diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 2bd7830d7d..9866077d23 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -104,6 +104,13 @@ define ( 'NETWORK_FACEBOOK',         'face');    // Facebook API
 
 define ( 'MAX_LIKERS',    75);
 
+/**
+ * Communication timeout
+ */
+
+define ( 'ZCURL_TIMEOUT' , (-1));
+
+
 /**
  * email notification options
  */
diff --git a/include/Scrape.php b/include/Scrape.php
index e0075d44d9..6726d0b151 100644
--- a/include/Scrape.php
+++ b/include/Scrape.php
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ function probe_url($url) {
 				);
 				$profile  = $j->url;
 				$notify   = $j->post;
-				$key      = $j->pubkey;
+				$pubkey   = $j->pubkey;
 				$poll     = 'N/A';
 			}
 		}
@@ -570,7 +570,7 @@ function probe_url($url) {
 	$result['priority'] = $priority;
 	$result['network'] = $network;
 	$result['alias'] = $alias;
-	$result['key'] = $key;
+	$result['pubkey'] = $pubkey;
 
 	logger('probe_url: ' . print_r($result,true), LOGGER_DEBUG);
 
diff --git a/include/zotfns.php b/include/zotfns.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a95a064cd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/zotfns.php
@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+<?php
+
+require_once('include/text.php');
+
+function zot_get($url,$args) {
+	$argstr = '';
+	foreach($args as $k => $v) {
+		if($argstr)
+			$argstr .= '&';
+		$argstr .= $k . '=' . $v;
+	}	
+	$s = fetch_url($url . '?' . $argstr);
+	if($s) {
+		$j = json_decode($s);
+		if($j)
+			return($j);
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+function zot_post($url,$args) {
+	$s = post_url($url,$args);
+	if($s) {
+		$j = json_decode($s);
+		if($j)
+			return($j);
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+
+function zot_prv_encode($s,$prvkey) {
+	$x = '';
+	$res = openssl_private_encrypt($s,$x,$prvkey);
+	return base64url_encode($y);
+}
+function zot_pub_encode($s,$pubkey) {
+	$x = '';
+	$res = openssl_public_encrypt($s,$x,$pubkey);
+	return base64url_encode($x);
+}
+
+function zot_prv_decode($s,$prvkey) {
+	$s = base64url_decode($s);
+	$x = '';
+	openssl_private_decrypt($s,$x,$prvkey);
+	return $x;
+}
+
+function zot_pub_decode($s,$pubkey) {
+	$s = base64url_decode($s);
+	$x = '';
+	openssl_public_decrypt($s,$x,$pubkey);
+	return $x;
+}
+
+
+function zot_getzid($url,$myaddress,$myprvkey) {
+	$ret = array();
+	$j = zot_get($url,array('sender' => $myaddress));
+	if($j->zid_encoded)
+		$ret['zid'] = zot_prv_decode($j->zid_encoded,$myprvkey);
+	if($j->zkey_encoded)
+		$ret['zkey'] = zot_prv_decode($j->zkey_encoded,$myprvkey);
+	return $ret;
+}
+
+function zot_post_init($url,$zid,$myprvkey,$theirpubkey) {
+	$ret = array();
+
+	$zinit = random_string(32);
+
+	$j = zot_get($url,array('zid' => $zid,'zinit' => $zinit));
+	
+	$a = get_app();
+	if(! $a->get_curl_code())
+		return ZCURL_TIMEOUT;
+	if(! $j->zinit) {
+		logger('zot_post_init: no zinit returned.');
+		return false;
+	}
+	if(zot_pub_decode($j->zinit,$thierpubkey) !== $zinit) {
+		logger('zot_post_init: incorrect zinit returned.');
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	if($j->challenge) {
+		$s = zot_prv_decode($j->challenge,$myprvkey);
+		$s1 = substr($s,0,strpos($s,'.'));
+		if($s1 != $zid) {
+			logger("zot_post_init: incorrect zid returned");
+			return false;
+		}
+		$ret['result'] = substr($s,strpos($s,'.') + 1);
+		$ret['perms'] = $j->perms;
+	}
+	return $ret;
+}
+
+
+function zot_encrypt_data($data,&$key) {
+	$key = random_string();
+	return aes_encrypt($data,$key);
+}
+
+
+// encrypt the data prior to calling this function so it only need be done once per message
+// regardless of the number of recipients.
+
+function zot_post_data($url,$zid,$myprvkey,$theirpubkey,$encrypted_data,$key, $intro = false) {
+	$i = zot_post_init($url,$zid,$myprvkey,$theirpubkey);
+	if($i === ZCURL_TIMEOUT)
+		return ZCURL_TIMEOUT;
+
+	if((! $i) || (! array_key_exists('perms',$i)) || (! array_key_exists('result',$i)))
+		return false;
+	if((! stristr($i['perms'],'post')) && ($intro === false)) {
+		logger("zot_post_data: no permission to post: url=$url zid=$zid");
+		return false;
+	} 
+	$p = array();
+	$p['zid'] = $zid;
+	$p['result'] = zot_pub_encode($i['result'],$theirpubkey);
+	$p['aes_key'] = zot_prv_encode($key,$myprvkey);
+	$p['data'] = $encrypted_data;
+	$s = zot_post($url,$p);
+	$a = get_app();
+	if(! $a->get_curl_code())
+		return ZCURL_TIMEOUT;
+
+	if($s) {
+		$j = json_decode($s); 
+		return $j;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+	
+function zot_deliver($recipients,$myprvkey,$data) {
+
+	if(is_array($recipients) && count($recipients)) {
+
+		$key = '';
+		$encrypted = zot_encrypt_data($data,$key);
+
+
+		foreach($recipients as $r) {
+			$result = zot_post_data(
+				$r['post'],
+				$r['zid'],
+				$myprvkey,
+				$r['pubkey'],
+				$encrypted,
+				$key
+			);
+			if($result === false) {
+				// post failed
+				logger('zot_deliver: failed: ' . print_r($r,true));
+			}
+			elseif($result === ZCURL_TIMEOUT) {
+				// queue for redelivery
+			}
+			elseif($result->error) {
+				// failed at other end
+				logger('zot_deliver: remote failure: ' . $result->error . ' ' . print_r($r,true));
+			}
+			elseif($result->success) {
+				logger('zot_deliver: success ' . print_r($r,true, LOGGER_DEBUG));
+			}
+			else
+				logger('zot_deliver: unknown failure.');
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+
+function zot_new_contact($user,$cc) {
+
+	$zid = random_string(32);
+	$zkey = random_string(32);
+
+	logger("zot_new_contact: zid=$zid zkey=$zkey uid={$user['uid']} " . print_r($cc,true));
+
+	$ret = array();
+	$ret['zid_encoded'] = zot_pub_encode($zid,$cc['pubkey']);
+	$ret['zkey_encoded'] = zot_pub_encode($zkey,$cc['pubkey']);
+	return $ret;
+
+
+	
+
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file