Paul HittandClaude Opus 4.8
93674d249c
Found by finally running the banner I shipped in 0.3 instead of trusting that
it compiled.
`blocked()` read `user_id` from rows the relay emits as `{id, name, slug}` —
the buddy-list shape, not the `user_id` shape the §8 routes use. It threw
`No value for user_id`. Tapping Block worked on the server and then showed the
user an error, which on a safety action is the worst outcome available: it
succeeded and the screen said otherwise.
The reason it survived is the reason it was dangerous. The block list is empty
until somebody blocks their first person, so the map never ran and every test
passed. The first block anybody performed broke it.
🔴 And it did not stop at a message. `adoptStrangers` read the block list with
`.getOrDefault(emptyList())`, so the throw became "nobody is blocked" — and the
next message from someone you had just blocked auto-added them back to your
contacts, defeating the exact property the code comment above it claims to
hold. That now fails closed: if the block list cannot be established, nothing
is adopted and the next poll tries again. A stranger appearing a few seconds
late is cosmetic; re-adding somebody who blocked their way out of a
conversation is not.
The new test uses a NON-EMPTY list, because that is the case that was missing —
an empty-list assertion looks like coverage and exercises no parsing. Confirmed
by reintroducing the bug: the populated case fails, the empty case still
passes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Flamenet Messenger — Android
The Android app, and the two libraries under it.
engine/ the protocol: X3DH, Double Ratchet, sealed sender, safety numbers,
key transparency. Plain Kotlin/JVM — no Android in it at all.
client/ the relay transport: HTTP, auth, the §8 routes.
app/ the Compose app.
interop/ the cross-engine driver; not shipped.
engine and client are deliberately plain JVM libraries. The protocol has
nothing to do with Android, and keeping it off the platform means their tests
run anywhere a JVM does — no SDK, no emulator, no device, which is also what
lets them gate in CI on Linux:
./gradlew :engine:test :client:test
The app's own unit tests need the Android SDK but still no emulator (Robolectric):
./gradlew :app:testDebugUnitTest
Where it stands
PARITY.md is the definition of done for this app — read that, not this. Every row there names the iOS file it came from so it can be re-checked rather than trusted. Headlines as of 2026-08-28: messaging, groups, attachments, voice notes, stories, calls, sealed sender, key transparency and the encrypted vault are built and tested; a cross-platform round trip against iOS was verified on 2026-08-26.
⚠️ This file said "Nothing here is an app yet" until 2026-08-28, above a tree containing the finished app — the README described the repository as it was when the engine landed and nothing updated it as the app grew around it. If a claim here ever disagrees with PARITY.md or with the tree, believe those, and fix this.
Why the engine came first, and is held to the vectors
An Android client needs the protocol implemented a third time, and the third
implementation is the one that finds the places where the specification says
less than the two existing engines quietly agreed on — but only if it is
written against the spec and the published vectors rather than against a
reading of our own Swift and JavaScript. So the engine is held to
test/vectors/protocol-v1.json in
flamenet-e2e — the same file the
other two engines are checked against, read from that repository rather than
copied here, because a copied vector file drifts and a drifting vector file
stops being a check. PublishedVectorsTest looks for it beside this checkout
and fails loudly if it cannot find it; FLAMENET_VECTORS overrides the search.
Two implementations that agree may both be wrong in the same way, especially when one was written while reading the other. The audit-path ordering in §19 is the worked example: a top-down reading of a bottom-up path produces the correct root for every left-spine index, so it passes any test that only checks index 0. The vector file pins a right-descending index for that reason, and the Kotlin tests assert both that the published path verifies and that the same path reversed does not.
If this engine ever disagrees with the file, the interesting question is which of the three is wrong — not this one by default.
Contributing and security
- CONTRIBUTING.md — building (JDK 21,
JAVA_HOMEis not optional on a Mac), the test gate, and the platform traps that cost an hour each. - PARITY.md — what iOS does, what this does, and what is left. It is the definition of done for this app.
- SECURITY.md — threat model and where to send a vulnerability report. Not an issue tracker matter: security@flamenetmessenger.com.