devtools.fm: Developer Tools, Open Source, Software Development Brendan O'Brien - n0, Iroh and the Future of Peer to Peer
19 snips
Jul 7, 2025 Brendan O'Brien is the Founder and CEO of n0, a company specializing in peer-to-peer networking with its innovative library, Iroh. In this conversation, he dives into the core advantages of Iroh, including its high success rates in direct connections. He elaborates on the role of public keys and end-to-end encryption in secure communication. Brendan also discusses the importance of community-driven development, the challenges of data transfer, and the delicate balance between open-source accessibility and sustainable monetization.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Internet Limits Via DNS Control
- Large parts of the internet rely on DNS-based location addressing, which can be easily controlled or restricted.
- A peer-to-peer approach offers an alternative to improve user control and data access reliability.
Iroh's Minimalist P2P Philosophy
- Iroh focuses solely on establishing reliable peer-to-peer transport connections by public key, unlike other all-encompassing P2P libraries.
- This minimalist approach allows composability and improved connection reliability without boiling the ocean.
Reliable Connections Despite Firewalls
- Iroh uses hole punching and encrypted relays to maintain connections even behind firewalls or corporate networks.
- It dynamically negotiates the best path and handles network changes like IP switches without losing packets.