Flux, a tiny protocol that rethinks email from the ground up

Name: Flux, a tiny protocol that rethinks email from the ground up
Availability: InStock
Author: wokki20

by wokki20·Mar 8, 2026·12 points·8 comments

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AI Analysis

●●SolidZero to OneBig BrainRabbit Hole

Rethinks email from crypto-keys-as-identity; ~500-line Python server is transparent and hackable.

Strengths

•Identity model (keypair-derived addresses) eliminates spoofing and centralizes auth in protocol layer
•Tamper detection with per-hop SHA-256 hashing + automatic quarantine is genuinely thoughtful threat modeling
•Minimal Python implementation makes protocol auditable and easy to fork or modify

Weaknesses

•Prototype stage; zero deployment stories or federation testing with multiple real servers
•WebSocket-only transport breaks email's transport-agnostic principle; unclear how it handles offline clients

Post Description

Hi HN,

I have been experimenting with a messaging protocol called FLUX. The goal is to explore what email might look like if it was designed today instead of in the 1980s.

FLUX tries to simplify a few things that feel complicated in the current email stack. Identity is based on cryptographic keys instead of usernames and passwords. Messages are signed and verified automatically. The transport is real time and does not depend on the traditional SMTP relay model.

The current implementation is small and meant as a prototype. The whole server is only a few hundred lines of Python so the protocol is easy to read and experiment with.

Repo: https://github.com/levkris/flux-protocol

I am mostly interested in feedback on the protocol design. What problems would appear in a real deployment. What parts are unnecessary. What would need to exist for something like this to actually work on the open internet.

Thanks for taking a look. levkris (wokki20)