> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.earendil.network/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.earendil.network/wiki/protocols.md).

# Protocols

Earendil presents a pretty simple interface (basically a virtual IPv6-like network device with some convenience methods), but under the hood is many layers of protocols.

This is illustrated by the following picture. **Note that A->B means A depends on B**, not that A somehow sends data unidirectionally to B!

{% @mermaid/diagram content="flowchart TB
subgraph network\["Network layer"]
socket\["Unified socket abstraction"]
haven\["Haven protocol"]
dht\["Rendezvous DHT"]
forward\["Haven forwarding"]
rpc\["GlobalRPC"]
mixnet\["Mixnet protocol"]
onion\["Onion routing"]
end
subgraph lownet\["LowNet"]
link\["Link transport"]
end
socket --> haven
haven --> dht & forward
dht --> rpc
forward --> mixnet
rpc --> mixnet
mixnet --> onion
socks\["SOCKS5 interface"] --> sosistab\["Optionally reliable streams (sosistab2)"]
tcp\["TCP port forwarding"] --> sosistab
sosistab --> socket
tun\["tun-based VPN interface"] --> socket
onion --> link & routegraph\[("Route graph")]" %}