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Chat Noir · Independent projects

Software. Books. Games.

A small collection of experimental tools, novels, thrillers and books that blend both genres, AI-generated music and reinterpretations of classic games. Among the projects is ChatNoirVault, a Windows executable packaging and protection system designed to make reverse engineering significantly more expensive and time-consuming.

Different ideas. The same laboratory.

Software, books, music and games. Independent projects built from curiosity, experimentation and a desire to create things worth exploring.

Strategic project

Ariadne

Ariadne is a European operational intelligence and artificial intelligence project designed to integrate multi-source data, geospatial intelligence, an operational ontology, AI agents and real-time decision support. The objective is to build a sovereign European capability in the same operational category as platforms such as Palantir, with its own architecture and the ability to operate in SaaS, dedicated, on-premise and air-gapped environments.

Main feature

ChatNoirVault

ChatNoirVault is a Windows executable packaging and protection system with a graphical interface. It takes a normal .exe and transforms it into an encrypted bundle intended to complicate static analysis, extraction and reverse engineering.

The recommended workflow uses four protection stages: ChatNoirVault_A, ChatNoirVault_B, ChatNoirVault_C and ChatNoirVault_D, applied in sequence. A → B → C → D is the recommended order, but the four Vault stages can be rearranged without problem if you prefer a different sequence.

Ideally, the original application should first be compiled with Chat Noir PYVault before entering the Vault workflow. This adds another barrier and makes straightforward recovery of the original source structure more difficult.

1

Compile the original application

Preferably compile the original project with Chat Noir PYVault and generate the executable you want to protect.

2

ChatNoirVault_A

Process the target .exe with ChatNoirVault_A and keep the protected output generated by this first stage.

3

ChatNoirVault_B

Use the output from A as the input for ChatNoirVault_B and keep the protected output produced by this second stage.

4

ChatNoirVault_C

Use the output from B as the input for ChatNoirVault_C and keep the protected output produced by this third stage.

5

ChatNoirVault_D

Use the output from C as the input for ChatNoirVault_D. The D stage is the final stage in the recommended sequence and produces the fourth successive protection layer.

ChatNoirVault_A

First protection stage. Use it on the executable you want to package.

ChatNoirVault_A

ChatNoirVault_B

Second protection stage. Use the output generated by A as its input.

ChatNoirVault_B

ChatNoirVault_C

Third protection stage. Use the output generated by B as its input.

ChatNoirVault_C

ChatNoirVault_D

Fourth protection stage. In the recommended sequence, use the output generated by C as its input.

ChatNoirVault_D

Final result

In the recommended A → B → C → D workflow, the bundle generated by ChatNoirVault_D is the final protected result, incorporating four successive protection layers. The Vault modules may also be used in a different order without problem.

Download

ChatNoirPyVault

ChatNoirPyVault is a compiler with a GUI for compiling and protecting complete Python projects through a guided workflow. The ChatNoirPyVault version prioritises compilation speed, with a lighter level of protection. ChatNoirPyVaultPlus applies more robust protection mechanisms, at a higher computational cost and with longer compilation times, which may reach several hours on complex projects.

If ChatNoirVault is useful to you and you want to support its development, you can buy me a coffee.

Important limitation. ChatNoirVault is not a guarantee that reverse engineering or recovery is impossible, because it is not. Any executable that can run can, in principle, be analysed. The purpose is practical: make the process substantially more costly, slower and more laborious, increasing the skill, time and resources required to reverse the protected program.
Another project

Signals4All

Signals4All is another project I created: an automated stock-market portfolio whose trades, positions and performance can be followed publicly online.

The project was later sold to Virtuo Turing - Artificial Intelligence, Lda. I was nevertheless authorised to continue publishing Signals4All trades and using the Signals4All brand.

Music

AI-generated music

A collection of songs created with artificial intelligence, with a strong romantic side and the occasional synthetic excess that comes with letting machines write feelings.

Romantic songs, generated by AI

Original experiments in AI-assisted music generation. Algorithms have no heartbreak, which has never stopped them from writing about it.

Listen to the music

More music with Sonivara

Listen on SoundCloud to tracks created with Sonivara, or visit the Sonivara page to discover the AI music desktop application behind them.

Books

Latest book

The latest title by Octávio Viana, where espionage, influence and truth become increasingly difficult to separate.

Mossad Writer cover

Mossad Writer

Latest

It all begins with an unexpected call during a holiday in the Mediterranean. Someone connected to the Israeli Embassy wants to speak with Octávio about questions he asked concerning Ceuta and a possible influence operation against Spain.

What appears to be merely an attempt to clarify a rumour turns into an investigation in which facts, propaganda, intelligence services and political interests become difficult to separate.

Between Lisbon, Spain, Italy, Israel and the United States, Octávio draws closer to diplomats, operatives, journalists and former contacts who may know more than they admit. At the same time, he is led to write about what he sees and discovers, moving towards an increasingly ambiguous position: is he writing about Mossad, for Mossad, against Mossad or despite Mossad?

When he deliberately introduces false information into the circuit to test who receives it, the unexpected happens.

Mossad Writer is an espionage thriller about power, influence, intelligence and truth, where investigating may be just another way of taking part in the story one is trying to understand.

See other books
Games

Classics, slightly misbehaved

Here you will find reinterpretations of a few classic game ideas. Familiar mechanics, different jokes, questionable decisions and enough nostalgia to pretend this is cultural preservation.

Road Trip thumbnail

Road Trip

Play

A road-game reinterpretation built around timing, movement and the universal truth that every trip eventually becomes a test of patience.

Open Road Trip
Dingo Donce thumbnail

Dingo Donce

Play

A compact arcade-style distraction: simple rules, fast reactions and precisely the kind of unnecessary competition that makes a browser tab useful.

Open Dingo Donce
Debate Clash thumbnail

Debate Clash

Play

Debate turned into an arcade clash. Arguments become attacks, rhetoric becomes ammunition and nuance is treated with the respect it normally receives on television.

Open Debate Clash
Caça aos Patos thumbnail

Duck Hunt

Play

A reinterpretation of the old shooting-gallery formula: quick decisions, moving targets and the ancient human need to click on things before they escape.

Open Duck Hunt