Governance Gossip, Service Manager, and Health API

Files: gossip.rs, service.rs, api.rs (+ bin/browser_gateway.rs, bin/ping_proxy.rs) Crate: kinetic-host | Stage: 13

gossip.rs — Simpler Than the Node Version

The host’s governance gossip handler is a stripped-down version of the node’s (docs/learn/node/04_gossip.md).

Key differences from kinetic-node/src/gossip.rs:

• No storage writes. The node writes NameRecord::Premium to Sled on PremiumNameGranted. The host does not — it has no DHT authority to inject records.
• No spawn_blocking for disk saves. The host’s save_to_disk is called directly inside the gossip loop (still holding the GLOBAL_GOVERNANCE_STATE lock). This is simpler but means the disk write is synchronous within the async loop.
• No lagged message handling. The node explicitly handles RecvError::Lagged. The host uses while let Ok(...) = gossip_rx.recv().await — it simply exits the loop if the channel closes or on any error.
• Filter is the same: Only GOSSIP_TOPIC_GOVERNANCE is processed. Other gossip topics (Drand, etc.) are ignored. -> See: kinetic-host/src/gossip.rs — Lines 10–40

Fuzz test: doesnt_panic_on_garbage_gossip — passes random bytes directly to serde_json::from_slice::<SignedGovernanceMessage>. Proves parsing never panics. -> See: kinetic-host/src/gossip.rs — Lines 42–55

service.rs — Standard Service Manager

Identical pattern to kinetic-node/src/service.rs and the daemon’s service management. Uses <dyn ServiceManager>::native() to register as kinetic-host with the OS service manager (systemd/launchd/SCM).

One host-specific detail: during install, it passes username: std::env::var("SUDO_USER").ok().or_else(|| Some("nobody".to_string())) — so if you run sudo kinetic-host install, it installs the service to run as the invoking user rather than root. -> See: kinetic-host/src/service.rs — Lines 1–90

api.rs — Health API at Port 16004

Two routes, same as kinetic-node but for the host:

• GET /health → "OK"
• GET /peer_id → the static host Peer ID (not the ephemeral PoW one)

Port: 16004 (node uses 16003, daemon uses 16000).

start_health_api(host_peer_id, bind_ip) binds the Axum server and runs with with_graceful_shutdown(shutdown_signal()).

The peer_id endpoint returns the static host key’s Peer ID — the permanent identity. Monitoring tools use this to verify which host they’re checking, and it’s the same Peer ID that clients look up in the DNS zone record.

bin/browser_gateway.rs — Browser WebSocket Gateway (184 lines)

A standalone binary (not the main host binary). Provides a WebSocket-to-HTTP bridge so web browsers can make requests into the Kinetic P2P network without needing a local daemon installed.

Key behavior:

• Binds a WebSocket server locally.
• When a browser connects and sends a request, it forwards it through the P2P network via NetworkClient::send_proxy_request().
• Replies to the browser with the ProxyResponse received back over P2P.

This is an experimental entrypoint for browser-native Kinetic access. It is not started by the main kinetic-host binary.

bin/ping_proxy.rs — P2P Proxy Latency Tester (139 lines)

Another standalone utility binary. Sends test ProxyRequest messages through the P2P network to a target host and measures round-trip latency. Used for diagnosing connectivity and measuring proxy performance.

Not started by the main binary. Run manually: kinetic-ping-proxy <target_host_peer_id>.

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