Envelope Metadata

Objekt encrypted envelopes are self-describing. Anyone who encounters a file on IPFS, Arweave, or ENS can inspect it without decrypting.

Inspect an Envelope

import { inspectEnvelope, isEncrypted } from "@objekt.sh/ecies";
 
if (isEncrypted(data)) {
  const info = inspectEnvelope(data);
 
  console.log(info.mime);       // "image/png"
  console.log(info.access);     // "reveal.objekt.sh/1a35e1.eth/phone"
  console.log(info.recipients); // [{ curve: 1, caip10: "eip155:1:0xabc..." }, ...]
}

What's Public vs Private

Field	Visibility	Purpose
CBOR tag ("objekt")	Public	Format detection — 9-byte prefix check
`mime`	Public	Original content type
`access`	Public	Where to buy a view key (x402 URL)
`r[].id` (CAIP-10)	Public	Who can decrypt (chain + address)
`r[].pub`	Public	Recipient public key (needed for decryption matching)
`r[].w`	Public but useless	Wrapped AES key — encrypted per recipient, can't be unwrapped without private key
`ct`	Public but useless	Encrypted content — can't be decrypted without the AES key

The metadata is intentionally public. The security comes from the AES-256-GCM encryption of the content and the ECIES wrapping of the AES key per recipient.

Discovery Flow

When a client encounters an Objekt encrypted file:

Detect

Check the 9-byte prefix [0xDB, 0x00, 0x00, 0x6F, 0x62, 0x6A, 0x65, 0x6B, 0x74].

Inspect

Parse the CBOR envelope to read metadata: MIME type, recipients (CAIP-10 addresses), and access URL.

Try to decrypt

If the client has a matching keypair (wallet-derived or view key), decrypt directly.

Buy access

If no keypair matches but access is present, fetch the reveal URL to see the price and pay via x402.

Decrypt with view key

After purchasing, use the returned view key to decrypt.

Embedding in ENS

The access URL can be published as an ENS text record (e.g., sh.objekt.reveal) so wallets and dApps can discover paid content associated with an ENS name without fetching the encrypted file first.