Secure Remote Agent

Windows Service-based multi-agent system. IPC via Qt RemoteObjects, plugin architecture with dynamic loading, TLS 1.3 encrypted backend communication, and Qt Quick real-time monitoring UI.

Architecture

+---------------------+     +----------------------+     +---------------------+
| Desktop UI          |     | Windows Service      |     | Backend Server      |
| (Qt/QML)            |<--->| (C++23, Qt6)         |<--->| (Python/REST)       |
|                     | IPC |                      | HTTPS|                     |
| - Live metrics      |     | - Agent management   |     | - Data storage      |
| - Service control   |     | - Plugin loading     |     | - REST API          |
| - Log streaming     |     | - IPC server         |     | - Web dashboard     |
| - Plugin management |     | - TLS client         |     | - Analytics         |
+---------------------+     +----------------------+     +---------------------+
                                      |
                                      | plugins
                                      v
                            +-------------------------+
                            | Plugin Architecture     |
                            | +---------------------+ |
                            | | Proxy Plugin        | |
                            | | HTTP/HTTPS traffic  | |
                            | +---------------------+ |
                            | | Scraper Plugin      | |
                            | | Web data extraction | |
                            | +---------------------+ |
                            +-------------------------+

Components

Core Library (src/core/)

Static library providing shared functionality:

• IPC: Qt RemoteObjects host/client with typed interface (ping/pong, metrics streaming, log streaming, agent operations)
• Network: TLS 1.3 HTTPS client with certificate pinning, OpenSSL integration
• Remote Execution: Async command dispatch, payload serialization

Windows Service (src/components/service/)

Windows service executable. StartServiceCtrlDispatcher-based implementation with:

• Service lifecycle: START, STOP, PAUSE, CONTINUE
• QtRO IPC server on local:service_ipc
• Plugin loader (runtime DLL discovery in plugins/ directory)
• Periodic heartbeat and metric push to backend (REST)
• System metrics collection via Windows API (CPU, memory, network I/O)
• Watchdog timer (3 missed ticks triggers recovery heartbeat)

Desktop UI (src/components/app/)

Qt Quick application:

• System metrics display: CPU, memory, uptime
• Service management: start/stop/restart, status visualization
• Agent management: connected agents list, individual control
• Log streaming: real-time display, levels, timestamps
• Plugin management: load/unload/status

Agent (src/components/agent/)

Standalone agent executable. Connects to service via IPC, executes commands through plugin system.

Plugins

Dynamic libraries loaded at runtime via Qt Plugin system.

Plugin	Type	Description
Proxy	SHARED	HTTP/HTTPS traffic interception, request forwarding, metrics collection
Scraper	SHARED	Web scraping with configurable selectors, scheduled execution, data extraction

Backend Server

Python Flask server. Provides REST API endpoints for service registration, heartbeat, metrics collection, plugin status, and web dashboard.

Build

Dependencies

• Windows 10/11 SDK 10.0.26200
• Visual Studio 2022 (C++23)
• Qt 6.x (Core, Network, RemoteObjects, Quick, Gui)
• OpenSSL
• Python 3.9+ (backend server)
• CMake 3.21+
• vcpkg with x64-windows triplet

Build Steps

cmake --preset default
cmake --build build --config Release

Targets

Target	Type	Output
core	STATIC	core.lib
service_main	EXECUTABLE	service_main.exe
main	EXECUTABLE	main.exe
agent	EXECUTABLE	agent.exe
demo_simulator	EXECUTABLE	demo_simulator.exe
proxy_plugin	SHARED	proxy_plugin.dll
scraper_plugin	SHARED	scraper_plugin.dll
unit_tests	EXECUTABLE	unit_tests.exe

Service Installation

sc create "SecureRemoteAgent" binPath="<build>/src/components/service/Release/service_main.exe"
sc start "SecureRemoteAgent"

Project Structure

include/                  # Public headers (semantic aliases)
  core/                   # IPC server/client, network client, remote executor
  components/
    agent/                # Agent interface
    app/                  # UI manager
    service/              # Service controller, source impl
  config/                 # Constants
  plugins/
    loader/               # Plugin interface
    proxy/                # Proxy plugin header
    scraper/              # Scraper plugin header
src/
  core/                   # Core library source
  components/
    agent/                # Agent source
    app/                  # UI source (main.cpp, ui_manager.cpp, QML)
    service/              # Service source
  plugins/
    loader/               # Plugin loader source
    proxy/                # Proxy plugin source
    scraper/              # Scraper plugin source
tests/
  unit/                   # Unit tests (Catch2)
  integration/            # Integration tests (Catch2)
CMakeLists.txt            # Top-level build configuration

IPC Interface

Defined in src/core/ServiceInterface.rep:

• Properties: serviceStatus, cpuUsage, memoryUsage, memoryTotal, memoryAvailable, netRxKbps, netTxKbps, uptime
• Slots: ping(), requestShutdown()
• Signals: pongReceived(QString), logMessage(QString, QString)

Generated via qt6_add_repc_merged() into rep_ServiceInterface_merged.h.

Tests

cmake --build build --target unit_tests
./build/tests/unit/Debug/unit_tests.exe

Requires Catch2. Enable with -DBUILD_TESTS=ON.

License

MIT