Transports

Talos supports two transports: Unix domain sockets and QUIC.

Unix Domain Sockets

UDS is the default local transport. It is appropriate when the client and agent run on the same machine or inside an environment where the Unix socket path is shared.

The default socket path is:

/tmp/talos.sock

When the agent starts, it creates the socket listener. If a stale socket file is left behind from an earlier run, the UDS transport removes it before binding.

QUIC

QUIC is for remote observation and control across a network. It is built with quinn and is enabled with the Cargo quic feature.

cargo build --features quic

The default QUIC bind address is:

0.0.0.0:4433

QUIC uses one bidirectional control stream and server-initiated unidirectional streams for topic data. This gives each topic independent stream flow control and avoids mixing all topic data into one stream.

Security Posture

Current QUIC support is designed for trusted local networks. If no certificate paths are configured, the agent generates a self-signed certificate at startup. Clients use an insecure verifier so they can connect to that certificate.

Do not treat the current QUIC mode as suitable for untrusted networks. Proper certificate verification and authentication are future work.

Choosing A Transport

Use UDS for local development and single-machine workflows. Use QUIC when the agent runs on a robot and the client runs on a separate developer machine.