@oxy.so/protocol 1.0.1 → 1.1.1

package/dist/types/auth/registrationPow.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/**
+ * Registration proof-of-work — the message format and difficulty check a
+ * signup grinds a nonce against, shared verbatim between the client (which
+ * SOLVES it) and the server (which CHECKS it).
+ *
+ * ## Why this exists
+ *
+ * `POST /auth/register` mints an account from nothing more than a freshly
+ * generated secp256k1 keypair and a signature over
+ * `oxy:register:{publicKey}:{timestamp}` — computationally free. A PoW nonce
+ * makes each account cost a small, real amount of CPU time to mint, without
+ * asking a real signer for anything beyond what they already do locally: no
+ * server round trip, no third-party CAPTCHA, no extra user-visible step.
+ *
+ * ## Single source, on purpose
+ *
+ * The client must SOLVE the exact message the server CHECKS, so the message
+ * format and the difficulty threshold live here once, in a package both
+ * `@oxy.so/core` (the client SDK) and the API already depend on for
+ * secp256k1 — see `packages/contracts/src/username.ts`'s docblock for why
+ * this codebase treats "the same rule declared twice" as a bug class, not a
+ * style preference. This file is deliberately CRYPTO-FREE: it is pure
+ * string/bit arithmetic over a caller-supplied hex digest, so it needs no
+ * platform hashing primitive and is trivially unit-testable with fixed
+ * digests. Each side hashes with whatever SHA-256 it already has — Node's
+ * `crypto` server-side (`packages/api/src/controllers/session.controller.ts`),
+ * `@noble/hashes/sha256` client-side (`packages/core/src/crypto/registrationPow.ts`,
+ * already a `@oxy.so/core` dependency — see `crypto/kdf.ts`,
+ * `crypto/identityProof.ts`) — and both produce byte-identical digests over
+ * the same message, because SHA-256 has exactly one correct output for a
+ * given input regardless of implementation.
+ *
+ * ## What this is NOT
+ *
+ * Not a defense against a targeted, patient attacker: nothing stops one from
+ * choosing their OWN `timestamp` a few minutes in the future and grinding the
+ * nonce ahead of time, banking a queue of pre-solved (timestamp, nonce) pairs
+ * to spend inside the 5-minute signature freshness window
+ * (`SignatureService.isTimestampFresh` / `MAX_SIGNATURE_AGE_MS`). Closing that
+ * needs a server-issued, single-use challenge — a real round trip and server
+ * state this deliberately does not add, because the goal here is raising the
+ * COST of unattended bulk signup, not proving liveness. Combined with a
+ * per-IP rate limit on `/auth/register`, it still meaningfully raises the
+ * price of automated mass account creation over today's zero-cost baseline.
+ *
+ * ## Rollout: advisory only, for now
+ *
+ * `POST /auth/register`'s `powNonce` field is OPTIONAL on the wire and the
+ * server does not yet reject a missing or failing one — see the comment at
+ * the check site in `packages/api/src/controllers/session.controller.ts` for
+ * why (every Oxy app consumes the SDK as a published package, not this
+ * monorepo live, so hard-enforcing before every app has picked up a client
+ * new enough to send it would break their signup outright) and exactly what
+ * to change to flip it to a hard 400.
+ */
+/**
+ * The message a registration PoW nonce is grinded against, given the same
+ * `publicKey`/`timestamp` the registration signature (`oxy:register:…`)
+ * already commits to. A distinct prefix (`register-pow`, not `register`) so a
+ * solved PoW nonce can never be replayed as a registration signature input or
+ * vice versa — the two are unrelated preimages even for the same
+ * `publicKey`/`timestamp` pair.
+ */
+export declare function registrationPowMessage(publicKey: string, timestamp: number, nonce: string): string;
+/**
+ * The number of leading zero bits {@link meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty}
+ * requires of a solved nonce's digest.
+ *
+ * 16 bits ⇒ 65,536 SHA-256 attempts on average to solve. The client grinds
+ * with `@noble/hashes/sha256` — a pure-JS, SYNCHRONOUS implementation with
+ * "identical behaviour on web, Node, and React Native with zero WebCrypto /
+ * native-module dependency" (its own doc comment in `crypto/kdf.ts`) — so,
+ * unlike a solve loop built on a platform hashing primitive that crosses a
+ * JS↔native bridge per call (`expo-crypto`'s `digestStringAsync`, which this
+ * deliberately avoids for exactly that reason), there is no per-attempt
+ * bridge cost to budget for. The remaining uncertainty is Hermes' lack of a
+ * JIT, which can make a tight pure-JS loop meaningfully slower than V8 — 16
+ * bits is chosen to stay a sub-second grind even under that penalty, without
+ * reaching for a bound high enough to make Hermes specifically the deciding
+ * factor. Retune this constant (it is the only place the number is declared)
+ * once there is real on-device telemetry across the low end of the supported
+ * device range.
+ */
+export declare const REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS = 16;
+/**
+ * Count the leading zero BITS of a lowercase hex digest.
+ *
+ * Stops at the first non-zero nibble — a solved nonce only ever needs to beat
+ * a bound in the tens of bits, so scanning the full 256-bit digest is wasted
+ * work. A character outside `[0-9a-f]` (not a real digest — a caller passed
+ * something malformed) stops the count where it is rather than throwing: the
+ * caller compares the result against a difficulty, and an under-count from bad
+ * input correctly fails that comparison instead of crashing a request path.
+ */
+export declare function countLeadingZeroBits(hexDigest: string): number;
+/**
+ * Whether a SHA-256 hex digest — of {@link registrationPowMessage} — clears
+ * `difficultyBits` leading zero bits. The one predicate both the client's
+ * solve loop and the server's check call, so neither can drift from what
+ * "solved" means.
+ */
+export declare function meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty(hexDigest: string, difficultyBits: number): boolean;

package/dist/types/index.d.ts

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ export { EMPTY_TRANSPARENCY_ROOT, transparencyLeafHash, buildTransparencyTree, b
 export type { TransparencyHeadEntry, TransparencyTree, TransparencyTreeFromHeads, InclusionProofCheck, } from './transparency/tree';
 export { checkpointSigningInput, checkpointHash, signCheckpoint, verifyCheckpointSignature, } from './transparency/checkpoint';
 export type { TransparencyCheckpointFields, TransparencyCheckpointSignature, } from './transparency/checkpoint';
+export { registrationPowMessage, countLeadingZeroBits, meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty, REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS, } from './auth/registrationPow';
 export { isAuthorizedKey } from './identity/resolver';
 export type { VerificationMethodResolver, ResolvedVerificationMethods, KeyAuthorization, } from './identity/resolver';
 export { isReactNative, isNodeJS } from './platform/platform';

package/dist/types/platform/crypto.d.ts

@@ -83,11 +83,5 @@ export declare function loadAsyncStorage(): Promise<{
         removeItem: (key: string) => Promise<void>;
     };
 }>;
-/**
- * Synchronous random-bytes via `expo-crypto.getRandomBytes`. Only available
- * in the React Native variant. The default variant throws because Node and
- * browsers have their own native CSPRNGs (`crypto.randomBytes` and
- * `crypto.getRandomValues` respectively) — callers should use those.
- */
-export declare function getRandomBytesRN(_byteCount: number): Uint8Array;
+export { getRandomBytesRN } from './random';
 export declare function loadSharedIdentityBridge(): Promise<SharedIdentityBridge | null>;

package/dist/types/platform/crypto.native.d.ts

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
  * Those three RN modules are declared OPTIONAL peer dependencies in
  * `package.json`. A static `import` contradicts that: an optional peer that is
  * omitted does not degrade, it fails to RESOLVE, and Metro aborts the whole
- * bundle. Because `@oxy.so/core`'s `crypto/polyfill` imports `@oxy.so/protocol`
+ * bundle. Because `@oxy.so/core` imports `@oxy.so/protocol`
  * from its root entry, this file is in the eager graph of EVERY React Native
  * app on `@oxy.so/core` — so a single undeclared optional peer broke the native
  * bundle of every app that did not happen to install it, with a resolution
@@ -65,13 +65,5 @@ export declare function loadSecureStore(): Promise<ExpoSecureStoreLike>;
 export declare function loadAsyncStorage(): Promise<{
     default: AsyncStorageLike;
 }>;
-/**
- * Synchronous random-bytes via `expo-crypto.getRandomBytes`.
- *
- * Synchronous by contract: `@oxy.so/core`'s crypto polyfill uses this to back
- * `globalThis.crypto.getRandomValues`, which cannot await. That is why
- * `expo-crypto` is resolved with a synchronous `require` at module scope rather
- * than a dynamic `import()`.
- */
-export declare function getRandomBytesRN(byteCount: number): Uint8Array;
+export { getRandomBytesRN } from './random.native';
 export declare function loadSharedIdentityBridge(): Promise<SharedIdentityBridge | null>;

package/dist/types/platform/optionalPeer.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+/**
+ * Actionable error for a missing optional React Native peer.
+ *
+ * Shared by the React Native platform variants (`crypto.native.ts`,
+ * `random.native.ts`). It carries the underlying Metro resolution message so
+ * the failure is never silent: the variants' `try { require(...) } catch` only
+ * defers the report to the point where the capability is actually used.
+ */
+export declare function missingOptionalPeerError(packageName: string, capability: string, cause: unknown): Error;

package/dist/types/platform/random.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+/**
+ * Synchronous CSPRNG source — default variant (Node.js, browsers, bundlers).
+ *
+ * Companion to `./random.native.ts`, which Metro substitutes on iOS / Android.
+ * Node and browsers own a native CSPRNG (`node:crypto`, `globalThis.crypto`),
+ * so `getRandomBytesRN` only exists here to keep both variants' surfaces
+ * identical, and throws if anything reaches it outside React Native.
+ *
+ * Like its sibling, this module imports nothing: it is part of the
+ * `@oxy.so/protocol/random` entry that `@oxy.so/core`'s crypto polyfill loads
+ * BEFORE any crypto library is evaluated.
+ */
+export declare function getRandomBytesRN(_byteCount: number): Uint8Array;

package/dist/types/platform/random.native.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/**
+ * Synchronous CSPRNG source — React Native variant.
+ *
+ * Companion to `./random.ts`; Metro substitutes this file on iOS / Android
+ * (see `./crypto.ts` for how the `.native` split works).
+ *
+ * This module is deliberately tiny and imports NOTHING but `expo-crypto`: it
+ * backs `@oxy.so/core`'s `globalThis.crypto.getRandomValues` polyfill, which
+ * must be fully installed before any module that captures `globalThis.crypto`
+ * at evaluation time (`@noble/hashes` 1.x's `crypto.js` does exactly that) is
+ * evaluated. Reaching a crypto library from here would let that library
+ * capture the missing global first and throw
+ * `crypto.getRandomValues must be defined` for the lifetime of the app.
+ *
+ * `expo-crypto` is an OPTIONAL peer, so it is resolved with a string-literal
+ * `require` inside a `try` (Metro's optional-dependency form; see
+ * `./crypto.native.ts`), and the load stays synchronous because
+ * `getRandomValues` cannot await.
+ */
+import type { ExpoCryptoLike } from './expoTypes';
+/**
+ * The resolved `expo-crypto` module, or an actionable error naming the missing
+ * peer and the capability that needed it. Shared with `./crypto.native.ts` so
+ * the optional peer is resolved in exactly one place.
+ */
+export declare function requireExpoCrypto(capability: string): ExpoCryptoLike;
+/**
+ * Synchronous random bytes via `expo-crypto.getRandomBytes`.
+ *
+ * Synchronous by contract: `@oxy.so/core`'s crypto polyfill uses this to back
+ * `globalThis.crypto.getRandomValues`, which cannot await.
+ */
+export declare function getRandomBytesRN(byteCount: number): Uint8Array;

package/dist/types/random.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/**
+ * `@oxy.so/protocol/random` — the platform randomness source, and nothing else.
+ *
+ * `@oxy.so/core`'s crypto polyfill installs `globalThis.crypto.getRandomValues`
+ * on hosts that lack it (React Native / Hermes). `@noble/hashes` 1.x captures
+ * `globalThis.crypto` ONCE, when its `crypto.js` is evaluated, so the polyfill
+ * has to be installed before any `@noble/*` module is evaluated. ES imports are
+ * evaluated before the importing module's body, so whatever the polyfill
+ * imports is evaluated first: importing the ROOT entry (which reaches
+ * `@noble/curves` through the envelope signer) let noble capture `undefined`
+ * and broke identity creation on Android.
+ *
+ * This entry therefore reaches no crypto library, no `@oxy.so/*` package and no
+ * third-party module other than the optional `expo-crypto` peer (RN variant
+ * only). `src/__tests__/randomEntry.test.ts` walks its module graph to keep it
+ * that way.
+ */
+export { isNodeJS, isReactNative } from './platform/platform';
+export { getRandomBytesRN } from './platform/random';

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@oxy.so/protocol",
-  "version": "1.0.1",
+  "version": "1.1.1",
   "description": "Oxy Protocol — the app-agnostic base substrate: signed-record envelope, canonical JSON, signature/verification, and platform crypto. Reused by any Oxy app to decentralize its own content.",
   "main": "dist/cjs/index.js",
   "module": "dist/esm/index.js",
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
       ],
       "node": [
         "dist/types/node/index.d.ts"
+      ],
+      "random": [
+        "dist/types/random.d.ts"
       ]
     }
   },
@@ -56,11 +59,25 @@
       },
       "default": "./dist/esm/secp256k1.js"
     },
+    "./random": {
+      "react-native": "./dist/esm/random.js",
+      "import": {
+        "types": "./dist/types/random.d.ts",
+        "default": "./dist/esm/random.js"
+      },
+      "require": {
+        "types": "./dist/types/random.d.ts",
+        "default": "./dist/cjs/random.js"
+      },
+      "default": "./dist/esm/random.js"
+    },
     "./package.json": "./package.json"
   },
   "react-native": {
     "./dist/esm/platform/crypto.js": "./dist/esm/platform/crypto.native.js",
-    "./dist/cjs/platform/crypto.js": "./dist/cjs/platform/crypto.native.js"
+    "./dist/cjs/platform/crypto.js": "./dist/cjs/platform/crypto.native.js",
+    "./dist/esm/platform/random.js": "./dist/esm/platform/random.native.js",
+    "./dist/cjs/platform/random.js": "./dist/cjs/platform/random.native.js"
   },
   "files": [
     "NOTICE",
@@ -81,7 +98,7 @@
     "directory": "packages/protocol"
   },
   "author": "OxyHQ",
-  "license": "Apache-2.0",
+  "license": "SEE LICENSE IN LICENSE",
   "homepage": "https://oxy.so",
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=18.0.0"
@@ -114,7 +131,7 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@noble/curves": "^1.9.7",
-    "@oxy.so/contracts": "^1.0.0",
+    "@oxy.so/contracts": "^1.4.0",
     "zod": "^3.25.64"
   },
   "peerDependencies": {

package/src/__tests__/randomEntry.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+/**
+ * `@oxy.so/protocol/random` must reach no module other than its own platform
+ * files and the optional `expo-crypto` peer.
+ *
+ * `@oxy.so/core`'s crypto polyfill imports this entry to install
+ * `globalThis.crypto.getRandomValues` on React Native. Everything the polyfill
+ * imports is evaluated BEFORE the polyfill body, and `@noble/hashes` 1.x
+ * captures `globalThis.crypto` once, at evaluation. When the polyfill imported
+ * the root entry instead, noble was reached through the envelope signer,
+ * captured `undefined`, and every Android identity creation failed with
+ * `crypto.getRandomValues must be defined`. This guard keeps the entry's graph
+ * dependency-free, including the `.native` siblings Metro substitutes.
+ */
+
+import { existsSync, readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { dirname, join, resolve } from 'node:path';
+
+const SRC_DIR = resolve(__dirname, '..');
+const RANDOM_ENTRY = join(SRC_DIR, 'random.ts');
+
+/**
+ * Every value-level module specifier: static imports/re-exports, literal
+ * `require()`s and `import()`s. Comments are stripped first so prose that
+ * mentions a module (these files document why they avoid them) is not counted.
+ */
+function valueSpecifiers(rawSource: string): string[] {
+  const source = rawSource.replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '').replace(/^\s*\/\/.*$/gm, '');
+  const specifiers: string[] = [];
+  const patterns = [
+    /(?:^|\n)\s*(?:import|export)\s+(?!type\s)[\s\S]*?\sfrom\s+['"]([^'"]+)['"]/g,
+    /(?:^|\n)\s*import\s+['"]([^'"]+)['"]/g,
+    /\brequire\(\s*['"]([^'"]+)['"]\s*\)/g,
+    /\bimport\(\s*['"]([^'"]+)['"]\s*\)/g,
+  ];
+  for (const pattern of patterns) {
+    let match = pattern.exec(source);
+    while (match !== null) {
+      specifiers.push(match[1]);
+      match = pattern.exec(source);
+    }
+  }
+  return specifiers;
+}
+
+function resolveRelative(fromFile: string, specifier: string): string {
+  const base = resolve(dirname(fromFile), specifier);
+  for (const candidate of [`${base}.ts`, join(base, 'index.ts')]) {
+    if (existsSync(candidate)) {
+      return candidate;
+    }
+  }
+  throw new Error(`unresolved relative import '${specifier}' in ${fromFile}`);
+}
+
+function walk(entry: string): { files: string[]; external: string[] } {
+  const seen = new Set<string>();
+  const external = new Set<string>();
+  const queue = [entry];
+  while (queue.length > 0) {
+    const file = queue.shift() as string;
+    if (seen.has(file)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    seen.add(file);
+    const nativeSibling = file.replace(/\.ts$/, '.native.ts');
+    if (!file.endsWith('.native.ts') && existsSync(nativeSibling)) {
+      queue.push(nativeSibling);
+    }
+    for (const specifier of valueSpecifiers(readFileSync(file, 'utf8'))) {
+      if (specifier.startsWith('.')) {
+        queue.push(resolveRelative(file, specifier));
+      } else {
+        external.add(specifier);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return { files: [...seen], external: [...external] };
+}
+
+describe('@oxy.so/protocol/random entry', () => {
+  it('reaches no third-party module other than the optional expo-crypto peer', () => {
+    expect(walk(RANDOM_ENTRY).external).toEqual(['expo-crypto']);
+  });
+
+  it('includes the React Native variant that Metro substitutes', () => {
+    // Sanity check on the walker: without the native sibling the guard above
+    // would pass vacuously on the default (import-free) variant.
+    expect(walk(RANDOM_ENTRY).files).toEqual(
+      expect.arrayContaining([join(SRC_DIR, 'platform', 'random.native.ts')]),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('is exported as a package subpath', () => {
+    const manifest = JSON.parse(readFileSync(resolve(SRC_DIR, '..', 'package.json'), 'utf8')) as {
+      exports: Record<string, unknown>;
+    };
+    expect(manifest.exports['./random']).toBeDefined();
+  });
+
+  it('exposes the platform predicates and the RN randomness source', () => {
+    const entry = require('../random') as typeof import('../random');
+    expect(typeof entry.isNodeJS).toBe('function');
+    expect(typeof entry.isReactNative).toBe('function');
+    expect(entry.isNodeJS()).toBe(true);
+    expect(() => entry.getRandomBytesRN(8)).toThrow(/outside React Native/);
+  });
+});

package/src/__tests__/registrationPow.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import {
+  countLeadingZeroBits,
+  meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty,
+  registrationPowMessage,
+  REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS,
+} from "../auth/registrationPow";
+
+describe("registrationPowMessage", () => {
+  test("binds publicKey, timestamp and nonce, distinct from the registration signature message", () => {
+    expect(registrationPowMessage("pk", 1700000000000, "42")).toBe(
+      "oxy:register-pow:pk:1700000000000:42",
+    );
+  });
+
+  test("a different nonce is a different message", () => {
+    expect(registrationPowMessage("pk", 1, "a")).not.toBe(
+      registrationPowMessage("pk", 1, "b"),
+    );
+  });
+});
+
+describe("countLeadingZeroBits", () => {
+  test.each([
+    ["", 0],
+    ["f", 0],
+    ["8000", 0],
+    ["0", 4],
+    ["00", 8],
+    ["01", 7],
+    ["0f", 4],
+    ["1f", 3],
+    ["2f", 2],
+    ["4f", 1],
+    ["0000f", 16],
+    // Case-insensitive: the digest producers this compares against are
+    // lowercase, but the counter must not silently under-count an uppercase one.
+    ["00F", 8],
+  ])("counts %s as %i leading zero bits", (hex, expected) => {
+    expect(countLeadingZeroBits(hex)).toBe(expected);
+  });
+
+  test("stops at the first non-zero nibble rather than scanning the whole digest", () => {
+    expect(countLeadingZeroBits(`00f${"0".repeat(60)}`)).toBe(8);
+  });
+
+  test("a non-hex character ends the count instead of throwing", () => {
+    expect(countLeadingZeroBits("0z")).toBe(4);
+    expect(() => countLeadingZeroBits("not-hex-at-all")).not.toThrow();
+  });
+});
+
+describe("meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty", () => {
+  test("passes a digest that clears the bound", () => {
+    expect(meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty("00f0", 8)).toBe(true);
+    expect(meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty("00f0", 9)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test("an exact match at the bound passes", () => {
+    expect(meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty("00f0", 8)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test("the exported difficulty constant is a defensible, positive bound", () => {
+    // Pinned as a regression check on the constant itself: a change here is a
+    // deliberate retune, not an accidental one, and shows up in review.
+    expect(REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS).toBe(16);
+    expect(meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty("0".repeat(64), REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS)).toBe(
+      true,
+    );
+    expect(meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty("f".repeat(64), REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS)).toBe(
+      false,
+    );
+  });
+});

package/src/auth/registrationPow.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+/**
+ * Registration proof-of-work — the message format and difficulty check a
+ * signup grinds a nonce against, shared verbatim between the client (which
+ * SOLVES it) and the server (which CHECKS it).
+ *
+ * ## Why this exists
+ *
+ * `POST /auth/register` mints an account from nothing more than a freshly
+ * generated secp256k1 keypair and a signature over
+ * `oxy:register:{publicKey}:{timestamp}` — computationally free. A PoW nonce
+ * makes each account cost a small, real amount of CPU time to mint, without
+ * asking a real signer for anything beyond what they already do locally: no
+ * server round trip, no third-party CAPTCHA, no extra user-visible step.
+ *
+ * ## Single source, on purpose
+ *
+ * The client must SOLVE the exact message the server CHECKS, so the message
+ * format and the difficulty threshold live here once, in a package both
+ * `@oxy.so/core` (the client SDK) and the API already depend on for
+ * secp256k1 — see `packages/contracts/src/username.ts`'s docblock for why
+ * this codebase treats "the same rule declared twice" as a bug class, not a
+ * style preference. This file is deliberately CRYPTO-FREE: it is pure
+ * string/bit arithmetic over a caller-supplied hex digest, so it needs no
+ * platform hashing primitive and is trivially unit-testable with fixed
+ * digests. Each side hashes with whatever SHA-256 it already has — Node's
+ * `crypto` server-side (`packages/api/src/controllers/session.controller.ts`),
+ * `@noble/hashes/sha256` client-side (`packages/core/src/crypto/registrationPow.ts`,
+ * already a `@oxy.so/core` dependency — see `crypto/kdf.ts`,
+ * `crypto/identityProof.ts`) — and both produce byte-identical digests over
+ * the same message, because SHA-256 has exactly one correct output for a
+ * given input regardless of implementation.
+ *
+ * ## What this is NOT
+ *
+ * Not a defense against a targeted, patient attacker: nothing stops one from
+ * choosing their OWN `timestamp` a few minutes in the future and grinding the
+ * nonce ahead of time, banking a queue of pre-solved (timestamp, nonce) pairs
+ * to spend inside the 5-minute signature freshness window
+ * (`SignatureService.isTimestampFresh` / `MAX_SIGNATURE_AGE_MS`). Closing that
+ * needs a server-issued, single-use challenge — a real round trip and server
+ * state this deliberately does not add, because the goal here is raising the
+ * COST of unattended bulk signup, not proving liveness. Combined with a
+ * per-IP rate limit on `/auth/register`, it still meaningfully raises the
+ * price of automated mass account creation over today's zero-cost baseline.
+ *
+ * ## Rollout: advisory only, for now
+ *
+ * `POST /auth/register`'s `powNonce` field is OPTIONAL on the wire and the
+ * server does not yet reject a missing or failing one — see the comment at
+ * the check site in `packages/api/src/controllers/session.controller.ts` for
+ * why (every Oxy app consumes the SDK as a published package, not this
+ * monorepo live, so hard-enforcing before every app has picked up a client
+ * new enough to send it would break their signup outright) and exactly what
+ * to change to flip it to a hard 400.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Leading zero BITS contributed by one lowercase hex nibble.
+ *
+ * A hex digit is 4 bits: `'0'` contributes all 4, `'8'`–`'f'` (binary `1xxx`)
+ * contribute none because their own leading bit is already `1`. Spelled out
+ * as a table rather than derived with `Math.clz32` so the mapping is checkable
+ * by eye against the difficulty this gates.
+ */
+const NIBBLE_LEADING_ZERO_BITS: Readonly<Record<string, number>> = {
+  '0': 4,
+  '1': 3,
+  '2': 2,
+  '3': 2,
+  '4': 1,
+  '5': 1,
+  '6': 1,
+  '7': 1,
+  '8': 0,
+  '9': 0,
+  a: 0,
+  b: 0,
+  c: 0,
+  d: 0,
+  e: 0,
+  f: 0,
+};
+
+/**
+ * The message a registration PoW nonce is grinded against, given the same
+ * `publicKey`/`timestamp` the registration signature (`oxy:register:…`)
+ * already commits to. A distinct prefix (`register-pow`, not `register`) so a
+ * solved PoW nonce can never be replayed as a registration signature input or
+ * vice versa — the two are unrelated preimages even for the same
+ * `publicKey`/`timestamp` pair.
+ */
+export function registrationPowMessage(publicKey: string, timestamp: number, nonce: string): string {
+  return `oxy:register-pow:${publicKey}:${timestamp}:${nonce}`;
+}
+
+/**
+ * The number of leading zero bits {@link meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty}
+ * requires of a solved nonce's digest.
+ *
+ * 16 bits ⇒ 65,536 SHA-256 attempts on average to solve. The client grinds
+ * with `@noble/hashes/sha256` — a pure-JS, SYNCHRONOUS implementation with
+ * "identical behaviour on web, Node, and React Native with zero WebCrypto /
+ * native-module dependency" (its own doc comment in `crypto/kdf.ts`) — so,
+ * unlike a solve loop built on a platform hashing primitive that crosses a
+ * JS↔native bridge per call (`expo-crypto`'s `digestStringAsync`, which this
+ * deliberately avoids for exactly that reason), there is no per-attempt
+ * bridge cost to budget for. The remaining uncertainty is Hermes' lack of a
+ * JIT, which can make a tight pure-JS loop meaningfully slower than V8 — 16
+ * bits is chosen to stay a sub-second grind even under that penalty, without
+ * reaching for a bound high enough to make Hermes specifically the deciding
+ * factor. Retune this constant (it is the only place the number is declared)
+ * once there is real on-device telemetry across the low end of the supported
+ * device range.
+ */
+export const REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS = 16;
+
+/**
+ * Count the leading zero BITS of a lowercase hex digest.
+ *
+ * Stops at the first non-zero nibble — a solved nonce only ever needs to beat
+ * a bound in the tens of bits, so scanning the full 256-bit digest is wasted
+ * work. A character outside `[0-9a-f]` (not a real digest — a caller passed
+ * something malformed) stops the count where it is rather than throwing: the
+ * caller compares the result against a difficulty, and an under-count from bad
+ * input correctly fails that comparison instead of crashing a request path.
+ */
+export function countLeadingZeroBits(hexDigest: string): number {
+  let bits = 0;
+  for (const char of hexDigest.toLowerCase()) {
+    const nibbleZeroBits = NIBBLE_LEADING_ZERO_BITS[char];
+    if (nibbleZeroBits === undefined) break;
+    bits += nibbleZeroBits;
+    if (nibbleZeroBits < 4) break;
+  }
+  return bits;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Whether a SHA-256 hex digest — of {@link registrationPowMessage} — clears
+ * `difficultyBits` leading zero bits. The one predicate both the client's
+ * solve loop and the server's check call, so neither can drift from what
+ * "solved" means.
+ */
+export function meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty(hexDigest: string, difficultyBits: number): boolean {
+  return countLeadingZeroBits(hexDigest) >= difficultyBits;
+}

package/src/index.ts

@@ -68,6 +68,16 @@ export type {
   TransparencyCheckpointSignature,
 } from './transparency/checkpoint';
 
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Auth — registration proof-of-work (message format + difficulty check)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+export {
+  registrationPowMessage,
+  countLeadingZeroBits,
+  meetsRegistrationPowDifficulty,
+  REGISTRATION_POW_DIFFICULTY_BITS,
+} from './auth/registrationPow';
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Identity — injected verification-method resolution + authorization rule
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------