A P2P messenger with dual network modes (Fast and Tor)
Details
- External ID
- 47615844
- Source
- HN
- Company
- —
- Product
- A P2P messenger with dual network modes (Fast and Tor)
- Website domain
- github.com
- Launched
- April 2, 2026
- Cohort
- —
- Upvotes
- 39
- Upvotes percentile
- 0.8181233933161953
- Tags
- —
- Fetched at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.
- Updated at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.
Description
Hello HN,I have been working on a desktop P2P messenger called Kiyeovo for the last ~8 months, and I just published its beta version.Quick backstory: It started out as a CLI application for my Graduate Thesis, where I tried to make the most secure and private messenger application possible. Then, I transformed it into a desktop application, gave it "clearnet" support and added a bunch of features.Short summary:The app runs in 2 completely isolated modes:- fast mode: relay/DCUtR -> lower latency, calls support- anonymous mode: Tor message routing -> slower, anonymousThese modes use different protocol IDs, DHT namespaces, pubsub topics and storage scopes so there’s no data crossover between them.Messaging works peer-to-peer when both parties are online, but falls back to DHT "offline buckets" when one of them is not. To ensure robustness, messages are ACK-ed and deleted after being read.Group chats use GossipSub for realtime messaging. Group messages are also saved to offline buckets in order for offline users to be able to read them upon logging in. Kick/Join/Leave events are also propagated using the DHT. Group metadata and all offline data is of course encrypted.Other features: Chats are E2E, file sharing is supported, 1:1 audio/video calls are supported (only in fast mode though, using WebRTC)Tradeoffs: Tor has noticeable latency, offline delivery is not immediately guaranteed, but rather "eventually consistent"; beta version does not have group calls yet.I’d appreciate feedback, that's why I posted this as a beta versionRepo: https://github.com/Realman78/Kiyeovo
Enrichment
- Theme
- niche social and community platforms
- Vertical
- Security
- Function
- Communication
- Audience
- B2C
- AI stance
- Not AI
- Project type
- Hobby / open-source project
- Normalized one-liner
- peer-to-peer messenger with tor support
- Manually corrected
- False
Could you build this?
Partial While an Electron or Tauri frontend is standard, building secure P2P networking with NAT traversal alongside custom Tor hidden service routing requires specialized networking and cryptographic handling.
What it would actually take: The core application requires a desktop framework (Tauri or Go/Rust backend) integrating libp2p or custom ICE/STUN/TURN protocols for the fast direct P2P mode, combined with an embedded Tor daemon or Arti (Rust Tor client) for onion routing. The hard part is managing peer discovery, reliable NAT hole-punching across restrictive networks, and secure end-to-end encryption without central identity leaks. It requires deep knowledge of distributed systems, cryptographic protocol design, and Tor network integration.
Discussion
20 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: I2P (as alternative to Tor), Discord, Phone number-based messaging systems, Centralized server messaging apps
Concerns raised: Tor exit nodes increasingly susceptible to state monitoring, Risk of users accidentally leaking sensitive info between modes, DHT vulnerable to eclipse attacks and censorship in small networks, Bootstrap connectivity and topology attacks (O(n^2) key mining), User behavior linking identity between fast and anonymous modes
Feature requests: Add I2P as alternative protocol or replace Tor, Face-to-face QR code key exchange between phones, One-time pad support using nonce banks over short-range radio, Phone app support for QR code exchange, Separate the two modes into different apps
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one — 142 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #24 of 143 (itself plus its competitors, highest first — normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 155 days after the earliest competitor.
- Kiyeovo 1.0 release- dual network-mode decentralized E2EE P2P messenger · hn · 2026-07-09 · 15 upvotes · similarity 0.80
- Kant · github · 2026-09-20 · 10 upvotes · similarity 0.52
- An old school forum on an open protocol · hn · 2026-09-30 · 8 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- Chatcode · hn · 2026-06-04 · 9 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- Pondchat — a quiet P2P video pond · ph · 2026-09-23 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- Cascade Chat · hn · 2026-07-14 · 8 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- Wisp. A peer-to-peer encrypted messenger with no trusted server · hn · 2026-07-29 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- Zynk, a Fast, P2P Encrypted File Transfers and Messaging Across Devices · hn · 2025-12-19 · 14 upvotes · similarity 0.45
Other launches for this product
- No other launches for this product.