# Configuration ## Requirements - A browser with WebRTC and Web Crypto support - Node.js 18 or later, for building - A TURN service, if you need relay-only privacy mode or you expect users behind strict NAT ## Building and running ```bash npm install npm run build npm run serve ``` `npm run build` compiles the CSS, bundles the JavaScript into `dist/`, and regenerates `meta.json` with a build stamp. That stamp is what the update mechanism compares, and it is also written into `sw.js` so the browser reinstalls the service worker on each release. A deployment that skips `post-build` will not notify anyone that an update exists. The application is static. Any web server can host it, and there is no backend to run. ## ICE and TURN WebRTC needs to discover network paths between the two browsers. STUN is enough to learn a public address; TURN is needed when a direct path cannot be established, and is the only way to keep peers from seeing each other's IP addresses. Configuration comes from three places, in order of precedence: 1. User settings under Advanced network settings, stored in IndexedDB per device 2. `config/ice-servers.js`, an operator override loaded before the application 3. Built-in public STUN defaults `config/ice-servers.js` is not committed, because it is where operator TURN credentials would go. Use `config/ice-servers.example.js` as the template. The Docker image copies `config/ice-servers.prod.js` into place at build time. ```js window.SECUREBIT_ICE_SERVERS = [ { urls: 'stun:stun.example.org:3478' }, { urls: [ 'turn:turn.example.org:3478?transport=udp', 'turn:turn.example.org:3478?transport=tcp', 'turns:turn.example.org:443?transport=tcp' ], username: '...', credential: '...' } ]; ``` Offering several transports is worth the extra lines. UDP is the most widely usable, TCP covers networks that block UDP, and TURNS on 443 gets through firewalls that only allow HTTPS. Some browsers also fail to resolve STUN and TURN hostnames inside their WebRTC layer even when ordinary page DNS works, so listing a raw IP alongside the hostname is a reasonable fallback. Any TURN credential shipped to a browser is public by definition, because the browser has to be able to read it. Treat it as a shared resource and apply quotas on the TURN server rather than relying on the credential staying secret. ### User-supplied servers Users can paste their own STUN and TURN servers. Input is validated against an allowlist before it reaches `RTCPeerConnection`: only the `stun`, `stuns`, `turn` and `turns` schemes, a hostname or bracketed IPv6 address with an optional port, and an optional `transport=udp` or `transport=tcp` query. At most 10 servers with 8 URLs each. Anything else is rejected with a specific reason. ### Privacy modes | Mode | Behaviour | IP exposure | | --- | --- | --- | | Default | Standard candidate gathering | Direct candidates can reveal addresses to the peer | | Relay-only | Sets `iceTransportPolicy: "relay"` | Requires TURN; peers see only the relay | STUN is not a substitute for TURN here. It reveals your public address to the peer by design. Relay-only mode without a configured TURN server cannot connect at all, and the interface warns when TURN is missing. Validate a TURN deployment with `chrome://webrtc-internals` before relying on it. A relay candidate should appear in the gathered set; if none does, the credentials or the ports are wrong. ### When connections fail Candidate gathering finishes only when every configured server has replied or timed out. Behind a VPN or a restrictive firewall that may never happen, and the console will show `701` errors for each unreachable server. The application handles this: it proceeds as soon as there are usable candidates and only keeps waiting while there are none, up to 25 seconds. Host candidates alone are often enough on a local network. If nothing at all is gathered, the message names the likely causes, which in practice are a VPN binding the browser to an interface that cannot reach the servers, or a firewall dropping UDP. ## File transfer policy Incoming transfers are validated before the consent prompt and require explicit approval. | Category | Extensions | Size limit | | --- | --- | --- | | Images | `.jpg` `.jpeg` `.png` `.gif` `.webp` `.bmp` `.ico` | 25 MB | | Documents | `.pdf` | 50 MB | | Text | `.txt` | 10 MB | | Archives | `.zip` | 100 MB | | Voice | `.webm` `.ogg` `.oga` `.opus` `.m4a` `.mp4` `.mp3` `.wav` | 20 MB | Overall ceiling is 100 MB per file. Blocked outright: `.exe` `.bat` `.cmd` `.sh` `.js` `.msi` `.dmg` `.app` `.jar` `.scr` `.ps1` `.vbs` `.html` `.svg` The extension list is the security boundary. MIME type is treated as advisory, because it is client-supplied, varies between browsers and operating systems, and is frequently absent. An allowed extension is accepted when the MIME type is absent, generic, or one of the recognised types, but a clearly contradictory MIME type is rejected as a spoofing signal. Voice notes are the one transfer accepted without a prompt, so they are checked more strictly. The receiver decides, not the sender: a genuine audio MIME type, at most 4 MB, and a 64 MB budget for the whole session. A transfer that fails those checks is not rejected, it simply loses the shortcut and appears as a normal file with the usual prompt. ## Deployment notes The repository includes an nginx configuration (`deploy/nginx.conf`) and an Apache one (`.htaccess`). Both set the same policy, and the important parts are: - `index.html`, `sw.js`, `manifest.json`, `meta.json` and `config/ice-servers.js` must not be cached. A stale `meta.json` breaks update notification, and a stale `sw.js` freezes the service worker. - `dist/` bundles are query-versioned, so `no-cache` with revalidation is enough and avoids re-downloading unchanged bundles. - `CDN-Cache-Control` is set separately, because a CDN reads it independently of the browser directive and will otherwise happily serve a stale app shell. - `frame-ancestors` and HSTS have to be sent as headers. The rest of the content security policy is a meta tag in `index.html`. - `.jsx` and `.mjs` must be served as JavaScript, or module loading fails. Asset requests should return 404 when a file is missing rather than falling back to the HTML shell. A missing script served as HTML fails in a confusing way.