Security Considerations

Direct is built around a principle we call Decentralization of Risk. Instead of introducing a new point of failure, Direct strengthens your infrastructure, making it more resilient against outages, provider disruptions, and network issues. Direct reduces risk by distributing requests across multiple providers, providing fallback infrastructure, supporting peer-to-peer delivery, and enabling applications to continue operating even if Direct itself is unavailable.

Provider Routing and Failover

Direct routes requests across multiple providers rather than relying on a single endpoint. Each request is sent through the provider offering the best performance and reliability at the time it’s made. If a provider slows down, encounters errors, or goes offline, Direct automatically reroutes traffic to another working provider without interruption. This dynamic routing and built-in failover ensure that individual provider issues do not impact your application. Even during broader disruptions, Direct continues monitoring for healthy providers and shifts traffic seamlessly to maintain connectivity.

Internal Fallback

If external providers become unavailable or degraded, Direct falls back to its own internal node infrastructure. These nodes are operated independently and serve as an additional safety net. By shifting requests to internal infrastructure when needed, Direct keeps your application running even if the broader provider ecosystem experiences widespread issues.

Peer-Assisted Delivery

The Direct Client enables users to securely share commonly requested data with each other through peer-to-peer delivery. This reduces dependency on central infrastructure and adds another layer of resilience. When parts of the network are under strain or disrupted, peer-assisted delivery helps ensure that critical data remains available and applications stay responsive.

Client Fallback

Direct is built on the principle that no single point of failure - including Direct itself - should ever disrupt your application. Because the Direct Client runs inside your application, it remains fully functional even if Direct’s backend infrastructure experiences issues. If needed, it automatically bypasses Direct and connects directly to your configured providers without requiring any changes to your application. This client-side fallback ensures that your application continues operating normally, even in rare cases where Direct itself is unavailable.