boris/Amber.md

Boris ↔ Amber bunker: current findings

• Environment
  • Client: Boris (web) using applesauce stack (NostrConnectSigner, RelayPool).
  • Bunker: Amber (mobile).
  • We restored a nostr-connect account from localStorage and re-wired the signer to the app RelayPool before use.

What we changed client-side

• Signer wiring

  • Bound NostrConnectSigner.subscriptionMethod/publishMethod to the app RelayPool at startup.
  • After deserialization, recreated the signer with pool context and merged its relays with app RELAYS (includes local relays).
  • Opened the signer subscription and performed a guarded connect() with default permissions including nip04_encrypt/decrypt and nip44_encrypt/decrypt.

• Account queue disabling (CRITICAL)

  • applesauce-accounts BaseAccount queues requests by default - each request waits for the previous one to complete before being sent.
  • This caused batch decrypt operations to hang: first request would timeout waiting for user interaction, blocking all subsequent requests in the queue.
  • Solution: Set accounts.disableQueue = true globally on the AccountManager in App.tsx during initialization. This applies to all accounts.
  • Without this, Amber never sees decrypt requests because they're stuck in the account's internal queue.
  • Reference: https://hzrd149.github.io/applesauce/typedoc/classes/applesauce-accounts.BaseAccount.html#disablequeue

• Probes and timeouts

  • Initial probe tried decrypt('invalid-ciphertext') → timed out.
  • Switched to roundtrip probes: encrypt(self, ... ) then decrypt(self, cipher) for both nip-44 and nip-04.
  • Increased probe timeout from 3s → 10s; increased bookmark decrypt timeout from 15s → 30s.

• Logging

  • Added logs for publish/subscribe and parsed the NIP-46 request content length.
  • Confirmed NIP‑46 request events are kind 24133 with a single p tag (expected). The method is inside the encrypted content, so it prints as method: undefined (expected).

Evidence from logs (client)

[bunker] ✅ Wired NostrConnectSigner to RelayPool publish/subscription
[bunker] 🔗 Signer relays merged with app RELAYS: (19) [...]
[bunker] subscribe via signer: { relays: [...], filters: [...] }
[bunker] ✅ Signer subscription opened
[bunker] publish via signer: { relays: [...], kind: 24133, tags: [['p', <remote>]], contentLength: 260|304|54704 }
[bunker] 🔎 Probe nip44 roundtrip (encrypt→decrypt)… → probe timeout after 10000ms
[bunker] 🔎 Probe nip04 roundtrip (encrypt→decrypt)… → probe timeout after 10000ms
bookmarkProcessing.ts: ❌ nip44.decrypt failed: Decrypt timeout after 30000ms
bookmarkProcessing.ts: ❌ nip04.decrypt failed: Decrypt timeout after 30000ms

Notes:

• Final signer status shows listening: true, isConnected: true, and requests are published to 19 relays (includes Amber’s).

Evidence from Amber (device)

• Activity screen shows multiple entries for: “Encrypt data using nip 4” and “Encrypt data using nip 44” with green checkmarks.
• No entries for “Decrypt data using nip 4” or “Decrypt data using nip 44”.

Interpretation

• Transport and publish paths are working: Boris is publishing NIP‑46 requests (kind 24133) and Amber receives them (ENCRYPT activity visible).
• The persistent failure is specific to DECRYPT handling: Amber does not show any DECRYPT activity and Boris receives no decrypt responses within 10–30s windows.
• Client-side wiring is likely correct (subscription open, permissions requested, relays merged). The remaining issue appears provider-side in Amber’s NIP‑46 decrypt handling or permission gating.

Repro steps (quick)

1. Revoke Boris in Amber.
2. Reconnect with a fresh bunker URI; approve signing and both encrypt/decrypt scopes for nip‑04 and nip‑44.
3. Keep Amber unlocked and foregrounded.
4. Reload Boris; observe:
   • Logs showing publish via signer for kind 24133.
   • In Amber, activity should include “Decrypt data using nip 4/44”.

If DECRYPT entries still don’t appear:

• This points to Amber’s NIP‑46 provider not executing/authorizing nip04_decrypt/nip44_decrypt methods, or not publishing responses.

Suggestions for Amber-side debugging

• Verify permission gating allows nip04_decrypt and nip44_decrypt (not just encrypt).
• Confirm the provider recognizes NIP‑46 methods nip04_decrypt and nip44_decrypt in the decrypted payload and routes them to decrypt routines.
• Ensure the response event is published back to the same relays and correctly addressed to the client (p tag set and content encrypted back to client pubkey).
• Add activity logging for “Decrypt …” attempts and failures to surface denial/exception states.

Performance improvements (post-debugging)

Non-blocking publish wiring

• Problem: Awaiting pool.publish() completion blocks until all relay sends finish (can take 30s+ with timeouts).
• Solution: Wrapped NostrConnectSigner.publishMethod at app startup to fire-and-forget publish Observable/Promise; responses still arrive via signer subscription.
• Result: Encrypt/decrypt operations complete in <2s as seen in /debug page (NIP-44: ~900ms enc, ~700ms dec; NIP-04: ~1s enc, ~2s dec).

Bookmark decryption optimization

• Problem #1: Sequential decrypt of encrypted bookmark events blocks UI and takes long with multiple events.
• Problem #2: 30-second timeouts on nip44.decrypt meant waiting 30s per event if bunker didn't support nip44.
• Problem #3: Account request queue blocked all decrypt requests until first one completed (waiting for user interaction).
• Solution:
  • Removed all artificial timeouts - let decrypt fail naturally like debug page does.
  • Added smart encryption detection (NIP-04 has ?iv=, NIP-44 doesn't) to try the right method first.
  • Disabled account queue globally (accounts.disableQueue = true) in App.tsx so all requests are sent immediately.
  • Process sequentially (removed concurrent mapWithConcurrency hack).
• Result: Bookmark decryption is near-instant, limited only by bunker response time and user approval speed.

Current conclusion

• Client is configured and publishing requests correctly; encryption proves end‑to‑end path is alive.
• Non-blocking publish keeps operations fast (~1-2s for encrypt/decrypt).
• Account queue is GLOBALLY DISABLED - this was the primary cause of hangs/timeouts.
• Smart encryption detection and no artificial timeouts make operations instant.
• Sequential processing is cleaner and more predictable than concurrent hacks.
• Relay queries now trust EOSE signals instead of arbitrary timeouts, completing in 1-2s instead of 6s.
• The missing DECRYPT activity in Amber was partially due to requests never being sent (stuck in queue). With queue disabled globally, Amber receives all decrypt requests immediately.