Private Mode — Phase 1.1

Goal

Allow running a VNOX server in fully isolated mode. When private, the server does not discover, connect to, or federate with any other node.

This makes VNOX safe for personal/family use (OwnCord-style), while keeping the option to go federated later.

Config

In dev/config.toml:

[federation]
enabled = false              # ← PRIVATE: server is isolated
# enabled = true             # ← FEDERATED: can peer with other nodes

Or with explicit mode:

[server]
mode = "private"             # isolated, no federation
# mode = "federated"         # can discover and peer

Implementation

Gateway config

// gateway/src/domain/config.rs
pub struct Config {
    pub server: ServerConfig,
    pub federation: FederationConfig,
}

pub struct ServerConfig {
    pub mode: ServerMode,  // Private | Federated
}

pub enum ServerMode {
    Private,
    Federated,
}

pub struct FederationConfig {
    pub enabled: bool,
    pub known_nodes: Vec<String>,
}

Behavior when private

Gateway does not send any federation packets
Gateway does not accept inbound federation connections
No node discovery (DNS SRV queries skipped)
No federation port needs to be open
All features (channels, voice, DMs) work normally, just local-only

Gate check

// gateway/src/handler/federation.rs
pub async fn should_sync_to_remotes(config: &Config) -> bool {
    config.federation.enabled
}

// All federation entry points start with:
if !config.federation.enabled {
    return Ok(()); // silently skip
}

Result

Mode	Behaviour
`private`	Fully isolated. Like OwnCord. Safe for personal LAN/ home server.
`federated`	Can discover, peer, and sync with other VNOX nodes. Like Matrix.

Default is private — opt-in to federation.

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