Yggdrasil Network

Yggdrasil is an experimental, end-to-end encrypted IPv6 network that is lightweight and self-arranging. It is designed as a future-proof, decentralized alternative to the structured routing protocols that run today's internet, and as an enabling technology for large-scale mesh networks. Any IPv6-capable application can communicate over Yggdrasil without modification, which makes it an unusually practical sovereignty tool: existing software just works across the overlay.

Addressing and encryption

Each node derives a static IPv6 address (and a /64 subnet inside the 200::/7 range) directly from its own public key. All traffic is end-to-end encrypted at all times using the destination's public key, so intermediate relay nodes cannot read what passes through them. Because addresses are key-derived, there is no central registrar handing out blocks and no authority that can revoke your place on the network.

Routing and reach

Yggdrasil uses a compact, tree-based routing scheme so the routing state each node must hold stays small even as the network grows. Nodes are userspace software routers that optionally expose a TUN interface to the host OS. Peering links are formed over LANs, point-to-point connections, or the internet using TCP/TLS, and Yggdrasil does not require native IPv6 connectivity since it also works over IPv4.

Yggdrasil sits alongside other key-addressed overlays in the sovereign stack; see cjdns for a related approach and the mesh VPN entry for coordinated peer-to-peer overlays.