The chip ran against a single endpoint, which is the fastest way to go
dark: libretranslate.com's public tier moved behind an API key in late
2026, and most of the historical public mirrors (libretranslate.de,
argosopentech, lt.vern.cc, translate.terraprint.co) either 502 at any
given time, serve a parked page, or started requiring a key of their
own. One URL in settings meant one of those going down meant the chip
stopped working.
Settings.translateEndpoints is now an ordered list. The translator tries
each peer in order and returns the first non-error answer; a dead peer
is logged and skipped. Order is preserved — the first entry is the
primary. Shipped defaults put Silent Mode's own instances
(translate.silentmode.st, the BNS name translate.x) at the top and keep
libretranslate.com as the last-resort entry; neither Silent Mode URL
answers today, but a user's chip starts working as soon as either goes
live without a browser release.
Settings › General › Translate pages grew a list editor (same shape as
the quick-links one): PRIMARY tag on row 0, add a peer, remove any row;
bns:// URLs are accepted so a BNS translator doesn't have to be fronted
by an https host. The single-URL `translateEndpoint` setting carried
over from the earlier draft is migrated on load — a custom URL goes to
the front of the list, the historical default is dropped.
The browser — the consumer face of the stack. Native .bch support with the
resolver built in, so a user installs one app instead of modifying their
operating system. Named for the thread through the labyrinth: the chain is the
thread.
Scope
Electron shell (Chromium engine, no forking): tabs, address bar, history.
In-process .bch resolution — no system daemon, no NRPT, no OS
trust-store changes; reuses bns.js from the BNS repo as a library.
Record handling: h render, ip connect, p/s3 via in-app gateway,
u redirect.
TLS via cert-verify hook (Electron setCertificateVerifyProc) against the
BNS root / on-chain tls fingerprints — no OS store touched.
Provenance indicator: shows whether a page came from the chain / Sia / a
direct server, with NFT category and record type — the decentralized padlock.
Status: not started
Build it in its own session/repo. The ready-to-paste brief is
BROWSER-PROMPT.md (a reference copy in this folder; canonical source is
D:\Dev\NameCoin\BROWSER-PROMPT.md — if they diverge, NameCoin wins). It points
here and reuses the resolver core. theseus.bch is registered and should
eventually serve the browser's own homepage over the protocol it implements.
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