Pixelmine
Concept

Encryption first, distributed by design.

Pixelmine is an end-to-end-encrypted social network. The content of what you share privately (messages, follower-only posts, and their files) is encrypted on your device, then stored on a network of independently operated nodes that cannot read it. Public posts stay public, because that is what they are for. A lightweight coordination service links it all together without seeing that private content.

Why it exists

Built on three
commitments.

Pixelmine starts from a straightforward idea: the tools people use to connect should belong to the people using them. Every design decision follows from three commitments, the ones the product is named for.

Decentralized

Posts are copied across many independently run nodes rather than kept in one place, so storage has no single owner. Public and followers-only posts stay available even when individual nodes do not.

Fair

The value a community generates is meant to return to it. Nodes earn a share of the pool Pixelmine puts up, and a set share of each node’s slice goes to the members of its community.

Truly yours

Your identity, content, and audience are yours to hold. A private key you control unlocks your account, and client-side encryption keeps your private content private, even from the operators hosting it.

The core idea

Separate the experience
from the infrastructure.

The application is where content is created and encrypted. Beneath it, a distributed system of nodes stores and replicates that encrypted data. Because the two are kept apart, the people running the infrastructure never hold the keys to the content.

01 · Privacy

Operator-blind encryption

Anything you share privately is locked on your device before it is ever sent. The nodes that store and pass it along hold only scrambled content, never anything they can read. The lock opens only for the people you meant to reach, on their own devices.

  • Even someone running a node, with full access to its database, cannot read your messages, though they can see who is in a conversation.
  • Only the people a private post or message is meant for can unlock it.
  • If a node’s data were ever leaked or stolen, private messages and posts would stay unreadable, though public posts and activity data, such as who follows whom, would not.
02 · Security

Future-proof encryption

Encryption is a moving target: what is secure today can be broken tomorrow as computers grow more powerful. Pixelmine is built to stay ahead of that curve, using protection designed to hold up for years, not only for now.

  • It is built on recognized modern standards, so your data stays protected for the long term.
  • The same protection covers private messages, followers-only posts, and their files.
  • Content saved today cannot simply be unlocked later by a more powerful machine.
03 · Resilience

Distributed & replicated

Most services keep everything in one company’s data center. Pixelmine copies posts across many independently run nodes instead, each holding its own copy, so the network never depends on a single machine, company, or place.

  • If a node goes offline, other nodes still hold copies of public and followers-only posts. Chats and community posts live on the node that hosts them.
  • Nodes keep each other up to date on their own, sharing only what has actually changed.
  • New nodes can join at any time, and the network grows more resilient as they do.
04 · Integrity

Tamper-evident

In a shared network, you need to know that what you see is genuine. Pixelmine makes tampering detectable: records are signed by whoever created them, and nodes regularly compare their copies with several peers and fetch whatever they are missing.

  • Nodes compare their copies with several peers about once a minute, and a mismatch is repaired by pulling the missing records.
  • Main-feed records are signed, so their content can’t be forged or rewritten without the signature failing.
  • Nodes check each record’s signature when it arrives, and the app checks signatures again when it shows content.
How it fits together

Three parts, one network.

Your device

The Pixelmine app

Holds your keys and encrypts private messages, followers-only posts, and their files before they are sent.

↓
Storage network

Storer nodes

Independently run nodes store your posts and messages and copy posts among themselves, keeping them available across the network.

↓
Coordination

Connective service

A thin service relays notifications and delivers wrapped keys between users, without seeing what your messages say.

In everyday terms

What happens when
you post.

The ideas above come together in a simple sequence, the same one whether you are sharing a post or sending a message.

STEP 01

You create it

You write a post or message in the app, on your own device.

STEP 02

It gets locked

If it is meant for a limited audience, it is encrypted before it leaves your device so only they can open it.

STEP 03

The network holds it

Nodes keep the locked content, and posts are copied across the network so they can reach wherever they need to go.

STEP 04

Your people open it

The people you shared it with unlock it on their devices. To everyone else, nodes included, it stays unreadable.

Privacy properties

What operators can
and can’t see.

Because private content is encrypted before it reaches the network, the people hosting Pixelmine cannot read it. What they can see is the activity around it.

Operators cannot see
  • The content of private messages
  • The content of followers-only posts
  • Private photos, video and files
  • Your private keys
Operators can see
  • Who follows, blocks, rates and reacts to whom
  • Who is in a conversation, and who sent each message
  • When messages were sent and read
  • Group chat names
  • Public posts and profiles
In the interest of transparency

What Pixelmine doesn’t
claim to be.

Strong privacy comes with honest limits. These are the trade-offs built into the design, stated plainly. A system is only as trustworthy as its clarity about what it cannot do.

Architecture

Hybrid, not fully decentralized

Content storage is distributed across independent nodes, but a lightweight coordination service, the call servers and the live-streaming server are central. None of them can read your private messages or posts, yet they are single services the network relies on.

Metadata

Activity data is visible

Private content is encrypted, but the records around it are not: who follows whom, who is in a conversation, who sent a message and when it was read are stored with plain account IDs. What’s inside stays private; who is involved is visible to node operators.

Trade-off

A practical trade-off

For everyday convenience, two people’s messages are protected by a shared key that stays consistent rather than changing with every single message. Group chats refresh their key whenever the membership changes.

Trust model

Operators are honest-but-curious

The design assumes node operators are not actively malicious, while the cryptography ensures they cannot read private content even if they were. What leans on operators acting in good faith is availability, and discretion with the activity data they hold.

Incentives

Sustained by the people
who run it.

Nodes earn points for verifiable work (syncing with peers, holding files other nodes verify, and staying online), with each report signed. And a share of what each node earns goes to the members of its community.

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