Roadmap

Phase 1 — Stable for daily use

Goal: one polished NOX app you'd hand to a friend without apologising. Windows, Linux, Android, and any modern browser. Apple platforms are deferred for now — iOS and Mac users run the web app in Safari, and native builds ship after funding.

Exit criteria:

• Zero P0 bugs in the public queue
• Crash-free rate ≥ 99.5 % over 7 consecutive days
• 100 concurrent daily-active users sustained for 30 days
• An in-app review system with ≥ 20 reviews averaging ≥ 4.0 stars

Already shipped:

• Web app in any modern browser
• Windows desktop + auto-update
• Linux desktop (AppImage + .deb) + auto-update
• Voice, video, screen share with IP-masked TURN relay
• In-app bug + feature request queue
• 10 k concurrent idle / 7 k active sockets verified on a single 16-worker box

Still on the list:

• Android Play Store launch (in review)
• User-facing review / rating system
• Moderation dashboard — abuse reports, CSAM scanning, rapid ban path
• Invite-gated signup during public beta
• Opt-in crash reporting (off by default)
• Beta-feedback polish items tracked in the internal checklist

Phase 2 — Own your server

Goal: anyone with a spare PC or a Raspberry Pi can run a NOX community server for up to ~50 active members and connect to it from the same NOX app they already use.

How it works:

• Your account stays on NOX cloud. Same username, same recovery phrase, same DMs, same friends list. One identity, one source of truth.
• Community servers run wherever you choose. Cloud NOX, your home PC, a Pi, a VPS. Messages for that server never touch our infrastructure.
• Same app, both worlds. Paste a self-host server address into your NOX client; the server appears in your sidebar next to cloud servers. No second app to install.
• LAN mode. Reachable only on your local network — sub-millisecond latency, works offline, perfect for an office or a dorm.
• Internet mode. Reachable from anywhere via a tunnel. No port forwarding, works behind any home NAT.

What ships in Phase 2:

• Self-host installer for Windows, Linux, Mac, and a prebuilt Raspberry Pi OS image. One-click install. No database config.
• End-to-end encryption — Signal Protocol for DMs, MLS (RFC 9420) for community servers. Server admins see metadata (who, when, size) but never plaintext.
• Admin dashboard — storage, uptime, members, bans, one-click backups.
• Server migration — export a cloud server into a self-host bundle, or import one back. Both directions. Zero message loss.
• Central abuse reporting — any member can flag a message; a copy reaches NOX support regardless of who hosts the server. Self-host admins cannot suppress it.
• NOX-native crash reporting — replaces the third-party SDK we used in Phase 1 (Sentry). Stack traces stay inside NOX infrastructure, viewable only from the in-app admin panel. Supports the "no third-party SDKs" claim end-to-end.

What does not ship here: cross-server federation (message-across-servers) and paid rental to strangers. Those are Phase 3+.

Phase 3 — Host for others, earn from it

Goal: if you already self-host, you can optionally rent spare capacity to people who can't (or don't want to) run their own server — without NOX taking a big cut.

What this unlocks:

• Regional latency. A host near you gives lower voice / video ping than our cloud ever could.
• Cost. A Raspberry Pi on a shelf is cheaper than any datacenter.
• Alternatives. NOX cloud becomes one option, not the only one.

Hard requirements before this phase ships:

• End-to-end encryption already live (shipped in Phase 2). A rental host must not be able to read the messages they're hosting.
• Host reputation — uptime, bandwidth, tenure — shown publicly so renters pick informed.
• NOX-level enforcement — we can blacklist a host or a renter, and the client refuses to connect to a blacklisted party.
• Clear payment split — NOX takes a small marketplace cut (target 5–10 %). The rest flows to the host.

Draft pricing model:

• Bandwidth sold in prepaid GB packs. Usage shown live in the self-host app — no surprise bills.
• A NOX-run relay is available as a fallback for hosts who don't want to run their own, priced at upstream cost plus the marketplace fee.
• Storage billed by GB-month.

Commitments

These hold across every phase.

• No ads. Ever.
• No data sold. Ever.
• Cloud NOX stays free for normal personal use. If we ever add a paid tier, it's for capacity — voice minutes, storage, server size — not for features you already have today.
• No dark-pattern lock-in. If we ever shut down, every user gets a data export plus a window to migrate before anything disappears.
• Built by a solo developer. Small team over time, if there's reason for one. No VC. No acqui-hire. No pivot away from the users who showed up first.

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