Add a privacy VM profile (Tor browsing + transmission + mullvad-browser) #1

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opened 2026-07-10 15:50:24 +01:00 by vnprc-agent · 1 comment

vnprc-agent commented

2026-07-10 15:50:24 +01:00

User story: So that I can start from a reusable privacy-focused VM archetype, the profiles should provide a generic isolated browsing-and-download environment with deliberate traffic routing.

Part of the "Profiles & VM archetypes" arc.

Add a generic privacy VM profile: a vanilla VM with restricted, privacy-preserving
networking and a small privacy tool set. Built on the existing mkPrivacyVm
builder (no forge access, no agent tooling — an isolated privacy environment,
not a dev VM).

Intended tools / behavior

Privacy-restricted networking (Tor).
transmission (BitTorrent client).
mullvad-browser (privacy browser).

Design note (traffic routing)

BitTorrent over Tor is discouraged and largely non-functional: Tor carries only
TCP, while BitTorrent's DHT/µTP rely on UDP, and torrenting over Tor can
deanonymize the user and strains the network. So the implementation should pick
a sensible routing split rather than forcing everything through Tor — e.g.
browsing over Tor (mullvad-browser / a transparent Tor proxy with a clearnet
killswitch) and torrent traffic over a Mullvad VPN killswitch. State the chosen
split when picking this up.

Cross-repo wiring

privacyVMs is currently empty, so this needs coordinated, synthetic additions:

inventory: a privacy machine entry (type = "privacy", forge_key = null, plus platform/memory/vcpus/disk/ip/mac/repos).
secrets: a synthetic privacyVMs identity.
profiles: a hosts/privacy/<name>/ profile (configuration.nix + home.nix) consumed by mkPrivacyVm.

Synthetic/generic example only. This is the default privacy profile; a Wasabi
Bitcoin-wallet privacy VM is planned as a separate, more specialized profile.

**User story:** So that I can start from a reusable privacy-focused VM archetype, the profiles should provide a generic isolated browsing-and-download environment with deliberate traffic routing. _Part of the "Profiles & VM archetypes" arc._ --- Add a generic privacy VM profile: a vanilla VM with restricted, privacy-preserving networking and a small privacy tool set. Built on the existing `mkPrivacyVm` builder (no forge access, no agent tooling — an isolated privacy environment, not a dev VM). ## Intended tools / behavior - Privacy-restricted networking (Tor). - `transmission` (BitTorrent client). - `mullvad-browser` (privacy browser). ## Design note (traffic routing) BitTorrent over Tor is discouraged and largely non-functional: Tor carries only TCP, while BitTorrent's DHT/µTP rely on UDP, and torrenting over Tor can deanonymize the user and strains the network. So the implementation should pick a sensible routing split rather than forcing everything through Tor — e.g. browsing over Tor (mullvad-browser / a transparent Tor proxy with a clearnet killswitch) and torrent traffic over a Mullvad VPN killswitch. State the chosen split when picking this up. ## Cross-repo wiring `privacyVMs` is currently empty, so this needs coordinated, synthetic additions: - `inventory`: a privacy machine entry (`type = "privacy"`, `forge_key = null`, plus platform/memory/vcpus/disk/ip/mac/repos). - `secrets`: a synthetic `privacyVMs` identity. - `profiles`: a `hosts/privacy/<name>/` profile (configuration.nix + home.nix) consumed by `mkPrivacyVm`. Synthetic/generic example only. This is the default privacy profile; a Wasabi Bitcoin-wallet privacy VM is planned as a separate, more specialized profile.