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Building Thoughts

Essays on systems, software, engineering.

Sep 09, 20264 min read•

Viper 1.5.20 — Chat Over Bluetooth, No Internet Needed

Viper now talks over Bluetooth. Two devices in range exchange messages over an encrypted radio link — no servers, no mobile data. Plus People Nearby, per-chat transport selection, and two themes.

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Aug 24, 20264 min read•

Viper 1.5.19 — Offline File Delivery, Reputation & Encrypted Backups

The biggest Viper update since the Pro launch. Large files that reach people even when they're offline — end-to-end encrypted, deleted on delivery. Plus reputation, encrypted backups, and typing & read receipts.

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Aug 18, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.18 — Hide Your Online Status

Viper Pro is fully available. The privacy half of the Pro launch closes: hide your online status, on top of Anonymous Mode from 1.5.16.

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Aug 18, 20263 min read•

I'm Not Deleting My CLAUDE.md

Boris Cherny says delete your CLAUDE.md. For a product tuned over years, the context file isn't a cage — it's the years.

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Aug 18, 20263 min read•

Viper Pro: A Launch, a Stall, and a Week Lost

1.5.16 shipped Viper Pro. Apple sat on the subscriptions for a week. 1.5.17 finally made payments work — a week too late.

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Aug 05, 20264 min read•

Two Weeks, Four Releases: How Viper Got Fast, Then Got Unbreakable

Four App Store releases in two weeks: instant launch and a new SQLite engine in 1.5.12, hardened relay delivery in 1.5.13, and QUIC on both the P2P and relay transports in 1.5.14 and 1.5.15.

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Jul 24, 20261 min read•

Viper — Performance & UX Pass (In Progress)

After user testing, I'm working on speeding up Viper overall — account creation, account switching, and fixing the rough edges that slipped through 20+ updates of edge cases.

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Jul 16, 20263 min read•

Viper Guide — July 2026

A tour through Viper as of July 2026 — device-first storage, your account as a TON wallet, NFT usernames for trustless identity, P2P messages and file transfers, and Shared Files. A Frankenstein of Telegram, VKontakte, and torrents.

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Jul 16, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.11 — Video & Voice Messages, Apple Review Updates

Native video and voice messages over relay or P2P. Plus changes required by Apple review: Open In removed, wallet address hidden in other users' profiles — with a public-key copy workaround.

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Jul 13, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.10 — Modern UX, Search & Chat Management

Viper 1.5.10 brings a modern messaging app experience — search across contacts and chats, select and delete conversations on your side, and a refined UI throughout.

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Jul 09, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.9 — Ephemeral Relay, Local Contacts & Persistent P2P History

Relay messages now vanish from the server the moment you come online. Contacts live on your device. P2P chat history persists locally across app restarts.

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Jul 03, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.8 — Mint Theme, Presence & New Settings

Viper 1.5.8 introduces the Mint theme, Presence status, expanded Settings options, and TON Domains NFT support via third-party APIs.

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Jul 01, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.7 — TON Domains NFT Support

Viper 1.5.7 adds TON Domains NFT support — users can now be found via .ton domain names using TON liteservers.

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Jun 27, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.6 — Message Selection & Shared Files in Profile

Select individual messages, select up to a message, and view all shared files directly in a contact's profile.

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Jun 26, 20261 min read•

Viper 1.5.5 — P2P with Any User

The Bolt P2P component now works with contacts, users found through search, and users who recently messaged you.

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Jun 24, 20261 min read•

Viper 1.5.4 — Faster App Startup & DHT Metadata Caching

App startup is faster in 1.5.4 — server metadata is now cached from the TON Distributed Hash Table.

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Jun 23, 20261 min read•

Viper 1.5.3 — File Upload Improvements & P2P Speed Indicator

File uploading is faster and more transparent — 1.5.3 adds an upload speed indicator for P2P file transfers.

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Jun 22, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5.2 — VFTP: Direct File Transfers over P2P

Viper 1.5.2 introduces VFTP — the Viper File Transfer Protocol — enabling direct file uploads over a P2P connection.

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Jun 18, 20261 min read•

Viper 1.5.1 — P2P Button in All Chats

The P2P Bolt button is now visible in all chats, not just contacts.

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Jun 15, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.5 — Experimental P2P Mode

Viper 1.5 introduces experimental peer-to-peer messaging — real device-to-device communication without a relay in the path.

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Jun 14, 20263 min read•

Viper 1.5 — Device-to-Device Communication Is Coming

Viper 1.5 brings true peer-to-peer communication — messages routed directly between devices, with no relay in the path. Coming soon.

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Jun 11, 20263 min read•

Viper Enterprise — Private Messaging Infrastructure for Organizations

Viper Enterprise gives organizations full ownership over their messaging infrastructure — no phone numbers, no email addresses, self-hosted relays, and cryptographic identity from day one.

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Jun 11, 20262 min read•

v1.4.2 — Profile Setup & Contact Wallets

Viper 1.4.2 adds a Profile Setup screen to configure your account, and surfaces TON wallet info directly on contact profiles — with one-tap copy and deep link to any wallet app.

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Jun 06, 20262 min read•

v1.4.1 — Mnemonic Phrase, Account Switcher & Onboarding

Viper 1.4.1 brings mnemonic phrase generation to activate your TON Address, a redesigned account switcher, and an improved onboarding experience.

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Jun 01, 20262 min read•

v1.4 — Deeplinks

Viper 1.4 introduces deeplinks — a URI scheme that lets you open specific users, chats, and resources directly. You can now reach support via viper://u/support.

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Jun 01, 20264 min read•

v1.3 — Linking External TON Wallets

Viper 1.3 adds support for TON addresses generated outside the app. You can now import any TON-compatible wallet using a private key — including wallets created with tonutils-go.

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Jun 01, 202610 min read•

What the Heck is TON

The Open Network is not just another blockchain. It's a full P2P network stack with its own transport, storage, proxy, DNS, and payments — and at its core, an elegant cryptographic idea: your address is your key.

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May 24, 20265 min read•

Why Viper is Built on TON

TON/ADNL isn't just a blockchain stack. For Viper, it's the network and identity layer that makes a genuinely different kind of messenger possible.

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May 14, 20262 min read•

500 Downloads on the App Store

Small indie messenger with self-funding and no ads.

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May 13, 20262 min read•

Viper 1.2: private reactions

Reactions are now end-to-end encrypted — just like your messages.

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May 01, 20264 min read•

Viper discovered Switzerland

Switzerland is not the EU. That's why Viper is available there — and why it might be the perfect first market.

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Mar 18, 20264 min read•

TON + Codex = <3

How to connect TON MCP Server with Codex CLI and control your wallet from the terminal using natural language.

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Mar 15, 20263 min read•

Solo building: why I skipped Figma and built iOS components for the web

When you're building alone, design tooling starts to feel like an unnecessary layer. So I built iOS-like components directly in shadcn to prototype in the browser — no Figma required.

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Dec 27, 20257 min read•

Chat UI in Viper: keyboard and messages

Building a stable chat interface: handling keyboard appearance, outgoing messages, and incoming updates without scroll jumps.

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Dec 22, 20255 min read•

Chat UI in Viper: previous messages logic, scroll preservation and good UX

Deep dive into handling prepend logic, scroll position preservation, and what makes chat UX feel right.

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Dec 21, 20256 min read•

Viper Messenger Overview

What's inside.

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Dec 19, 20255 min read•

AI is not an architect (yet)

AI tools are part of our daily workflow. They help us move faster, explore ideas, and reduce friction. But there is an important line they don't cross.

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