FAQ
Short answers to the questions people ask first.
This page is for the questions that should not require reading the whole whitepaper: why Solana, what the relayer does, what storage learns, how real the current shell is, and how much validation already exists.
Is Covenant a blockchain messenger?
No. Solana is the rendezvous and timing substrate. Live messages prefer direct QUIC, not chain payload transport.
Why use Solana at all?
Because Covenant needs a shared coordination plane for rendezvous hints, timing, publications, and heavier commitment-facing state.
What happens if NAT traversal fails?
The protocol can route through relayers when symmetric NATs or similar path failures prevent direct hole punching from converging.
Are relayers the normal path?
No. Direct QUIC remains the preferred live path. Relay support exists for the network cases where the direct path fails.
What does a storage node actually learn?
Only shards. Offline ciphertext is split across storage nodes so no single server can reconstruct the payload on its own.
Is the desktop shell just a mock frontend?
No. It is a thin Tauri shell over the real Rust app core and drives the actual onboarding, archive, wallet, feed, and operator flows.
How much of the protocol is actually tested?
The repo includes adversarial relayer coverage, NAT traversal tests, offline storage paths, soak coverage, and validator/devnet-facing Solana program paths.
What is still later-phase work?
Physical residential-gateway NAT profiling, multi-hour soak infrastructure, and broader launch hardening such as audit and formal analysis.
Where should I start reading?
Start with the quickstart if you want orientation, the protocol page if you want the shape, and the whitepaper if you want the full design and appendix.