An encrypted area is a block of text or a file that is encrypted end-to-end: Aitronos servers store only ciphertext and never hold a key that can read it. A sender attaches an encrypted area in chat and sends it to another Aitronos user, an email address, a messaging number, or as a shareable secure link.
There are two flavours:
- Recipient-bound — sealed to a specific Aitronos user. Only that user's identity can open it; if the message is forwarded, the area stays sealed to the original recipient.
- Secure link — protected by a key that travels in the link (optionally further protected by a password the sender sets out-of-band). Supports burn-after-read (self-destructs on first open) and a configurable expiry.
In every case the storage layer holds only ciphertext — a compromise of storage yields no plaintext and no key. Recipients open the area on an Aitronos-branded viewer and it decrypts on their device. Files of any size are supported.
Encrypted areas are part of Conversations: where Conversations is enabled for your account they are enabled with it, and where Conversations is switched off the create endpoint answers 403.
Create an encrypted area encrypts inline text or an uploaded file, seals it for the audience you choose, and either delivers it for you or returns a shareable secure link.
Three rules are worth knowing before you call it:
- The secure link is returned exactly once and can never be re-issued. The key inside it is never stored, so nobody — including Aitronos — can produce it again. Capture it from the response or create a new area.
- The link is returned only for the
linkaudience. Every other audience is delivered for you, so the response withholds the key-bearing URL. - The endpoint is not idempotent. Repeating a request creates a second, independent area with its own key; there is no de-duplication.
By default an area expires after 7 days; a password and burn-after-read are off unless you ask for them.
Both open flows are simple GET fetches that return the ciphertext plus the public parameters your client needs to decrypt on-device:
- Fetch a recipient-bound encrypted area — authenticated; the caller must be the bound recipient.
- Fetch a secure-link encrypted area — public; possession of the link is the credential.
Both refuse an area that has expired or, for a burn-after-read area, that has already been opened, returning 410.