Architecture

Technical deep-dive into PC2’s infrastructure and design.

System Overview

PC2 is a self-hosted personal cloud with three main layers:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           INTERNET                                           │
│                                                                              │
│  ┌─────────────────────┐     DNS: *.ela.city → Super Node                   │
│  │   User's Browser    │                                                    │
│  │                     │                                                    │
│  │  https://alice.ela.city ──────────────────────────────────────┐          │
│  └─────────────────────┘                                         │          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────┘
                                                                   │
                                                                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    SUPER NODE (Gateway Layer)                                │
│                                                                              │
│  ┌─────────────────┐   ┌─────────────────┐   ┌─────────────────┐           │
│  │   Web Gateway   │   │   Boson DHT     │   │  Active Proxy   │           │
│  │    :80/443      │   │    :39001/UDP   │   │    :8090/TCP    │           │
│  │                 │   │                 │   │                 │           │
│  │ - Wildcard SSL  │   │ - Node registry │   │ - NAT traversal │           │
│  │ - Subdomain     │   │ - Peer discovery│   │ - Session relay │           │
│  │   routing       │   │                 │   │                 │           │
│  └────────┬────────┘   └─────────────────┘   └────────┬────────┘           │
│           │                                           │                     │
└───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┘
            │                                           │
            ▼                                           ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         PC2 USER NODES                                     │
│                                                                            │
│  ┌───────────────────────┐           ┌───────────────────────┐            │
│  │  Alice's PC2 Node     │           │  Bob's PC2 Node       │            │
│  │  (VPS/Public IP)      │           │  (Home/Behind NAT)    │            │
│  │                       │           │                       │            │
│  │  Direct HTTP access   │           │  Active Proxy tunnel  │            │
│  └───────────────────────┘           └───────────────────────┘            │
│                                                                            │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

PC2 Node Components

Each PC2 node contains these layers:

1. HTTP Server Layer

Express.js — REST API and static file serving
Socket.io — WebSocket for real-time updates
Static Assets — Frontend bundle served locally

2. Services Layer

Service	Purpose
AuthService	Wallet authentication via Particle
StorageService	IPFS integration (Helia)
WASMRuntime	Execute WASM binaries server-side
AIService	Multi-provider AI chat
BosonService	Identity, connectivity, username
UpdateService	Auto-update system
BackupService	Backup and restore
TerminalService	PTY-based terminal

3. Data Layer

SQLite — Metadata, sessions, users
IPFS (Helia) — Distributed file storage
Local Filesystem — User files, WASM apps

API Endpoints

Authentication

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/whoami`	GET	Get current user info
`/auth/particle`	POST	Particle auth callback

File Operations

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/read`	GET	Read file content
`/write`	POST	Write file content
`/readdir`	GET	List directory
`/stat`	GET	File metadata
`/mkdir`	POST	Create directory
`/delete`	POST	Delete file/folder
`/move`	POST	Move/rename

WASM

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/api/wasm/execute-file`	POST	Execute WASM file
`/api/wasm/execute`	POST	Execute WASM bytes

AI

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/api/ai/chat`	POST	Stream AI response
`/api/ai/models`	GET	List available models

System

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/health`	GET	Health check
`/api/update/status`	GET	Update availability
`/api/update/install`	POST	Trigger update
`/api/backup/create`	POST	Create backup

Boson Network

PC2 integrates with the Boson Network for decentralized infrastructure:

Components

Boson DHT — Distributed hash table for:

Node identity storage
Peer discovery
Username resolution

Active Proxy — NAT traversal service:

Enables nodes behind firewalls
Encrypted session relay
Automatic port mapping

Identity Flow

1. Generate Ed25519 keypair
2. Derive Node ID = Base58(PublicKey)
3. Create DID = "did:boson:" + NodeID
4. Store in local identity.json
5. Register username with gateway

NAT Traversal

PC2 Node (behind NAT)          Super Node           Client
       │                            │                    │
       │──── AUTH Packet ──────────►│                    │
       │     (Ed25519 signature)    │                    │
       │                            │                    │
       │◄─── AUTH_ACK + Port ───────│                    │
       │     (Allocated: 25001)     │                    │
       │                            │                    │
       │──── PING (every 30s) ─────►│                    │
       │                            │◄── HTTP Request ───│
       │◄─── Relay Data ────────────│                    │
       │──── Response ─────────────►│                    │
       │                            │── Response ───────►│

Security Architecture

Encryption Layers

Transport — TLS 1.3 (HTTPS via Let’s Encrypt)
Session — CryptoBox (Active Proxy)
Identity — Ed25519 signatures
Storage — Wallet-scoped isolation

Authentication Flow

User connects wallet via Particle
Wallet signs challenge message
PC2 verifies signature
Session token issued (32-byte random)
Token stored in cookie/localStorage
All API requests include token

Access Control

Role	Permissions
Owner	Full access, manage all wallets
Admin	All data access, cannot manage admins
Member	Own wallet scope only

Data Flow Examples

File Upload

User drags file → Frontend captures
                → POST /write with file data
                → Backend validates auth
                → StorageService.write()
                → IPFS.add() + SQLite.update()
                → WebSocket broadcast
                → All clients update UI

WASM Calculation

User clicks "5 + 3" → Frontend sends POST /api/wasm/execute-file
                    → Backend loads calculator.wasm
                    → WASMRuntime.execute("add", [5, 3])
                    → Returns 8
                    → Frontend displays result

Live Infrastructure

Primary Super Node

IP: 69.164.241.210 (InterServer)
Services: Web Gateway, Boson DHT, Active Proxy
Wildcard SSL: *.ela.city

Secondary Super Node

IP: 38.242.211.112 (Contabo)
Purpose: Failover, load distribution

DNS

A Record: *.ela.city → 69.164.241.210
Root: ela.city → Main website

→ See Infrastructure for operator guides

Features Quick Start