fmsg
An open distributed messaging protocol
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fmsg is a message definition and protocol intended as an alternative to email and IM apps. Like email it's distributed – anyone can host a server for their domain. Unlike email, messages are binary, verifiable by all peers, and linked into a DAG using cryptographic hashes. Sender verification and message integrity are built into the protocol, so you get what email needs SPF/DKIM/DMARC for out of the box.The host implementation (fmsgd) is written in Go. There's a Docker compose setup to get a full stack running in minutes: https://github.com/markmnl/fmsg-dockerThe spec is nearing v1.0: https://github.com/markmnl/fmsg — would love feedback. Send me a fmsg at @[email protected]
HN · launched Apr 20, 2026 · 5 upvotes (top 89%) · 0 views
Niche: distributed systems frameworks · 62 launches, 2 in the last 7 days ▼ -78% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Communication
- Developer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 62 launches in distributed systems frameworks →
Could you build this?
No Designing a distributed, cryptographic DAG-based binary messaging protocol requires deep expertise in distributed consensus, cryptography, and network protocol design.
What it would actually take: The protocol would need formal specifications, a binary serialization format (e.g., Protobuf or custom binary schema), Ed25519/BLS cryptographic signing, and a peer-to-peer sync engine using libp2p or custom TCP/gRPC transports over distributed hash tables. The hardest problems are federated identity verification, Sybil resistance, DAG convergence/conflict resolution, and network abuse prevention without central authorities. This demands senior cryptographers and distributed systems architects.
Discussion
No comments on this launch.
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 187 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #181 of 188 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 138 days after the earliest competitor.
- dmsg · ph · 2026-10-14 · 2 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- Flux, a tiny protocol that rethinks email from the ground up · hn · 2026-03-08 · 12 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- Grace Mail · ph · 2026-10-10 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.44
- Posthorn, self-hosted mail gateway · hn · 2026-05-27 · 83 upvotes · similarity 0.44
- imyemail · ph · 2026-09-12 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.43
- SentriSend · ph · 2026-09-09 · 2 upvotes · similarity 0.42
- DynaMailer · ph · 2026-11-01 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.41
- Mailwell · ph · 2026-10-08 · 73 upvotes · similarity 0.41
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