# Multi-hive swarms A **swarm** is a collection of agents that share an identity and coordinate across one or more hives. A single hyperhive instance running on one host is already a swarm (one hive). This doc covers the additional config needed when the swarm spans multiple hosts. ## Terminology - **hive** — a single hyperhive installation on one host. Has its own `services.hyperhive.domain` DNS name and its own set of agent containers. - **swarm** — one or more hives whose operators have declared them as peers. Agents can be qualified as `agent@hive-domain`. - **peer hive** — a remote hive declared under `services.hyperhive.swarm.peers` on the local host. ## Hive identity config ```nix services.hyperhive = { domain = "pr1ma.example.com"; # machine-addressable DNS domain hiveName = "pr1ma"; # human display name (optional) swarm.name = "constellat1on"; # shared swarm display name (optional) }; ``` `domain` is required when matrix federation is on (`matrix.enable`); it drives `HYPERHIVE_HIVE_DOMAIN` in every container so agents can form qualified labels (`iris@pr1ma.example.com`). `hiveName` and `swarm.name` are purely display — they surface in the dashboard chrome header and per-agent system prompts. Federated hives at different domains can share a `swarm.name`; that it sits under `swarm` and `hiveName` does not is the whole distinction — one names this hive, the other names the group it belongs to. See `docs/conventions.md` § Hive identity for the env-var chain and `qualify()` / `qualified_label()` semantics. ## Declaring peer hives ```nix services.hyperhive.swarm.peers = { "lab.example.com" = { }; # CA-trusted (Let's Encrypt etc.) "edge.corp" = { certFingerprint = "sha256:…"; }; # self-signed TLS, c0re peer checks only "mesh.internal" = { caCert = ./mesh-ca.pem; }; # self-signed, trusted for matrix federation }; ``` The attrset key is the peer's DNS domain. Two independent, optional trust knobs — pick by what you need to trust: - **`certFingerprint`** (`"sha256:…"`) — pin the peer's TLS _leaf_ fingerprint. Scopes **only** to hive-c0re's own peer HTTPS checks (the P33RS dashboard links + agent peer discovery below). It is **not** consulted by matrix federation — tuwunel validates a peer's federation certificate against the system CA bundle independently (see _Matrix federation_ below), so a fingerprint pin does nothing for a self-signed matrix cert. - **`caCert`** (path to the peer's root CA PEM) — embeds that CA (at build time, into the nix store — no runtime file on the host) and trusts it **everywhere the hive's own internal CA is**: it rides alongside `hive-ca.pem` in every agent's `security.pki.certificateFiles` (via the meta-flake renderer) **and** in the matrix container's trust bundle, so tuwunel validates the peer's _federation_ TLS when it chains to that CA. Trust stays **inside the hive** (agents + the matrix container), never the host system trust store. **This is the knob that unblocks federation with a self-signed peer hive** — use it instead of `certFingerprint` when you control the peer's CA. (It does not affect hive-c0re's own peer HTTPS checks — those stay on `certFingerprint` / the system bundle.) - **Both omitted** — the stock system CA bundle validates the peer (correct for Let's Encrypt / any publicly-trusted peer). ### Fingerprint format The value is the string `sha256:` followed by exactly 64 hexadecimal digits — the SHA-256 digest of the peer's DER-encoded TLS leaf certificate. The hex is case-insensitive (upper or lower both parse), carries no colon separators between bytes, and any value not matching this shape is ignored with a warning rather than weakening trust. ``` sha256:b1946ac92492d2347c6235b4d2611184a3f5b6cae6c19d6e3c2f0a8e7d4c9f12 ``` Generate it from the peer's certificate with openssl. The `-fingerprint -sha256` output is uppercase and colon-separated, so strip the colons, lowercase, and prepend the `sha256:` prefix: ```sh # from a PEM/CRT file openssl x509 -in peer.crt -noout -fingerprint -sha256 \ | sed 's/^.*=//; s/://g' | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | sed 's/^/sha256:/' # straight from the live endpoint (port 443) echo | openssl s_client -connect peer.example.com:443 -servername peer.example.com 2>/dev/null \ | openssl x509 -noout -fingerprint -sha256 \ | sed 's/^.*=//; s/://g' | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | sed 's/^/sha256:/' ``` Pin the leaf certificate, not an intermediate or the CA — the digest must match the exact cert the peer serves on its HTTPS endpoint. When the peer rotates its cert, update the pin to the new fingerprint (or switch the peer to a CA-trusted cert and drop the field). The nix module serialises the attrset to a `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` JSON array (`[{ domain, cert_fingerprint }]`) injected into the c0re environment and forwarded to agent containers. ## What the config does at runtime 1. **Dashboard P33RS tab** — `parse_peer_hives()` in `dashboard.rs` reads `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` and includes `peer_hives: Vec<{ name, url }>` in `/api/state`. The dashboard shows a P33RS tab (hidden when the list is empty) with a card per peer linking to `https://{domain}/`. See `docs/web-ui/dashboard.md` § P33RS tab. 2. **Agent identity** — the same `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` env var is forwarded to agent containers by `meta.rs`; agent code can call `identity::peers()` to discover peer hives and address them with qualified names (`agent@domain`). 3. **Matrix federation** — when `matrix.enable` is on, tuwunel federates with the peer's matrix server (discovered via the peer's `.well-known/matrix/server` delegation, which the gateway serves). Federation validates the peer's TLS certificate against the matrix **container's** trust bundle — independently of `certFingerprint`, which it never consults. A self-signed gateway certificate therefore won't federate unless the peer's root CA is trusted: set `caCert` above (embeds the peer CA into the matrix container's trust bundle), or give the peers CA-issued certs (ACME). See `docs/matrix.md` for federation firewall + TLS requirements. ## Bilateral setup Each hive must declare the other. If hive A lists hive B as a peer, B must also list A for agents on B to see A in their peer list: ``` # hive A (pr1ma.example.com) services.hyperhive.swarm.peers."edge.corp" = { }; # hive B (edge.corp) services.hyperhive.swarm.peers."pr1ma.example.com" = { certFingerprint = "sha256:…"; }; ``` Mixed trust is fine: A trusts B via CA bundle (no fingerprint), B pins A's self-signed cert. ## WireGuard inter-hive mesh (optional) The peer config above uses public HTTPS for all inter-hive traffic. For private deployments — or to reduce latency and TLS overhead on intra-swarm traffic — hive-c0re can configure a host-to-host WireGuard mesh. ### Generating keys On each hive host: ```bash wg genkey | install -m 0400 /dev/stdin /etc/wireguard/hive.key wg pubkey < /etc/wireguard/hive.key # → share this with peer operators ``` ### Config example (two hives) ```nix # hive A (pr1ma.example.com, mesh IP 10.100.0.1) services.hyperhive = { swarm.wireguard = { enable = true; privateKeyFile = "/etc/wireguard/hive.key"; address = "10.100.0.1/24"; listenPort = 51820; # optional, default 51820 }; swarm.peers."edge.corp" = { certFingerprint = "sha256:…"; # TLS trust (unchanged) wireguardPublicKey = "base64key="; # peer's wg pubkey wireguardEndpoint = "203.0.113.42:51820"; # peer's public IP:port wireguardAddress = "10.100.0.2/32"; # peer's mesh IP }; }; # hive B (edge.corp, mesh IP 10.100.0.2) services.hyperhive = { swarm.wireguard = { enable = true; privateKeyFile = "/etc/wireguard/hive.key"; address = "10.100.0.2/24"; }; swarm.peers."pr1ma.example.com" = { wireguardPublicKey = "base64key="; # hive A's wg pubkey wireguardEndpoint = "198.51.100.1:51820"; wireguardAddress = "10.100.0.1/32"; }; }; ``` ### What the mesh does - `networking.wireguard.interfaces.wg-hive` is configured on the host (not inside agent containers; containers reach peers via the host's routing table). - UDP port 51820 (or `listenPort`) is opened on the host firewall. - `HYPERHIVE_PEERS` gains a `wireguard_address` field for each mesh peer so hive-c0re can reach intra-swarm services without a public DNS round-trip. - `persistentKeepalive = 25` is set by default; override or null to disable (not needed when both sides have public IPs and no NAT). ### NAT / one-sided endpoints If one host is behind NAT and can't accept incoming connections, only that host needs a null `wireguardEndpoint` on the peer config — the other side initiates. With keepalive on, the NAT hole stays open. If both hosts are behind NAT, a STUN relay or a third host (exit node) is required. Out of scope for v0. ## Snapshot store One further option lives in this namespace but is documented with the service it points at: `services.hyperhive.swarm.snapshotStore.{address, port}` tells this hive where the swarm's `btrfs receive` endpoint is, so `hivectl agent subvol snapshot push` has somewhere to stream to. It is genuinely swarm-scoped rather than per-peer — a swarm has exactly one store, because the receiver keys destinations by *agent* so a migrating agent keeps one unbroken incremental chain. See [snapshot-store.md](snapshot-store.md). ## Swarm controller `services.hyperhive.swarm.controller.enable` runs the `swarm-controller` daemon on this host. It is **off by default and deliberately not derived from `services.hyperhive.enable`**: a swarm has one controller, so enabling it is a statement about swarm topology, not about whether hyperhive is installed. Every hive runs `hive-c0re` (which owns the agents on that host); one hive additionally runs this (which owns what is true across hives). It serves HTTP over a unix socket — `socketPath`, default `/run/swarm-controller/controller.sock` — rather than a TCP port. The gateway's nginx is the only intended client and reaches the socket through a bind-mount, and a listener that is never bound to an address cannot be reached from off-host by mistake. ⚠️ **The socket's directory is its access control.** The socket itself is `0666`, because nginx runs as a different user and `connect(2)` needs write — the same arrangement hive-c0re uses for the per-agent sockets. What keeps that safe is that the directory holds one socket and is bind-mounted into exactly one container. Pointing `socketPath` at a directory that carries anything else — `/run/hyperhive`, which holds the host **admin** socket, above all — exposes everything in it to every consumer that mounts it. Changing `socketPath` therefore means re-checking the gateway bind-mount, not just the daemon. Today the daemon serves a single `/health` endpoint and holds no state: the unit exists so the swarm-level surfaces that follow have somewhere to land. ## Cross-references - `docs/snapshot-store.md` — the swarm's `btrfs receive` endpoint, and the `swarm.snapshotStore` option that points a hive at it - `docs/conventions.md` § Hive identity — env vars, qualified labels - `docs/matrix.md` — matrix federation, TLS cert auto-generation, firewall posture - `docs/web-ui/dashboard.md` § P33RS tab — dashboard surface - `docs/gateway.md` — nginx vhosts and the `.well-known/matrix/` auto-discovery scheme