Overview

Stores are a structured data storage and communication tool used for file exchange and management.

Users create Stores to organize topic-specific spaces where they can securely upload encrypted files and share them with designated participants. All the active users are notified right away when a file is uploaded or modified. Stores can be integrated with Threads.

Architecture

Think of a Store like a folder that allows you to store files, which can include any binary or text data as well as metadata. Each Store has its own set of permissions, managed by assigning the users’ public keys to the Store. Only the users with assigned public keys can read or write files from that Store. Decryption of these files is possible only with the corresponding private keys.

Each file is protected by a synchronous key, which is further secured using an asynchronous pair of public and private user keys. This dual-layer encryption ensures that the system remains both safe and efficient. Learn more about our advanced encryption methods and how they safeguard your files.

A distinguishing feature of Stores is that the files are stored using segmentation, and access to them is via streaming. This allows for asynchronous reading and writing to these files without the need to download the entire file to memory or the local machine’s storage. There is also no upper limit on the size of these files. All of this remains perfectly secure using dual-layer encryption.

The following diagram is a visual reference for the architecture of Stores:

Files

The main data units in Stores are files, which contain binary data, as well as metadata:

• privateMeta - encrypted data about the file
• publicMeta - decrypted additional data about the file

Each file also has information assigned by the Bridge, which is impossible to modify.

To learn more about files, go to Uploading Files.

Examples

• Storee