#Networking

WWKG nodes communicate directly with each other over the network. A single port handles both HTTP client requests and node-to-node traffic.

#How nodes find each other

WWKG uses multiple discovery mechanisms so that nodes can connect without manual configuration:

• Local network — nodes on the same LAN discover each other automatically. This is how the CLI finds a local server without needing a --server flag.
• Global discovery — nodes register their address so that nodes on other networks can find them.
• Direct connections — once two nodes know about each other, they establish a direct connection for the lowest possible latency.

#NAT traversal and relay servers

When a node is behind a firewall or NAT (common in home networks and corporate environments), direct connections from the outside are blocked. The --relay flag tells the server to register with public relay servers that help establish connectivity:

wwkg node serve --relay

With relay enabled:

1. Your node registers with one or more relay servers.
2. Remote nodes connect to the relay, which forwards traffic to your node.
3. Whenever possible, WWKG upgrades the relayed connection to a direct link. The relay is then no longer involved.

Relay servers never see your data in plaintext — all workspace data is end-to-end encrypted before it leaves your node.

Use --relay when your node needs to be reachable by nodes outside your local network.

#Connection methods

The CLI supports several ways to connect to a server:

#Automatic discovery (default)

wwkg client query "SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?p ?o } LIMIT 10"

The client discovers a WWKG server on the local network automatically. No configuration required.

#Direct connection via ticket

If the server is not on the local network, use a connection ticket:

wwkg client query "SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?p ?o }" --ticket <ticket>

Or set the WWKG_TICKET environment variable:

export WWKG_TICKET=<ticket>
wwkg client query "SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?p ?o }"

#HTTP transport

For environments where the default transport is blocked, fall back to HTTP:

wwkg client query "SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?p ?o }" --http --server http://192.168.1.10:4242

#Joining an existing node

When installing multiple nodes on the same machine, use --nodes to run several host daemons:

sudo wwkg install --node-only --nodes 3

Each node gets its own QUIC port starting from the default (4242, 4243, 4244) and its own data directory.