daemonseed v0.36.0 — alpha
Thanks for kicking the tires. daemonseed is an early-alpha, end-to-end-encrypted communication and file-sharing app. It is fully serverless — there is no relay and nothing to connect to. Every client is a peer on the Veilid network, so you don't configure anything; you just run it and it finds the others.
One thing to expect up front: on the first connect (and sometimes after a restart) the app spends roughly three to four minutes "assembling your peer network" before chat and presence come alive. That's normal — the peer-to-peer network warming up, not a hang. It's slower while the network is small; it should get quicker as more people are online. Give it a few minutes before deciding something is stuck.
What's new in v0.36.0
The download subsystem was reworked and hardened — this is the release to hammer file transfers on:
- A downloaded folder now lands in its own folder (named after the share), instead of scattering loose files into your downloads directory.
- Interrupted downloads resume — if a fetch dies partway, re-starting it re-fetches only the missing pieces rather than starting over, and a failed attempt no longer strands a hidden partial copy.
- The folder-download path was hardened for reliability on the current (small, still-warming) Veilid network.
Download
| OS | File |
|---|---|
| Windows | daemonseed-gui.exe |
| Linux (x86_64) | daemonseed-gui-x86_64.AppImage |
Verify against SHA256SUMS if you like.
Run it
Windows — daemonseed-gui.exe
Double-click it. Windows SmartScreen will warn ("Windows protected your PC") because this alpha isn't code-signed yet — click More info → Run anyway. No console window opens; if it won't start or crashes, tell me what you saw (and your Windows version).
--portable — by default your identity/data live in %APPDATA%\daemonseed; run daemonseed-gui.exe --portable from a terminal to keep everything self-contained in the current folder (a throwaway identity or a USB stick). Each portable folder is its own instance.
Linux — daemonseed-gui-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x daemonseed-gui-x86_64.AppImage
./daemonseed-gui-x86_64.AppImage--x11 (Linux only) — if the window misbehaves (clicks don't register, rendering looks off — happens on some Wayland setups), relaunch with --x11 to force X11/XWayland.
--portable — data lives in ~/.config/daemonseed by default; --portable keeps everything in the current directory. --install / --remove add or remove a desktop menu launcher (re-run from the AppImage's new location if you move the file).
First run
You'll set up an identity: a passphrase, a 24-word recovery phrase (write it down — there is no reset and no "forgot password"), and a display name. The build version (v0.36.0) shows at the bottom of the login screen — quote it in any report so I know exactly what you ran. Then let it connect (the ~3–4 minute warmup).
The job: use it, and break it
- Lobby — the shared public space. Send a message, confirm it lands for others, watch messages arrive; check the presence list as people come and go.
- Circles — private invite-based groups. Create, join, chat, and delete one; confirm chat works both ways and there's no crash or leftover state.
- Shares — publish a folder or file (try odd names, a blank name, a big file, a folder of many tiny files, deeply nested folders); Refresh to discover what others share; fetch a whole share, a single folder, or one file (right-click a row). Hammer multi-file folder downloads — that's the path this build reworked. Try fetching while chatting or publishing; switch tabs mid-download. A folder download is all-or-nothing by design, so if one dies, tell me exactly what you were fetching. Publish → unpublish → republish; quit and relaunch — do your shares come back?
Tell me anything confusing, janky, slow, mislabeled, or just wrong — UX papercuts absolutely count.
How to report
For each thing, roughly: version (v0.36.0), your OS, what you did, what you expected, what happened. Screenshots or a short screen recording are gold. Don't polish — ten messy observations beat one tidy one.