LittleLove

A private messenger for couples. One-to-one with your partner, organized into channels, end-to-end encrypted throughout. No AI, no third parties — just the two of you.

On the roadmap, all end-to-end encrypted: file uploads (photo/video), voice memos, voice calls, and FaceTime-style video.

Day-1 alpha: Court and Kaitlyn are the only users; the code is intentionally throwaway in the places that matter (symmetric encryption with a pre-shared key, no signup flow, no client persistence). The Phase 1 design at docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-09-littlelove-design.md is the real product; Day-1 exists to prove the wire.

Local dev

Requires: Docker Desktop (or Docker + Compose), Rust 1.88+, Flutter 3.44+ with macOS or Windows desktop enabled.

To try the app end-to-end with both Court and Kaitlyn on one Mac:

./scripts/dev-up.sh            # api + postgres, in this worktree's namespace
./scripts/demo.sh court        # window 1: real ~/.littlelove/
./scripts/demo.sh kaitlyn      # window 2: fake $HOME under .dev/kaitlyn-home/
./scripts/dev-down.sh

demo.sh generates a 32-byte shared key on first run (.dev.demo.key, gitignored), reuses it on subsequent runs, writes a matching config.toml for the named user, and execs flutter run -d macos under the right HOME.

The dev scripts are worktree-aware: each git worktree you check out runs on its own ports and Postgres volume, derived deterministically from the worktree directory name. Two worktrees can run simultaneously without conflict.

Testing attachments locally (MinIO)

E2EE attachments upload encrypted blobs to Cloudflare R2 via presigned URLs. To exercise the full send → upload → download → decrypt loop offline (no Cloudflare account), use the bundled MinIO (an S3-compatible store; R2 presigning is just S3 SigV4):

./scripts/dev-attachments.sh   # api + postgres + minio, bucket auto-created
./scripts/demo.sh court        # window 1
./scripts/demo.sh kaitlyn      # window 2

Pair the two clients, then tap the composer + to send a photo. The MinIO console is at http://localhost:9001 (littlelove / devsecret123).

The server only signs URLs (it never connects to the store), so it signs the client-facing http://localhost:9000; docker-compose.minio.yml sets the matching R2_* env. Sanity-check the server's presigner against MinIO with:

cargo test -p littlelove-api --test minio_roundtrip -- --ignored

Caveats: the macOS demo client handles photos only — video poster frames (video_thumbnail) need an iOS device/simulator, and the 500 MiB memory check needs a physical device.

Releases

Tags matching v* (e.g., v0.1.0-day1a) trigger .github/workflows/release.yml, which builds:

• A container image to docker.io/codingwithcourt/littlelove-api:<tag> (deployed to Railway by deploy.yml).
• LittleLove-<version>.dmg (macOS).
• LittleLove-<version>.msi (Windows).

All three attach to the GitHub Release. First launch warns about unsigned binaries — right-click → Open on macOS, "More info" → "Run anyway" on Windows. Signing is deferred to public launch.

Docs

• docs/positioning.md — product voice (read before writing any user-facing copy)
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-09-littlelove-design.md — Phase 1 design (full product)
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-09-littlelove-day1-design.md — Day-1 design (the vertical slice being implemented now)
• docs/superpowers/plans/2026-06-09-littlelove-day1-plan.md — this plan
• docs/mocks/ — desktop UI mocks with theme switcher

License

Copyright © 2026 Coding with Court LLC.

LittleLove is open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0-only); see LICENSE. The code is published so anyone can verify the privacy claims; the AGPL keeps it open (including for anyone who runs a modified server) while preventing a closed-source fork. The LittleLove name and branding are not covered by this license.