Flux, a tiny protocol that rethinks email from the ground up
Hi HN, I have been experimenting with a messaging protocol called FLUX. The goal is to explore what email might look like if it was designed today instead of in the 1980s. FLUX tries to simplify a few things that feel complicated in the current email stack. Identity is based on cryptographic keys instead of usernames and passwords. Messages are signed and verified automatically. The transport is real time and does not depend on the traditional SMTP relay model. The current implementation is small and meant as a prototype. The whole server is only a few hundred lines of Python so the protocol…
Flux, a tiny protocol that rethinks email from the ground up launched on March 8, 2026 with 12 votes, #1,060 of 23,380 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Flux is a messaging protocol designed as a modern alternative to email. It uses cryptographic keys for identity instead of usernames and passwords, automatically signs and verifies messages, and employs real-time transport rather than the traditional SMTP relay model. The prototype implementation consists of a few hundred lines of Python, making it accessible for experimentation and review. Flux is intended for developers interested in exploring how messaging infrastructure might work if built today rather than in the 1980s.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
FLUX is a Fast Lightweight Unified eXchange protocol - levkris/flux-protocol
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi HN, I have been experimenting with a messaging protocol called FLUX. The goal is to explore what email might look like if it was designed today instead of in the 1980s. FLUX tries to simplify a few things that feel complicated in the current email stack. Identity is based on cryptographic keys instead of usernames…
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FluxJan 2026 · photon.codes · ▲375how can we make AI agents more accessible? it has been a crazy journey seeing how AI agents gets smarter every single day but interaction layer is still missing we are launching Spectrum TODAY: one Unified API connect your AI Agents into iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram and more
FluxerJan 2026 · fluxer.app · ▲154Hey HN, and happy new year! I'm Hampus Kraft [1], a 22-year-old software developer nearing completion of my BSc in Computer Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. I've been working on Fluxer on and off for about 5 years, but recently decided to work on it full-time and see how far it could take me. Fluxer is an open source [2] communication platform for friends, groups, and communities (text, voice, and video). It aims for "modern chat app" feature coverage with a familiar UX, while being developed in the open and staying FOSS (AGPLv3). The codebase is largely written in…
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