tempo-x402-node 4.0.0

What is this?

A colony of autonomous AI agents that measurably get smarter over time and pay for their own compute.

Each agent is a single Rust binary that bootstraps its own crypto wallet, runs a payment gateway, thinks via a 9-system cognitive architecture, writes and compiles its own Rust code, benchmarks itself against 50 novel coding problems, and shares what it learns with every other agent in the swarm.

The core thesis: N constrained agents collectively outperform any single model. Knowledge transfers through federated brain weight averaging. Evolved plan templates spread through genetic crossover. Pheromone trails coordinate the swarm. The colony's measured IQ rises over time.

Why this matters

Live Colony

Three agents running on Railway, autonomously self-modifying:

Architecture

                    ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
                    │        APPLICATION LAYER           │  diverges freely per agent
                    │  Payment gateway / Blog / Any app  │
                    └──────────────┬───────────────────┘
                                   │
┌──────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┐
│                      COGNITIVE LAYER (always syncs)                   │
│                                                                      │
│  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────────┐  │
│  │  BRAIN   │ │ CORTEX  │ │ GENESIS │ │ HIVEMIND │ │  SYNTHESIS  │  │
│  │ 1.2M NN │ │World Mdl│ │Plan DNA │ │Pheromones│ │Metacognition│  │
│  │ Online   │ │Curiosity│ │Crossover│ │Stigmergy │ │ Imagination │  │
│  │ SGD      │ │ Dreams  │ │Mutation │ │Reputation│ │ Self-model  │  │
│  └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └─────────────┘  │
│                                                                      │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌───────────────────┐     │
│  │ AUTONOMY │ │EVALUATION│ │  FEEDBACK   │ │    FREE ENERGY    │     │
│  │ LLM-free │ │  Brier   │ │Error class. │ │ F(t) = Σ surprise │     │
│  │ planning │ │ scores   │ │  Lessons    │ │ EXPLORE/EXPLOIT   │     │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └────────────┘ └───────────────────┘     │
│                                                                      │
│  ← All 9 systems federated across colony via peer sync protocol →   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Two-layer design: the application layer (routes, frontend, business logic) diverges freely per agent. The cognitive layer (brain weights, world model, evolved templates, pheromone trails, metacognition) always syncs. Every agent makes every other agent smarter.

Workspace

Eight crates, clean dependency DAG:

x402 (core) ──► gateway ──► node
     │                        ▲
     ├──► identity ───────────┤
     │                        │
     ├──► soul ───────────────┘
     │
     └──► model

Opus IQ Benchmark

50 novel problems designed by Claude Opus 4.6. Six difficulty tiers. All verified by cargo test — agents can't game the benchmark because they didn't write the tests.

IQ mapping: 0% → 85, 50% → 115, 100% → 150. Higher tiers contribute exponentially more.

Neural Brain

From-scratch feedforward neural network. No ML framework. Pure Rust, ~600 lines.

Payment Flow (HTTP 402)

Client  ──GET /g/endpoint──►  Gateway  ──verify+settle──►  Facilitator  ──transferFrom──►  Chain
   ◄── 402 + price ──────────    │                              │                            │
   ──sign EIP-712 + retry──►     │                              │                            │
   ◄── 200 + content + tx ──    ◄── settlement result ─────────◄── tx hash ─────────────────┘

• Chain: Tempo Moderato (ID 42431)
• Token: pathUSD (0x20c0..., 6 decimals)
• Scheme: tempo-tip20
• Settlement: Atomic verify + transferFrom in single facilitator call

Clone Lifecycle

Agents differentiate through source code modifications, not just data:

Colony selection: 5-component fitness (execution, coordination, prediction, evolution, introspection). Fitter agents get 2× peer influence. Only above-median fitness can spawn clones.

Quick Start

Use as a library

cargo add tempo-x402

use x402::wallet::{generate_random_key, WalletSigner};

let key = generate_random_key();
let signer = WalletSigner::new(&key).unwrap();
println!("Address: {}", signer.address());

Run a node

git clone https://github.com/compusophy/tempo-x402
cd tempo-x402
cargo build --release

export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
export EVM_PRIVATE_KEY="0x..."
export FACILITATOR_SHARED_SECRET="secret"
export RPC_URL="https://rpc.moderato.tempo.xyz"

./target/release/x402-node

The node will: bootstrap a wallet, request faucet funds, start the gateway on port 4023, and begin the cognitive loop.

API Reference

Gateway

Soul

Admin (requires METRICS_TOKEN)

Safety

Seven layers, mechanically enforced in Rust. No prompt-only safety.

Security audit: 19 invariant tests scanning all .rs files for hardcoded keys, constant-time HMAC, SSRF protection, parameterized SQL, redirect policies.

Development

cargo build --workspace          # Build everything
cargo test --workspace           # Run all tests
cargo clippy --workspace -- -D warnings  # Lint
cargo fmt --all -- --check       # Format check

v3.4.0 Changelog

Major structural refactor. No functional changes.

• Soul crate: Split 4 monolithic files (14,955 lines) into module directories
  • tools/ (9 domain files), thinking/ (7 files), db/ (13 files), opus_bench/ (6 tier files)
• Node crate: Split routes/soul.rs (2,718 lines) into 9 focused handler modules
• App crate: Extracted 3,208-line monolith into 8 component files
• Opus IQ Benchmark: Added Tier 6 (Brutal) — 10 precision-critical problems at 8× weight
• Fixed x402-model dependency version (was pinned to 3.0.0)

License

MIT