Rendezvous Key-Value Server

A lightweight, public key-value store server designed as a rendezvous/bootstrap point for mesh networks, distributed applications, and general-purpose key-value storage without registration.

🌐 Public Instance

A public instance is available at: https://rendezvous.jipok.ru

• Key limit: 100 bytes
• Value limit: 1000 bytes
• Rate limit: 11 tokens per minute (POST=3 tokens, GET=1 token)
• Expire time: 2 hours

🚀 API Usage

Store a Value

curl -X POST -d "your-data-here" {CURRENT_HOST}/your-key

The expiration time for a key is reset with every successful POST request, extending its lifetime.

Retrieve a Value

curl {CURRENT_HOST}/your-key

Protecting Values with Owner Secret

You can protect your values from modification by adding the X-Owner-Secret header when posting:

# Store a value with owner protection
curl -X POST -d "your-protected-data" -H "X-Owner-Secret: your-secret-here" {CURRENT_HOST}/your-key

# Update a protected value (requires the same secret)
curl -X POST -d "your-new-data" -H "X-Owner-Secret: your-secret-here" {CURRENT_HOST}/your-key

# This will be rejected if the secret doesn't match
curl -X POST -d "unauthorized-update" -H "X-Owner-Secret: wrong-secret" {CURRENT_HOST}/your-key

Anyone can still read the value, but only someone with the correct secret can modify it.

Note: The secret and the value together must not exceed the maximum value size limit (1000 bytes by default).

IP-Protected Keys

For paths prefixed with /ip/, the server automatically injects the client's IP address into the key:

# If your client IP is 20.18.12.10, this actually stores the value under
# the key "ip/20.18.12.10/service1" automatically
# The response will return your public IP address instead of "OK".
curl -X POST -d "my-server-info" {CURRENT_HOST}/ip/service1

curl {CURRENT_HOST}/ip/20.18.12.10/service1

This feature makes it easy for servers to publish information that only they can modify, without needing to know their public IP in advance. Stored key is automatically prefixed with client's IP, preventing others from overwriting the data.

📋 Use Cases

• Peer Discovery: Help distributed systems and mesh networks discover initial peers
• Configuration Distribution: Share configuration files or bootstrap information
• Temporary Data Exchange: Easy way to share ephemeral data between systems
• IoT Device Coordination: Simple communication point for IoT devices
• Secure Self-Identification: Servers can publish their details under IP-protected keys

🔧 Self-hosted

Using prebuilt

wget https://github.com/Jipok/rendezvous/releases/latest/download/rendezvous-server
chmod +x rendezvous-server
./rendezvous-server

Using Go

git clone https://github.com/Jipok/rendezvous
cd rendezvous
go build
./rendezvous-server

🔑 Features

• No Registration: Just use it directly, no accounts needed
• Simple HTTP API: Store and retrieve values with basic HTTP GET/POST requests
• Ephemeral Storage: Keys automatically expire after configured time
• Rate Limited: Basic protection against abuse (token-based rate limiting per IP)
• Configurable Limits: Adjustable key/value sizes and storage capacity
• Zero Dependencies: Just the server, no databases needed
• Value Protection: Optional secret-based protection for value updates

⚙️ Configuration

Example:

./rendezvous-server -maxValueSize 4096 -expireDuration 24h -port 9000

⚠️ Limitations

• Ephemeral Storage: All data is temporary and will be deleted after expiration
• No Encryption: Data is stored and transmitted without encryption(except TLS)
• Size Limits: Value size limit includes owner secret if used
• IPv4 Only: For rate-limit purpose supports only IPv4 addresses