Kyle Isom
656f22e19b
The web UI connects to the vault API via gRPC using the Docker compose service name (e.g., "metacrypt:9443"), but the vault's TLS certificate has SANs for "crypt.metacircular.net" and "localhost". The new vault_sni config field overrides the TLS ServerName so certificate verification succeeds despite the hostname mismatch. Also updates metacrypt-rift.toml with vault_sni and temporarily binds the web UI port to 0.0.0.0 for direct access until mc-proxy is deployed. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Metacrypt
Metacrypt is a cryptographic service for the Metacircular platform. It provides an encrypted secrets barrier and pluggable cryptographic engines (CA/PKI, SSH CA, transit encryption, user-to-user encryption) over a gRPC and HTTPS API. Authentication is delegated to MCIAS.
It operates using a seal/unseal model similar to HashiCorp Vault: the service starts sealed on every boot and must be unlocked with a password before cryptographic operations are available.
Quick Start
Prerequisites
- Go 1.23+
- A running MCIAS instance
- TLS certificate and key for the server
Build
make metacrypt metacrypt-web
Configure
cp deploy/examples/metacrypt.toml /srv/metacrypt/metacrypt.toml
# Edit to set listen_addr, tls_cert, tls_key, database.path, mcias.server_url
Initialize
./metacrypt init --config /srv/metacrypt/metacrypt.toml
This prompts for a seal password and generates the master encryption key. Store the seal password securely — it cannot be recovered if lost.
Run
./metacrypt server --config /srv/metacrypt/metacrypt.toml
The service starts sealed. Unseal it:
curl -sk -X POST https://localhost:8443/v1/unseal \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"password":"<seal-password>"}'
Or use the web UI: navigate to https://<host>:8443/.
Docker
make docker
docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml up -d
See RUNBOOK.md for volume setup instructions.
Further Reading
| Document | Contents |
|---|---|
| ARCHITECTURE.md | Cryptographic design, key hierarchy, engine architecture, API reference, security model |
| RUNBOOK.md | Installation, daily operations, backup/restore, monitoring, troubleshooting |
| PKI-ENGINE-PLAN.md | CA engine implementation plan |
Development
make build # Build all packages
make test # Run tests
make vet # Static analysis
make lint # golangci-lint
make proto # Regenerate protobuf/gRPC stubs
make proto-lint # Lint and check proto breaking changes