Envelop

A browser messenger where a 32-bit computer writes back.

I designed Tomato's 32-bit processor, built the computer around it, and wrote the operating system it runs in my dorm. I designed Envelop to give you access to that machine and its reconfigurable ALU through the web.

From the browser Click the animation for the compact MP4.	From Tomato's HDMI output Envelop inside Tomato OS, captured in FramePort—a VS Code extension also designed by Tyrone Marhguy. Physical evidence for the recorded setup—not a current-online indicator.

The browser is the general client. A verified Mac or private Android bridge beside Tomato carries queued traffic over the nRF8001 BLE UART link to the Envelop app running inside Tomato OS.

Start here

• Message Tomato via Envelop — open the web chat; messages wait safely when the physical bridge is offline.
• Explore Tomato — play with Tomato OS, inspect the computer, and explore its 524,288 ALU configurations.

How Envelop reaches Tomato

That path describes the system, not a claim that matching revisions are currently deployed or online. See the current status for the evidence boundary. Diagram source.

Know what answered

Messaging waits in the backend until a nearby bridge and Tomato acknowledge it. Hardware compute also uses that leased bridge path. Only a completed backend hardware result may be labeled Physical Tomato or Hardware Tomato.

If hardware is unavailable, the browser may run a separate, visibly labeled Virtual Tomato execution. It is not sent to the FPGA, is not queued for later physical execution, and must never replace an ambiguous hardware job. See architecture and platforms.

Repository map

• website/ — public browser chat and Virtual Tomato
• backend/ — Supabase schema, queues, bridge leases, and compute jobs
• apple/ — macOS 14 operator bridge and test client
• android/core/ and android/bridge/ — private Android owner/bridge app
• protocol/ — binary ENVELOP/1 framing and shared vectors
• docs/ — architecture, status, operations, privacy, and evidence policy

Browse the code through the Envelop GitDiagram, open the detailed architecture diagrams, or cross the repository boundary with the Tomato GitDiagram.

Operational boundaries

• The Android APK and native bridge credentials are private operator material, not public downloads. The exact ENVELOP/1 response verifies protocol identity; it is not cryptographic device attestation.
• backend/migrations/001_envelop.sql is a destructive reset, not an incremental migration. Back up, rehearse restoration, and follow the deployment and recovery runbook.
• Implemented source is not evidence that matching website, backend, bridge, firmware, and FPGA revisions are deployed or currently online.

Focused verification

These checks verify source contracts; they do not prove a live BLE session, deployed backend revision, or programmed FPGA:

python3 protocol/test-vectors/verify_c.py
swift test --package-path apple
node backend/tests.mjs
cd android && ./gradlew test

Documentation

• Start here: current status · architecture · platform support
• Operate it: bridge operations · backend deployment and recovery
• Understand the contracts: device protocol · privacy and data lifecycle
• Documentation policy: authority · screenshots · legal and distribution

The dated material under log/ records how the project evolved. It is historical and noncanonical.