Tool Integrations¶
External tools used across BNI projects. Brief reference — follow the docs link for full detail.
Communication & Storage¶
Proton Drive E2E encrypted cloud storage. No public API — use the desktop sync app to expose a local folder. Read/write locally; Proton handles encrypted sync. Proton Bridge covers Mail only (IMAP/SMTP), not Drive. Docs: https://proton.me/support/proton-drive
Privacy & Anonymity¶
Surveyed in depth in Comms Architecture Reconsideration. Reference picks for the Second Boot Ubuntu toolbox + curriculum.
Tor (internet tool + optional contribution)
Anonymity network. Roles: Tor Browser (anonymous browsing, Ubuntu desktop), Orbot (route Android app traffic), torsocks (CLI), v3 onion services (host without IP exposure). Embeddable client via Arti (Rust crate, MIT/Apache) — the path to add IP-protection to MPowerUP. Running a non-exit bridge/middle relay on a refurb/Pi-class node is an on-mission contribution + curriculum lab; do not run exit relays without ISP/legal sign-off. See Tor as infrastructure.
Docs: https://www.torproject.org · Relay requirements: https://community.torproject.org/relay/relays-requirements/
Briar (offline-resilient secure messenger, Android) P2P messenger that works with no internet — Bluetooth/Wi-Fi mesh + sneakernet + Briar Mailbox (async via a spare/refurb device). No phone number, no account, Cure53-audited, Tor for internet transport. GPLv3. Recommended privacy messenger for the Second Boot toolbox and an honest interim referral for MPowerUP's users. Profile: candidates-tor-native. Docs: https://briarproject.org
Domains & Web¶
Cloudflare
Squarespace ( moving off this) Domain registration and DNS for bignerdidea.com and bignerdidea.org. Managed under [email protected] (personal) and [email protected] (Foundation). Docs: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/categories/200294488
Hosting & Infrastructure¶
GitHub / GitHub Pages Source control and CI/CD for all BNI projects. Docs site (big-nerd-idea) publishes to GitHub Pages via GitHub Actions on push to main. Org: https://github.com/Big-Nerd-Idea Docs: https://docs.github.com
Cloudflare Pages Recommended for static landing pages (bignerdidea.com / .org). Free tier, global CDN, easy GitHub integration. Docs: https://developers.cloudflare.com/pages
Fly.io WebSocket-persistent Node.js servers — MPowerUP relay, Colyseus game server. Free tier includes 3 shared VMs. Docs: https://fly.io/docs
Vercel Next.js hosting for RlivN admin portal. Free hobby tier; GitHub integration. Docs: https://vercel.com/docs
Railway Fastify API hosting. $5 credit/month free tier. Simple deploy from GitHub. Docs: https://docs.railway.app
AWS (free tier) EC2 t3.micro (12 months), S3, CloudFront, Lambda, Amplify. Reserve for workloads that outgrow the above. Docs: https://aws.amazon.com/free
AI & ML¶
Anthropic / Claude API Cloud inference for RlivN companion AI. Ephemeral sessions — no conversation retention. Model: claude-sonnet-4-6. Docs: https://docs.anthropic.com
Ollama Local LLM inference on the RlivN tablet. Offline fallback when Claude API is unavailable. Model updates are signed and hash-pinned. Docs: https://github.com/ollama/ollama
Data¶
FalkorDB Redis-module graph database. Used at the MPowerUP relay layer for circle graph operations (revocation quorum, Sybil detection). In-memory by default — aligns with no-persistence relay policy. Docs: https://docs.falkordb.com
Kuzu Embedded graph DB (C++ core, Cypher, MIT licensed). Identified as future device-side replacement for SQLite adjacency tables once React Native bindings are available. Docs: https://kuzudb.com/docusaurus/docs
Documentation¶
MkDocs + Material theme
Static site generator for all BNI public docs. Source in docs/, builds to site/, published via GitHub Pages. Use /MkDocs serve|publish|kill.
Docs: https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material
Finance & Operations¶
Open Collective Interim fiscal sponsorship before 501(c)(3) is granted. ~5% fee. Enables tax-deductible donations immediately. Evaluate once public fundraising begins. Docs: https://docs.opencollective.com