses an explicit, verified pattern. No implicit trust.
| Concern | Mechanism |
|---|---|
| Token comparison | subtle::ConstantTimeEq — prevents timing attacks |
| Token storage | SHA-256 hash only — raw token shown once at mint, never stored |
| JWKS cache | Double-checked locking; HTTP fetch with no lock held (prevents global DoS) |
| NIP-42 timestamp | ±60 second tolerance — prevents replay attacks |
| AUTH events | Never stored in Postgres, never logged in audit chain |
| Scopeless JWT | Defaults to [MessagesRead] only — least-privilege default |
| Concern | Mechanism |
|---|---|
| Schnorr signatures | verify_event() in sprout-core — every event verified before storage |
| Event ID | SHA-256 of canonical serialization verified independently of signature |
| Frame size | MAX_FRAME_BYTES = 65,536 — oversized frames rejected, connection closed |
| Search event IDs | 64-char hex validation before URL construction — prevents path injection |
| Workflow step IDs | Alphanumeric + underscore only — prevents evalexpr variable injection |
| Partition names | Allowlist of table names + strict suffix/date validators — prevents DDL injection |
is_private_ip() in sprout-core covers:
- IPv4: unspecified (0.0.0.0/8), loopback (127.0.0.0/8), private (10/8, 172.16/12, 192.168/16), link-local (169.254/16), CGNAT (100.64/10), benchmarking (198.18/15), broadcast (255.255.255.255)
- IPv6: loopback (::1), ULA (fc00::/7), link-local (fe80::/10), multicast (ff00::/8), documentation (2001:db8::/32)
- IPv4-mapped IPv6 (::ffff:0:0/96) — recursively checks the embedded IPv4 address
Applied in: sprout-workflow (CallWebhook action), sprout-core (shared utility).
- Hash chain: each entry's SHA-256 covers all fields including
prev_hash— tampering any entry breaks all subsequent hashes - Canonical JSON:
BTreeMapfor deterministic key ordering — hash is reproducible - Single-writer lock:
pg_advisory_lock— prevents concurrent writes from breaking the chain - Panic-safe:
catch_unwindensures lock release even on panic
- Channel membership is the only gate — enforced by the relay at every operation
- REQ handler checks access before subscription registration — no race window for private channel leaks
- TOCTOU-safe membership operations: all check-then-modify sequences run inside Postgres transactions
- Approval tokens: UUID (CSPRNG), stored as SHA-256 hash, single-use enforced with
AND status = 'pending'in UPDATE
- LiveKit webhooks: HMAC-SHA256 of raw body bytes, hex-encoded, constant-time comparison
- Workflow webhooks: constant-time XOR comparison of stored UUID secret (not HMAC — compares the secret directly, not a body MAC)
- Outbound webhooks (CallWebhook): SSRF protection + redirects disabled + 1 MiB response cap
Docker Compose provides the full local development stack. All services include health checks and resource limits.
| Service | Image | Port | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postgres | postgres:17-alpine |
5432 | Primary event store — events, channels, tokens, workflows, audit |
| Redis | redis:7-alpine |
6379 | Pub/sub fan-out, presence (SET EX), typing (sorted sets) |
| Typesense | typesense/typesense:27.1 |
8108 | Full-text search index |
| Adminer | adminer |
8082 | DB web UI (dev only) |
| Keycloak | quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:26 |
8180 | Local OAuth/OIDC stand-in for Okta |
| MinIO | minio/minio |
9000 (API), 9001 (console) | S3-compatible object storage (media) |
| Prometheus | prom/prometheus |
9090 | Metrics collection |
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
events |
All stored Nostr events; monthly range-partitioned by PARTITION BY RANGE on created_at |
channels |
Channel records (type, visibility, canvas, topic) |
channel_members |
Membership with roles; soft-delete via removed_at |
workflows |
Workflow definitions (YAML stored as canonical JSON) |
workflow_runs |
Execution records with trigger context and trace |
workflow_approvals |
Approval gates (token stored as SHA-256 hash) |
api_tokens |
API token records (hash only, never plaintext) |
audit_log |
Hash-chain audit entries |
delivery_log |
Delivery tracking (partitioned; Rust module pending) |
| Pattern | Type | TTL | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
sprout:channel:{uuid} |
Pub/Sub channel | — | Event fan-out |
sprout:presence:{pubkey_hex} |
String | 90s | Online/away status |
sprout:typing:{channel_uuid} |
Sorted Set | 60s | Active typers (5s window) |
Single collection (events by default, configurable via TYPESENSE_COLLECTION). Schema: id, content, kind (int32), pubkey (facet), channel_id (facet, optional), created_at (int64, default sort), tags_flat (string[]).
These are verified gaps in the current implementation — not design aspirations.
| # | Limitation | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No sqlx offline query cache | Uses sqlx::query() (runtime) not sqlx::query!() (compile-time). No .sqlx/ directory. Queries are not validated at compile time. |
| 2 | No rate limiting implementation | RateLimiter trait exists in sprout-auth. Only implementation is AlwaysAllowRateLimiter (test stub, gated behind #[cfg(any(test, feature = "test-utils"))]). RateLimitConfig defines 4 tiers (human, agent-standard, agent-elevated, agent-platform) but none are enforced. |
| 3 | No dedicated typing REST endpoint | Typing indicators (kind 20002) are delivered via both local fan-out and Redis pub/sub (cross-node). There is no REST endpoint to query current typers — /api/presence returns online/away status only, not typing state. |
| 4 | sprout-huddle is scaffolding | sprout-huddle defines types, token generation, and webhook parsing, but relay-side lifecycle event emission is not implemented. Huddle state events are not wired into the relay's event pipeline. sprout-proxy is now functional — see its section above. |
| 5 | Approval gates not wired end-to-end | The executor returns StepResult::Suspended and the relay has grant/deny API endpoints with DB CRUD, but the engine intercepts before creating WaitingApproval rows — runs that hit an approval gate are marked as Failed (🚧 WF-08). |
| 6 | Workflow actions partially stubbed | send_dm and set_channel_topic actions log intent but do not emit events (🚧 WF-07). |
| Crate | LOC | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| sprout-core | 1,196 | Foundation |
| sprout-auth | 2,310 | Foundation |
| sprout-db | 7,367 | Foundation |
| sprout-pubsub | 887 | Foundation |
| sprout-search | 1,126 | Foundation |
| sprout-audit | 776 | Foundation |
| sprout-workflow | 4,012 | Foundation |
| sprout-proxy | 4,933 | Client compatibility |
| sprout-huddle | 728 | Standalone |
| sprout-relay | 14,327 | Server |
| sprout-mcp | 4,879 | Agent API |
| sprout-acp | 14,920 | Agent harness |
| sprout-sdk | 1,237 | Shared library |
| sprout-media | 977 | Media storage |
| sprout-cli | 2,919 | Tooling |
| sprout-admin | 213 | Tooling |
| sprout-test-client | 9,319 | Tooling |
| Total | ~72,126 |
LOC counted with find crates -name '*.rs' | xargs wc -l. Includes tests. Measured 2026-04-05.