This file provides guidance to coding agents when working with code in this repository.
## Role
Operate as an **expert in cryptocurrencies and cryptography**: reason with the domain's rigor about UTXO consensus, HD key derivation (BIP32/39/SLIP-132), signature schemes and scripts (P2PKH/P2SH/P2WPKH, PSBT), address encoding (base58/bech32), Merkle/SPV proofs, and at-rest encryption. When a choice touches cryptographic correctness or fund safety, judge it through that lens and flag known risks and pitfalls (nonce reuse, missing validation, exposed keys/seed, wrong fee/coin-selection, unverified server responses). Explain trade-offs with technical precision; never take for granted what hasn't been verified.
## Language policy
- **Conversation with the user**: Italian.
- **All code, comments, commit messages, and documentation files**: English only.
## How to assist
On **every requested change**, before implementing, judge whether it makes sense and say so plainly: if a request is useful and consistent with the project, proceed; if it is useless, redundant, already covered elsewhere, or risks degrading the code, **say so** with a short rationale and propose the better alternative (or doing nothing). No automatic agreement -- an honest opinion is worth more than blind execution.
## What it is
SPV wallet (Sparrow-style) for the **Palladium (PLM)** cryptocurrency, a Bitcoin-derived UTXO chain. Targets desktop (Windows/Linux) and Android, from the same source. Lightning is excluded from the first release.
## Stack and structure
.NET 10 + Avalonia UI 12 + NBitcoin.
```
src/Core/ Chain/ Crypto/ Wallet/ Spv/ Net/ Storage/ (no UI dependency)
The Avalonia UI lives **once** in `src/App` (a library); the two heads only carry the
per-platform entry point and packages. `MainView` (UserControl) is the shared root, hosted
by `MainWindow` on desktop and as the single-view root on Android.
**Non-negotiable dependency rule:**`App`/`Cli` depend only on `Core`; the UI goes through the wallet domain, never directly through network or cryptography. `Core` knows nothing about the UI.
## Commands
.NET 10 SDK lives in `~/.dotnet10`: in non-interactive shells, before any `dotnet` command run
- Tests (headless, the primary verification layer): `dotnet test` -- single: `dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~TestName"`; property-based tests (CsCheck, `PropertyTests.cs`) run in the same command and take ~30 s; coverage: `dotnet test tests/PalladiumWallet.Tests --collect:"XPlat Code Coverage"` (coverlet, Cobertura XML). Network/SPV code (`ElectrumClient`, `WalletSynchronizer`, `TransactionInspector`, TOFU pinning) is tested against the in-process fake ElectrumX server in `tests/PalladiumWallet.Tests/Net/FakeElectrumServer.cs` (loopback TCP + optional TLS, per-method handlers, call counters): extend that, don't mock the client -- it isn't an interface, by design.
- **Release binaries (all 3 targets): `./docker/build.sh [windows|linux|android|all]`** -- reproducible builds in Docker (toolchain pinned in `docker/Dockerfile.*`, no SDK needed on host), artifacts in `dist/`, version taken from the App csproj. See `docker/README.md`. Gotchas already encoded there: single-file desktop publishes need `-p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true` (without it Avalonia's native libs -- Skia/HarfBuzz/ANGLE -- stay outside the exe, which then silently fails to start); the android workload dictates the SDK API level (error XA5207 -> bump `ANDROID_SDK_PLATFORM` in `Dockerfile.android`). Android release builds need a persistent signing keystore, generated once with `docker/keystore/generate-keystore.sh` (never committed -- see `docker/keystore/README.md`): without it every build gets a different random signature and users must uninstall the old app to receive an update instead of updating in place.
## Architecture (points that require reading multiple files)
- **Layers:** GUI -> wallet domain -> SPV/Sync -> Network -> Cryptography -> Persistence; each layer depends only downward.
- **Network profile:** all chain constants (address prefixes, BIP32 headers, bech32 HRP, genesis, ports, coin_type 746) **centralized in `Core/Chain`** (`ChainProfiles`/`PalladiumNetworks`), selectable per network (mainnet/testnet/regtest). No scattered magic numbers.
- **LWMA / skip PoW:** LWMA difficulty, 2-minute blocks; an SPV client cannot recompute it -> `SkipPowValidation = true`, trust anchored to **hardcoded checkpoints**. Custom layer: NBitcoin assumes Bitcoin's retargeting.
- **NBitcoin vs custom:** NBitcoin covers the custom network, BIP32/39, addresses, transactions, PSBT, signing, encoding, hashing -- **do not reimplement these**. Hand-written custom code: JSON-RPC client for the indexing server (ElectrumX-like); SPV sync with Merkle verification; header/checkpoint validation; coin selection and fee policy; versioned encrypted JSON wallet file.
- **PSBT-centric:** every signing flow goes through PSBT (offline/air-gapped/multisig/hardware).
- **Ports:** 50001/50002 = indexing server (what the SPV wallet talks to), **not** the node's P2P port (2333).
## GUI conventions (`src/App`)
- **Shared `MainView` + heads:** the whole UI is a single `MainView` (UserControl), so it works both as a desktop window's content and as Android's single-view root. Top-level APIs (file/folder picker, clipboard) are reached via `TopLevel.GetTopLevel(this)` since a UserControl doesn't expose them. `MainWindowViewModel.IsDesktop` (from `OperatingSystem.IsAndroid()`) hides filesystem-only features (open-from-file; the data-location wizard step auto-skips on Android because the head sets `AppPaths.OverrideDataRoot`).
- **Single ViewModel** `MainWindowViewModel` (CommunityToolkit.Mvvm: `[ObservableProperty]`, `[RelayCommand]`); `Core` is driven directly from here.
- **In-app overlays, not OS windows:** details (address, transaction), settings, and help are full-screen `Border`s gated by an `IsXxxOpen` flag, not separate `Window`s -- instant open/close, mobile-friendly, and popups/top-levels are slow on WSLg. Pattern: bool property + Open/Close commands + backdrop handler and Esc key in `MainView`'s code-behind; overlay close buttons bind via `$parent[UserControl]` (not `$parent[Window]`, absent on mobile). Heavy network work runs off the UI thread (`Task.Run`) so the overlay never freezes.
- **Localization:** `Localization/Loc.cs`, key->6 languages dictionary (it/en/es/fr/pt/de); in XAML `{Binding Loc[key]}`, in C# `Loc.Tr("key")`. On language change the `Loc` instance is replaced.
- **App version:** single source = `<Version>` in `src/App/PalladiumWallet.App.csproj`; read at runtime (`MainWindowViewModel.AppVersion`) and shown in the title.
- **Storage paths:** `Core/Storage/AppPaths` resolves data locations; `AppPaths.OverrideDataRoot` (top priority) is the per-platform seam -- the Android head sets it to the app sandbox (`Context.FilesDir`), desktop leaves it null.
## Working rules
- **Cross-implementation tests:** compare addresses, txids, and PSBTs against a reference wallet (golden vectors). A different address or txid is a blocking bug.
- **Security:** seed and private keys never in plaintext on disk/logs/network; every server response validated with Merkle + checkpoints; watch-only truly read-only.
- **Releases:** whenever a new version tag is created (bumping `<Version>` in `src/App/PalladiumWallet.App.csproj`), update `CHANGELOG.md` with an entry for that version before/with the tag -- it's the technical record of what shipped, not optional bookkeeping.
