AeroNyx

The protocol

Blind relays, stated plainly.

AeroNyx is a privacy network whose relays are blind by design: nodes carry sealed data and cannot read it. This page says what that means, what is built, who can see what today, and where the limits are.

Status
v0.1, early network
Node software and protocol design
Open source, AGPL-3.0
The app
Closed source
Last reviewed
2026-10-17

What is built

Nine mechanisms, and where each one stands.

Every one carries a status. "In the app" means people can use it in the app today. The rest is said as it is.

  • Sealed envelopes

    In the app

    Messages, groups and attachments are encrypted on your device before they are sent. A relay handles an envelope and its size, not what is inside.

    Source

  • Blind relay

    In the app

    A relay node forwards sealed envelopes and holds no user keys, so it cannot read what it carries. The node side of this can be read in the open-source repository.

    Source

  • Layered onion routing

    Opt-in

    A message can be wrapped in one encryption layer per hop (X25519, HKDF-SHA256, XChaCha20-Poly1305) over two hops. The first node sees your network address but not who the message is for. The last node sees the sender and recipient keys but not your network address, so no single node links the two, and it hands the message to the inbox of the receiver. Relay keys rotate every 24 hours and live in memory only. In the app this is a setting for messages, and it is off by default.

    Source

  • Signed node discovery

    In the node software

    Nodes publish Ed25519-signed descriptors that peers verify before treating a node as live. Today the production node directory is run by AeroNyx.

    Source

  • Identity-bound TLS

    In the node software

    A node proves its own HTTPS endpoint with its node identity key, without a domain name or a certificate authority: its TLS certificate carries a signature by the node identity over the certificate key. Nodes use it between each other, and production nodes serve it today. Support in the app is in development.

    Source

  • Blind admission

    In the node software

    Admission tokens use RFC 9474 blind signatures from a separate, isolated issuer process, so the issuer cannot link a token to the person it was issued to. Implemented in the reference node.

    Source

  • VPN tunnel

    In the app

    An encrypted UDP tunnel to one AeroNyx node. As with any VPN, that node sees where your traffic is going, though not what is inside encrypted connections.

    Source

  • Confidential-compute AI (Nyxi)

    In the app

    Nyxi answers are produced on confidential-compute (TEE) hardware. Letting the app verify that hardware attestation itself is in development, so for now this is not something you can check on your own.

    Source

  • Node-blind memory (MemChain)

    In the node software

    Nodes store device-encrypted records and keyed blind indexes, and search happens on your device. Implemented in the node software; not enabled in the app by default.

    Source

Who sees what

What each part can see, today.

This matches our documentation. Where a part sees more than you might hope, it says so.

Your device

Can see

Your messages in the clear, and your keys, which never leave it

Cannot see

Nothing: it is the one place the keys live

A relay node

Can see

A sealed envelope, its size, and where to pass it next

Cannot see

Message or attachment contents

The AeroNyx backend

Can see

Chat metadata (sender and recipient keys, timestamps, IP addresses), contacts and groups, and your Nyxi conversations (not end-to-end encrypted)

Cannot see

Message and attachment contents, call audio and video, wallet private keys

A VPN node

Can see

Where your traffic is going, which key connected, when and how much

Cannot see

The contents of encrypted connections

Honest status

Run centrally today. Built to be run by anyone.

AeroNyx operates every production node today, and runs the chat relay, attachment storage, push notifications, calls, AI backend, accounts and node directory. No independent operators run production nodes yet. The node software is open source so that can change, and the decentralized paths are being built beside the central ones, not instead of them.

The limits

What this does not claim.

A privacy network is not magic. Nothing here makes unlawful activity lawful; you remain responsible for the law where you are.

  • A small network

    Onion routing is two hops, not three, it is opt-in, and the network is small, so the anonymity set is small. It reduces who can see what; it is not strong anonymity.

  • Not built for a global observer

    The relay layer is designed against honest-but-curious operators, not against someone watching the whole network at once. Constant-length packets and mixing are future work.

  • No formal proof

    The protocol has no formal security proof, and it does not hide metadata a network must see, such as that a connection happens, and its size and timing.

Open source

Read it, run it.

The node software, the cryptography and the protocol design documents are published under AGPL-3.0. The app (iOS, Android, macOS, Windows) is closed source, so what the app does on your device is something you have to trust; the node-side guarantees can be checked without it.

Questions

Straight answers.

What is the AeroNyx protocol?

It is the set of rules AeroNyx apps and nodes use to move sealed messages, carry VPN traffic and discover nodes: sealed envelopes, blind relays, optional two-hop onion routing and signed node descriptors. The node implementation is open source under AGPL-3.0.

Can AeroNyx read my messages?

No. Message and attachment contents and call audio are encrypted on your device. AeroNyx can see metadata such as sender and recipient keys, timestamps and IP addresses, and it stores your contacts and groups.

Are my Nyxi AI conversations end-to-end encrypted?

No. Nyxi conversations are not end-to-end encrypted. Answers are produced on confidential-compute hardware, and verifying that hardware from inside the app is in development.

Does the VPN hide where I go from AeroNyx?

No. The VPN is an encrypted tunnel to one AeroNyx node, which sees the destinations of your traffic, as any VPN node does. Websites see the address of the node instead of yours.

Who runs the nodes?

AeroNyx operates every production node today. Anyone can run one with the open-source node software, but no independent operators run production nodes yet.

How is AeroNyx different from Tor, Nym or Signal?

AeroNyx puts messaging, a VPN, an AI assistant and a wallet in one app. Tor and Nym are mature, independently run anonymity networks with far larger anonymity sets, and Signal is a mature end-to-end encrypted messenger. AeroNyx is an early network (v0.1) and does not claim stronger anonymity than them.

Is AeroNyx the same as Nyx VPN, NymVPN or Aeonix Network?

No. AeroNyx (aeronyx.network) is a different product from Nyx VPN, NymVPN, Aeonix Network and the drone-delivery company AERONYX.

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