PacketsToStream

PacketsToStream adapts a packet-oriented side of a chain to a stream-oriented side. It receives packet payloads from the previous side, creates a worker-local stream-facing line toward the next node, and writes each IPv4 packet to that stream line as raw bytes.

The current implementation is IPv4-only and headerless:

IPv4 packet bytes + IPv4 packet bytes + IPv4 packet bytes + ...

There is no 2-byte length prefix. Packet boundaries are recovered from each packet's IPv4 total-length field. Old documentation may call this node PacketAsData, but the current node type is PacketsToStream.

What It Does

• Accepts packet payload from the previous side.
• Creates one stream-facing WaterWall line per worker when needed.
• Reuses that stream-facing line for later packets on the same worker.
• Recalculates IPv4 checksums before forwarding if the packet line requests it.
• Drops packets that are not self-consistent IPv4 packets.
• Writes valid IPv4 packets to the stream side without adding a framing header.
• Buffers return stream bytes and reconstructs IPv4 packets from the total length field.
• Sends reconstructed return packets back to the previous packet side.
• Recreates the stream-facing line if it finishes or sensitive-mode heartbeat fails.

This is a packet-to-stream adapter based on IPv4 parsing, not a generic byte framing protocol.

Typical Placement

Packet input to a stream transport:

TunDevice -> PacketsToStream -> TcpConnector

Paired with StreamToPackets on another server:

server1: TunDevice -> PacketsToStream -> TcpConnector
server2: TcpListener -> StreamToPackets -> TunDevice

This works because PacketsToStream and StreamToPackets use the same raw IPv4 concatenation format.

Configuration Example

{
  "name": "packet-to-stream",
  "type": "PacketsToStream",
  "settings": {
    "sensitive-mode": true,
    "interval-ms": 50,
    "tolerance-ms": 150,
    "packet-validation-level": "hard"
  },
  "next": "stream-node"
}

Settings

Top-level fields:

Field	Type	Required	Description
name	string	yes	User-chosen node name. Must be unique inside the config file.
type	string	yes	Must be exactly "PacketsToStream".
settings	object	no	Optional settings object.
next	string	yes	Stream-oriented node that receives the worker-local data line.

Optional settings fields:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
sensitive-mode	boolean	false	Enables stream-side heartbeat on each worker-local output line.
interval-ms	integer	50	Heartbeat send interval in milliseconds. Must be at least 1. Used only when sensitive-mode is enabled.
tolerance-ms	integer	150	Maximum time to wait for heartbeat pong before recreating the stream line. Must be at least 1.
packet-validation-level	string	"none"	Validation mode for packets decoded from downstream return stream data. Values: "none", "loose", "hard".

There are no required tunnel-specific settings.

Wire Format

The stream-side wire format is a raw concatenation of complete IPv4 packets:

packet A: N bytes, where IPv4 total-length = N
packet B: M bytes, where IPv4 total-length = M
packet C: K bytes, where IPv4 total-length = K

PacketsToStream does not prepend a length field, message type, or metadata. The peer must recover packet boundaries by reading the IPv4 header.

Forwarded packets must satisfy:

• length is at least a minimum IPv4 header
• length is not greater than kMaxAllowedPacketLength
• IP version is 4
• IPv4 total length equals the buffer length

IPv6, non-IPv4 payloads, malformed IPv4 packets, and IPv4 packets with trailing bytes beyond the total-length field are dropped because they would desynchronize the stream parser on the peer.

Flow Model

Direction summary:

Direction	Behavior
packet side to stream side	Valid IPv4 packet is sent raw on the worker-local stream line.
stream side back to packet side	Stream bytes are buffered, decoded into IPv4 packets, optionally validated, then emitted downstream to the packet side.

Worker-Local Stream Line

PacketsToStream anchors its state on the persistent worker packet line. For each worker, it creates a normal stream-facing line toward the next tunnel when traffic first needs it.

The stream-facing line is:

• created on upstream packet Init or first upstream packet Payload
• initialized toward the next tunnel with upstream Init
• reused for later packets on the same worker
• recreated if it finishes or sensitive-mode timeout triggers

The packet line itself is persistent worker state. It is not destroyed when the stream-facing line is recreated.

Packet Decoding On Return Path

Return traffic from the stream side is buffered in a read stream. The decoder:

1. waits for at least a minimum IPv4 header
2. checks whether the stream head looks like a plausible IPv4 packet
3. reads the IPv4 total-length field
4. waits until that many bytes are buffered
5. extracts exactly that many bytes as one packet
6. optionally validates the decoded packet
7. sends it back to the previous packet-side node

The parser is resilient to garbage. If the stream head cannot be a valid IPv4 start, the decoder scans a bounded resync window and discards bytes until the next plausible IPv4 header. It always makes forward progress and does not read out of bounds.

Current read-stream overflow limit:

65536 * 2 bytes

If the buffer grows beyond that limit, the read stream is emptied.

Packet Validation

packet-validation-level applies to packets decoded from downstream stream data before those packets are emitted back to the packet side.

It does not replace the unconditional forwardability checks used before writing packet-side input to the stream. Packet-side input still must be self-consistent IPv4 so the peer can parse it.

Level	Behavior
"none"	Default. No configurable validation after extraction. The extractor still performs light structural checks so it can find packet boundaries.
"loose"	Drops non-IPv4 and malformed IPv4 packets. Checks minimum header, version, IPv4 header length, and total length matching packet length.
"hard"	Applies loose, verifies IPv4 header checksum, and verifies TCP, UDP, and ICMP checksums for non-fragmented packets. IPv4 UDP checksum 0 is accepted.

For fragmented IPv4 packets in "hard" mode, only the IPv4 header checksum is verified. Transport checksums are skipped because they require reassembly.

When validation drops a decoded packet, the tunnel writes a warning log with the validation level and reason.

Sensitive Mode

Sensitive mode is a stream-line health check. It is implemented using valid IPv4 heartbeat packets because the wire format has no separate control frame.

When enabled:

• each worker gets a heartbeat timer
• every interval-ms, PacketsToStream sends one heartbeat ping on the active stream-facing line
• the ping is a minimal IPv4 packet with protocol 0xFD and a 5-byte payload filled with 0xFF
• the peer's StreamToPackets treats that packet as a ping and sends back a matching heartbeat pong
• the pong is a minimal IPv4 packet with protocol 0xFD and a 5-byte payload filled with 0xDD
• pings and pongs are not emitted to the packet side
• if no pong arrives before tolerance-ms, the current stream-facing line is finished locally and recreated

Only one ping is in flight per worker. A late pong beyond the tolerance also causes the line to reset.

Pause, Resume, And Finish

Callback behavior:

Callback received by PacketsToStream	Behavior
upstream Init	Ensures the worker-local stream-facing line exists.
upstream Payload	Recalculates checksum if requested, checks IPv4 forwardability, sends raw packet to stream line.
upstream Est	Warning log; not expected.
upstream Pause / Resume	Warning log; not expected from packet side.
upstream Finish	Fatal guard; packet-side finish is not expected.
downstream Payload	Decodes stream bytes into IPv4 packets and sends them back to the previous side.
downstream Est	Propagates Est back to the previous packet side if it belongs to the active stream line.
downstream Pause	Marks packet side paused and propagates downstream Pause to the previous packet side.
downstream Resume	Clears paused state and propagates downstream Resume to the previous packet side.
downstream Finish	Destroys/recreates the active stream-facing line; packet line remains alive.
downstream Init	Fatal guard; not a valid callback path.

If the stream line is paused and the previous packet-side node ignores backpressure, incoming packet payload is dropped instead of queued.

Checksum Recalculation

If line->recalculate_checksum is set on the packet line and the payload is IPv4, PacketsToStream recalculates the full IPv4 packet checksum before writing it to the stream side, then clears the flag.

This is important after packet-manipulation nodes that intentionally mark packets for checksum repair.

Node Metadata

Source-backed metadata:

Property	Value
node flags	kNodeFlagNone
can_have_prev	true
can_have_next	true
layer_group	Layer 3 and layer 4 (kNodeLayer3, kNodeLayer4)
layer_group_prev_node	kNodeLayerAnything
layer_group_next_node	kNodeLayerAnything
required_padding_left	0

The tunnel does not prepend bytes, so it has no extra left-padding requirement.

Practical Notes

• Pair it with StreamToPackets on the other side.
• Do not pair it with older 2-byte-prefix packet framing unless that peer has been updated to the current IPv4-total-length format.
• Use PacketsToConnection instead when you want lwIP to reconstruct TCP/UDP flows as normal WaterWall connection lines.
• Use packet-validation-level: "hard" when you want stronger corruption detection on the return stream, at the cost of checksum work.
• The stream parser can recover from garbage, but a hostile stream may still produce garbage packets that look structurally valid until realignment occurs.