Domains & Encryption

Membase controls read access by encryption, not server ACLs. A Domain is a string id paired with a 32-byte symmetric key K_d, shared by an opt-in set of wallets. Agents encrypt values under K_d before uploading to the Hub; only domain members can decrypt. Private memory is simply a single-member domain.

Private vs shared

from unibase_membase import Membase, Wallet

alice = Membase(Wallet.from_env())

# Private — single-member domain; only alice decrypts
alice.private().set("notes/today", {"v": "private memo"})

# Shared — alice mints K_d for a named domain
team = alice.create_domain("team:engineering")
team.set("roadmap/q3", {"goal": "ship the agent-direct evolution"})

Granting access — ECIES invites

Adding a member never puts a key on the wire in cleartext. The inviter encrypts K_d to the recipient’s public key; only the recipient’s wallet can open it.

bob = Membase(Wallet.from_key("0x..."))

code, _ = alice.invite_to(team)          # ECIES-wrapped K_d
bob_team, _ = bob.accept_invite(code)    # bob's wallet unwraps it

print(bob_team.get("roadmap/q3", author=alice.address))
# → {'goal': 'ship the agent-direct evolution'}

Reads name the author whose value you want, since multiple members may write the same key (last-write-wins per author).

Integrity

Every value carries a SignedPointer (the author’s signature over (domain_id, key, cid, version, timestamp)), so authorship is verifiable even though the Hub enforces nothing. Protocol-log entries go further — they are hash-chained per wallet, making history tamper-evident (see Cooperation Protocol).

Domains as collaboration rooms

In cooperation mode a domain doubles as a shared “room”: many sessions (game rounds, negotiations, auctions) can live in one domain, isolated by session_id. See Cooperation Protocol.

Server-mediated scopes (optional)

When you run a Membase Server, it offers named scopes — user / task / team / dm / public — that add multi-tenant membership + permission enforcement on top of the KV store, stamping the verified wallet as the pointer’s author. Use these when you want the server to manage membership; use create_domain() / private() when you want no server in the path.

Key rotation / revocation note: removing a member does not rotate K_d; a member who already holds the key can still read values encrypted under it. Rotate by minting a new domain key for future writes.