Can Flowsta or the network hosts read what is stored here?

No. Values are encrypted before they are written, so what hosts replicate includes the ciphertext and the public encryption parameters but not the plaintext, and the repository states that without the user's password the data is unreadable.

Is the data public because the code is open source?

No. The name refers to the Holochain entry visibility setting, not to the code: the repository is open source under Apache-2.0 so the encryption claims can be checked, while the entries themselves remain private and encrypted.

Should a new Holochain app build on this DNA?

The project's current documentation describes it as legacy, superseded by records sealed on the user's device in Flowsta Vault, and says new integrations should not depend on it.

Project · encrypted-storage-dna

Flowsta Private DNA

a building block for encrypted personal dataHolochain DNA for encrypted personal data storage with zero-knowledge access

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How you run it: not recorded
Holochain version: 0.5.6
Activity: active
Checked: 29 October 2026

What is Flowsta Private DNA and what is it for?

Flowsta Private DNA is the Holochain DNA in which the Flowsta account system keeps a person's encrypted private records. It exists so that recovery phrases, account email and two-factor secrets can be held in a Holochain app without the people hosting the data being able to read any of it.

Flowsta Private DNA is a Holochain DNA: a packaged set of validation rules and entry types that a Holochain app installs alongside its others. This one holds the sensitive parts of a Flowsta account — the encrypted account email, a backup of the account's recovery phrase, session and activity records, privacy settings, and two-factor secrets. The repository keeps each released version of the DNA in its own directory, so an app can be pointed at a specific version rather than a moving target.

The idea is that the data is only ever readable by the person it belongs to. Values are encrypted on the user's device before they are written, using AES-256-GCM with a key derived from the user's recovery phrase, and what gets stored is the ciphertext plus the public parameters needed to open it. The practical consequence is that hosts of the cell keep and replicate records they cannot read, and the repository adds that staff cannot open user data without the user's password.

The project has since built an alternative route for the same job: current Flowsta documentation calls the Private DNA legacy and says it is being superseded by records sealed directly on the user's device in Flowsta Vault, and it advises new integrations not to depend on the DNA. Either way, a person meets it by installing Vault, whose local conductor runs the Identity, Private and Signing DNAs together. The Flowsta documentation site is the place to read further.

How to get it

Desktop app

Install Flowsta Vault, the Flowsta desktop app that runs a local Holochain conductor on the user's own machine.
Create a new identity from a recovery phrase, or restore an existing one, and set the passphrase that protects the local keystore.
Let Vault start: its conductor joins the network and the user's public data is replicated locally.
Apps then ask Vault for sign-in and identity approval over local IPC; the private records stay sealed on the device and are never handed to those apps.

Source: https://docs.flowsta.com/vault/

Questions people ask

Can Flowsta or the network hosts read what is stored here?: No. Values are encrypted before they are written, so what hosts replicate includes the ciphertext and the public encryption parameters but not the plaintext, and the repository states that without the user's password the data is unreadable. source
Is the data public because the code is open source?: No. The name refers to the Holochain entry visibility setting, not to the code: the repository is open source under Apache-2.0 so the encryption claims can be checked, while the entries themselves remain private and encrypted. source
Should a new Holochain app build on this DNA?: The project's current documentation describes it as legacy, superseded by records sealed on the user's device in Flowsta Vault, and says new integrations should not depend on it. source

From 5 public sources, checked 23 September 2026.

Try Flowsta Private DNA

Code on GitHubOpen on GitHub ↗Last change 25 October 2026.
Websitedocs.flowsta.com ↗
ReleaseNo GitHub release recorded.
The project's own files do not say how it is run.

Details & sources

Source: WeAreFlowsta/flowsta-private-dna

Evidence

Last change: api.github.com/repos/WeAreFlowsta/flowsta-private-dnalisted by a third party · seen since 20 October 2026 · github.repository@1
Activity: api.github.com/repos/WeAreFlowsta/flowsta-private-dnalisted by a third party · seen since 20 October 2026 · liveness@1

Compatibility

hdk: 0.5.6 · v1.0/Cargo.toml @ 36ea809
hdi: 0.6.6 · v1.0/Cargo.toml @ 36ea809
holochain-client: —
happ.yaml: present · v1.0/happ.yaml @ 36ea809
web-happ.yaml: absent

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