Per the operator: every option umbrelOS surfaces must be reachable in the UI, Knots-only options surfaced separately from the ones Core shares, and network mode a setting whose DEFAULT is Tor rather than clearnet. Scoped as a phase rather than done inline because bitcoind's arguments are currently hardcoded in three places (first-boot-containers.sh, container-specs.sh, apps/bitcoin-knots/manifest.yml) — the same triplication that produced the lnd-ui HTTP 000 defect. There is nowhere for a UI to write, so BTCSET-01 is a settings model those three render FROM, not another restatement. Two constraints recorded up front so they are not discovered late: - Knots-only flags gated to Knots is a CORRECTNESS requirement — offering one on Core yields a node that refuses to start. - Several options are not freely reversible: txindex forces a reindex, prune is destructive and needs a full resync to undo. On a node that is somebody's wallet backend those must be labelled and gated, not silently applied. Any change at all restarts bitcoind, interrupting LND, electrs and the fedimint gateways. Inbound onion is explicitly out of scope: it needs Tor's ControlPort, which is deliberately disabled for security, so the node reaches .onion peers but stays unlisted. The UI must say so rather than imply otherwise. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Archipelago
Self-sovereign Bitcoin node OS and manifest-driven app platform.
Archipelago is a bootable personal server OS for Bitcoin infrastructure,
self-hosted apps, mesh communication, decentralized identity, and federation.
Apps are packaged as declarative manifest.yml files and run as rootless
Podman containers managed by the Rust backend.
What is here
core/- Rust workspace: backend API, container runtime, security, OpenWrt helpers, and performance/resource management.neode-ui/- Vue 3 + TypeScript frontend.apps/- app manifests and custom app container sources.docker/- supporting container build contexts for UI companion surfaces.image-recipe/- bootable image/ISO build inputs.Android/- Android companion app.scripts/- development, release, deployment, and validation tooling.docs/- architecture, app packaging, operations, API, and roadmap docs.
Platform model
Archipelago is built as a developer-ready app platform, not a fixed appliance:
- Apps are declared in
apps/<app-id>/manifest.yml. - The Rust parser in
core/container/src/manifest.rsis the canonical schema. - The orchestrator compiles manifests to rootless Podman/Quadlet runtime state.
- App data lives under
/var/lib/archipelago/<app-id>/. - Secrets are generated or read from
/var/lib/archipelago/secrets/and injected through Podman secrets rather than static environment values. - Release and app catalogs are signed and verified against a pinned trust anchor.
Start with:
- Architecture
- Developer Guide
- App Developer Guide
- App Manifest Spec
- Nostr Git Source Hosting Plan
- Operations Runbook
- Troubleshooting
Quick start
Frontend
cd neode-ui
npm install
npm start
The dev UI runs at http://localhost:8100 with a mock backend on :5959.
Backend
cd core
cargo build
cargo test --all-features
Linux is the supported backend runtime and release-build target. macOS is fine for frontend work and many Rust compile/test loops, but host integration tests that touch Podman, systemd, networking, or image build paths require Linux.
App manifests
./scripts/validate-app-manifest.sh apps/filebrowser/manifest.yml
python3 scripts/generate-app-catalog.py
python3 scripts/check-app-catalog-drift.py --release --strict
scripts/generate-app-catalog.py requires Python with PyYAML installed.
Documentation map
| Doc | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Architecture | System layers, crates, data paths, security model |
| Developer Guide | Local setup, code workflow, testing |
| API Reference | JSON-RPC API overview |
| App Developer Guide | How to package and test apps |
| App Manifest Spec | Manifest schema and validation rules |
| Nostr Git Source Hosting Plan | ngit/NIP-34 contribution workflow and maintainer model |
| Apps README | Packaged app catalog overview |
| Image Recipe | Bootable image build flow |
| Operations Runbook | Production operations and recovery |
| Open Source Readiness | Public-release cleanup checklist |
| Roadmap | Shipped, in-progress, and planned work |
| Unified Task Tracker | Launch hardening task list |
| Archive | Historical plans, audits, and handoffs |
Contributing
Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. For security issues, follow SECURITY.md and do not open a public issue.
License
Archipelago is licensed under the MIT License. Third-party notices are listed in NOTICE and generated license inventories in component release artifacts.