Quick Start · How It Works · Benchmark · Docs · Contributing
You're working from home. You need to SSH into a dev server behind the corporate firewall. Traditional options all have trade-offs: VPN is complex to deploy, FRP needs open ports, Tailscale depends on third-party DERP servers.
PeerLink gives you a better option: self-hosted, zero third-party dependency, P2P direct connection with 99%+ success rate.
Important
穿透企业防火墙，让设备像在同一局域网一样互联 — 三层 NAT 穿透降级策略，无需公网 IP、无需开放端口、无需第三方账号。
$ git clone https://github.com/hbliu007/peerlink.git
$ cd peerlink/p2p-cpp && cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release && cmake --build build -j$(nproc)
$ ./build/src/servers/signaling/p2p-signaling-server
✓ Signaling server listening on :9443$ ./build/tools/p2p-tunnel/relay-tunnel server \
--did office-pc \
--relay your-server.com:9443 \
--forward 127.0.0.1:22
✓ Registered as office-pc
✓ Forwarding to 127.0.0.1:22$ ./build/tools/p2p-tunnel/relay-tunnel client \
--did home-laptop \
--target office-pc \
--relay your-server.com:9443 \
--listen 9022
✓ Connected to office-pc via UDP direct (12ms latency)
✓ Listening on localhost:9022
$ ssh -p 9022 user@localhost
user@office-pc:~$| 3-Layer NAT Traversal | Zero-Trust Security | High Performance |
| UDP → TCP → TLS Relay fallback | DID decentralized identity | C++20 native, no GC pauses |
| 99%+ connection success rate | Ed25519 + TLS 1.3 E2EE | 500+ Mbps direct throughput |
| Cone & Symmetric NAT support | Relay cannot decrypt payload | < 50MB memory, < 2s setup |
| Platform | SDK | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Linux (x86_64 / ARM64) | C++ Core | ✅ Stable |
| macOS (Intel / Apple Silicon) | C++ Core | ✅ Stable |
| Android (ARM64) | JNI Bindings | ✅ Stable |
| Python 3.8+ | py-peerlink |
✅ Stable |
| iOS | Swift Bindings | 🔄 Planned |
| Category | Protocols |
|---|---|
| Transport | TCP · UDP · QUIC · WebRTC · WebTransport |
| Security | TLS 1.3 · Noise Protocol · Ed25519 · DID |
| Multiplexing | mplex · yamux |
| NAT Traversal | STUN · TURN · ICE · UDP/TCP Hole Punching |
| Discovery | Kademlia DHT · Bootstrap Nodes · mDNS |
| PubSub | GossipSub v1.1 |
Layer 1: UDP Hole Punching ████████████████████░░░░ ~80% Cone NAT
Layer 2: TCP Simultaneous Open ████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░ +15% Strict NAT
Layer 3: TLS 1.3 Relay ████████████████████████ 100% Guaranteed
📖 Detailed Layer Description
| Layer | Module | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Core | Event Loop · Memory Pool · Thread Pool · spdlog Logger |
| 2 | Protocol | Signaling Protocol · P2P Protocol · Relay Protocol · Protobuf |
| 3 | Transport | UDP Socket · TCP Socket · TLS Transport · Async I/O (Boost.Asio) |
| 4 | NAT | STUN Detection · UDP Hole Punching · TCP Simultaneous Open · Relay Fallback |
| 5 | Security | DID Identity · Ed25519 Signing · TLS 1.3 · Noise Protocol · Signed Envelope |
| 6 | Platform | CLI · Daemon · Library/SDK · Python Bindings |
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| P2P Direct Throughput | > 500 Mbps | Gigabit network |
| Relay Throughput | > 50 Mbps | Server bandwidth limited |
| Connection Setup | < 2 sec | Including NAT traversal |
| Memory Usage | < 50 MB | Daemon process |
| Concurrent Connections | 10,000+ | Single machine |
| Test Coverage | 80.1% | 86.7% function coverage |
| Protocol | Throughput | Latency |
|---|---|---|
| TCP Direct | ~500 Mbps | ~20ms |
| QUIC | ~450 Mbps | ~15ms |
| WebRTC | ~400 Mbps | ~25ms |
| Relay (TURN) | ~50 Mbps | ~100ms |
| Feature | PeerLink | FRP | Tailscale | ZeroTier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P2P Direct | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Self-Hosted | ✅ Full | ✅ Full | ||
| Zero 3rd-Party Dep | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ DERP relay | ❌ Root servers |
| NAT Traversal | 3 layers | Relay default | Multi-strategy | Custom protocol |
| E2E Encryption | ✅ TLS 1.3 | ✅ WireGuard | ✅ | |
| Decentralized Identity | ✅ DID | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| License | MIT | Apache 2.0 | BSD-3 (client) | MPL-2.0 (core) |
| Language | C++20 | Go | Go | C++ |
🌐 P2P Ecosystem Overview
| Project | Category | Language | License | Self-Hosted | NAT Traversal | Encryption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PeerLink | P2P Connectivity | C++20 | MIT | ✅ Full | 3-layer fallback | TLS 1.3 + DID |
| libp2p | P2P Network Stack | Multi-lang | MIT | ✅ | AutoNAT + DCUtR + Relay | Noise / TLS 1.3 |
| WebTorrent | Browser File Sharing | JavaScript | MIT | ✅ | WebRTC ICE (STUN/TURN) | DTLS |
| IPFS | Distributed Storage | Go | Apache 2.0 / MIT | ✅ | via libp2p | Transport only |
| Syncthing | File Sync | Go | MPL-2.0 | ✅ | UPnP + Discovery + Relay | TLS 1.3 |
| FRP | Reverse Proxy | Go | Apache 2.0 | ✅ | STUN (xtcp only) | TLS to relay |
| Tailscale | Mesh VPN | Go | BSD-3 (client) | UDP + DERP relay | WireGuard | |
| ZeroTier | SDN Overlay | C++ | MPL-2.0 (core) | Custom | Salsa20 |
Notable users: libp2p powers IPFS, Filecoin, Ethereum 2.0. WebTorrent is used by Brave browser. IPFS serves NFT storage and decentralized web. Syncthing is the leading open-source file sync tool.
Each project targets different use cases. PeerLink focuses on general-purpose P2P secure access with zero third-party dependency.
🏭 vs Commercial IoT P2P Platforms
Commercial IoT P2P solutions focus on camera/vertical domains with massive device deployments. For general-purpose P2P connectivity, data sovereignty, and security transparency, open-source solutions offer better control and auditability.
| Feature | PeerLink | Typical Commercial IoT P2P |
|---|---|---|
| Open Source | ✅ MIT | Typically closed source |
| Fully Self-Hosted | ✅ Zero Dep | Typically cloud-dependent |
| Security Auditable | ✅ Fully open | Not publicly auditable |
| Zero Vendor Lock-in | ✅ | Typically vendor-bound |
| Python SDK | ✅ | Typically not available |
| Throughput | >500 Mbps | IoT-tier bandwidth |
#include <p2p/engine.hpp>
int main() {
p2p::Config config;
config.listen_addresses = {"/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/0"};
config.enable_webrtc = true;
auto engine = p2p::Engine::Create(config);
engine->Start();
auto conn = engine->Connect(p2p::PeerId::FromString("QmPeer..."));
conn->Send("Hello, P2P!");
engine->Stop();
return 0;
}# Prerequisites: CMake 3.20+, C++20 compiler (GCC 11+ / Clang 14+ / MSVC 2022+), OpenSSL 3.0+
git clone https://github.com/hbliu007/peerlink.git
cd peerlink/p2p-cpp
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)
# Run tests
cd build && ctest -V
# Build options
cmake -B build -DBUILD_TESTS=ON # Enable tests
cmake -B build -DBUILD_SERVERS=ON # Enable server components
cmake -B build -DBUILD_BINDINGS_PYTHON=ON # Python bindingsdocker run -it hbliu007/peerlink:latest| Category | Content |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | Quick Start · SSH Tunnel · Mobile Connect · Python SDK |
| How-to | Aliyun Deploy · TLS Config · Monitoring |
| Concepts | How It Works · Architecture · Security Model |
| Reference | C API · Python API · Config · CLI |
📂 Project Structure
peerlink/
├── p2p-cpp/ # C++ Core Library
│ ├── include/ # Public headers
│ │ └── p2p/ # Core API
│ │ ├── core/ # Engine, connection, session
│ │ ├── crypto/ # TLS, Noise, Ed25519
│ │ ├── multiaddr/ # Multiaddr implementation
│ │ ├── net/ # Async I/O (Asio)
│ │ ├── protocol/ # libp2p protocols
│ │ └── transport/ # TCP, QUIC, WebRTC
│ ├── src/ # Implementation
│ │ ├── servers/ # STUN, TURN, Signaling, DID
│ │ └── tests/ # Unit & integration tests
│ └── examples/ # Usage examples
├── signaling-server-cpp/ # WebSocket signaling server
└── docs/ # Architecture & API docs
🌐 Preview docs locally
cd p2p-cpp
pip install -r requirements.txt
mkdocs serve # http://localhost:8000Contributions welcome! See Contributing Guide.
- Fork this repo
- Create feature branch (
git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature) - Commit changes (
git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature') - Push branch (
git push origin feat/amazing-feature) - Open a Pull Request
MIT License — Free for commercial use.
GitHub · Issues · Discussions