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+General Design Principles
+=========================
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 2
+   :caption: Contents:
+
+
+****************************
+Client/Server breakdown
+****************************
+
+(Work in progress!)
+This section shows the basic three applications of Warble.
+
+.. image:: _static/images/diagram-general-principles.png
+   :height: 80pc
+   :alt: diagram of general design principles
+   :align: center
+
+
+***********************************
+Agent/Node and Server data flows
+***********************************
+
+(Work in progress!)
+This section shows the various components inside the Warble
+Server and how they interact. More to come :)
+
+
+.. image:: _static/images/diagram-node-server-relation.png
+   :height: 80pc
+   :alt: diagram of general node/server communication
+   :align: center
+
+
+***********************************
+Client and Server communication
+***********************************
+
+Agents and Nodes (referred to in this segment as `clients`) communicate
+with the Warble Server using a three-stage protocol:
+
+1. First time a client is started, it generates an async key pair for
+   encryption and subsequent verification/signing. The private key is
+   stored on-disk on the client host, and the public key is sent to the
+   node registry on the master, along with a request to add the client to
+   the node registry as a verified client. The Server registers a unique
+   API key for each client, and binds the public key to this API key.
+
+2. Once verified, a client can request test targets and parameters from
+   the node registry at the Server. This data is sent back to the client
+   in encrypted form, using the previously sent public key. Thus, only
+   a verified client can get test targets, and only the client should be
+   able to decrypt the payload and get clear-text target data.
+
+ 
+3. Once a client has completed a test (or a batch of tests), the result
+   is sent to the server and signed using the private key. Thus, the
+   server can use the public key to verify that the test results came from
+   the client.
+
+Once test data has been successfully verified and stored on the server,
+both the alerting system and the visualization system can retrieve and
+process it, ensuring that what they (and you) see is genuine.
+
+.. figure:: _static/images/diagram-node-server-verification.png
+   :height: 80pc
+   :alt: diagram of general node/server comms verification
+   :align: center
+   
+   This figure shows the communication channels as outlined in the
+   above paragraph.
+   
+
+################
+Server Component
diff --git a/docs/source/index.rst b/docs/source/index.rst
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+++ b/docs/source/index.rst
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    :caption: Contents:
 
    setup
+   design-general
 
 
 Indices and tables