reticiulum-specification/test-vectors

Test vectors

Known-good byte sequences that any Reticulum-compatible implementation should be able to round-trip in both directions.

Status

Populated against RNS 1.2.0 / LXMF 0.9.6:

• ✅ identities.json — Alice + Bob identity vectors (regenerator: ../tools/regen_identities.py, verifier: ../tools/verify_destination_hash.py).
• ✅ announces.json — two announce vectors (no-ratchet + with-ratchet) signed by Alice (regenerator: ../tools/regen_announces.py, verifier: ../tools/verify_announce_roundtrip.py).
• ✅ lxmf.json — two opportunistic-LXMF vectors Alice → Bob (regenerator: ../tools/regen_lxmf.py, verifier: ../tools/verify_lxmf_opportunistic.py).
• ✅ links.json — full Link handshake vector (LINKREQUEST + LRPROOF + derived session key) Alice → Bob (regenerator: ../tools/regen_links.py, verifier: ../tools/verify_link_handshake.py).

All four files are byte-deterministic across runs: regenerators pin every random source (ephemeral keys, IVs, random_hash prefix + timestamp, LXMF timestamp) so the output is reproducible against a fixed upstream RNS / LXMF version.

See ../agent.md §5 and ../todo.md for the remaining bootstrap task list.

Format (proposed)

Each vector lives in a per-domain JSON file, e.g.:

• identities.json — Alice + Bob with encPriv, sigPriv, ratchetPriv (hex), plus the derived publicKey, identityHash, destinationHash for lxmf.delivery
• announces.json — full hex of a signed announce packet, plus the inputs that produced it (display_name, ratchetPub, etc.)
• lxmf.json — sender + recipient identity, plaintext, expected ciphertext bytes
• links.json — LINKREQUEST + LRPROOF + derived session keys

Each entry should include:

{
  "description": "Alice's lxmf.delivery announce with ratchet, display_name='AliceTest'",
  "inputs": { ... },
  "expected_bytes_hex": "...",
  "rns_version_at_generation": "1.2.0",
  "generator_script": "tools/regen_announces.py"
}

The generator_script is the file in ../tools/ that, when run against upstream RNS, regenerates expected_bytes_hex. Keeping the generator alongside the vector lets a future contributor verify the vector still matches a newer upstream RNS.

What needs to round-trip

For the spec to claim "an implementation that passes all test vectors interoperates with upstream", the vectors must cover:

1. Identity construction — given the same private-key inputs, derive the same public key, identity hash, destination hash.
2. Announce build + parse — build a signed announce; verify the same bytes come back through upstream's parser; verify upstream-built announces parse correctly.
3. Token encrypt + decrypt — bidirectional, with both ratchet and long-term keys.
4. Opportunistic LXMF — full plaintext → ciphertext → plaintext round-trip, signature valid both ways.
5. Link handshake — LINKREQUEST built by client A, LRPROOF computed by upstream as B, both arrive at the same link_id and session keys.
6. Link-delivered LXMF — body packed by client, decrypted + parsed by upstream.

A separate vector set for FAILURE cases is also useful: malformed announces, expired ratchets, mismatched signatures. An implementation should reject those as a regression-prevention measure.