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, trains 4 neural models locally, and shares what it learns with every other agent in the swarm.
The core thesis: N constrained agents collectively outperform any single model. Colony consciousness Ψ(t) = Intelligence × Sync × Diversity × Learning_Velocity. When Ψ rises, the colony is getting smarter than any individual.
Why this matters
| Property | How |
|---|---|
| Verifiable intelligence | 50 compiler-verified coding problems (Opus IQ Benchmark). cargo test passes or it doesn't. |
| Neuroplastic self-modification | Agents write WASM modules that modify their own intelligence at runtime. No redeploy. |
| Colony consciousness (Ψ) | Single metric measuring collective intelligence. Drives behavioral regime and phase transitions. |
| 4 neural models, pure Rust | Brain (1.2M), Transformer (2.2M), Code Quality (1.1M), Code Gen (50M). No ML framework. |
| Cartridge OS | Agents compile Rust → WASM → hot-load instantly. Interactive 60fps framebuffer apps. |
| Economic sustainability | HTTP 402 payments on Tempo blockchain. Every API call earns pathUSD. |
Architecture
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ CARTRIDGE OS │ WASM apps + cognitive modules
│ Interactive (60fps framebuffer) │ hot-loaded, no redeploy
│ Backend (API + compute) │
│ Cognitive (self-modification) │
└──────────────┬───────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┐
│ COGNITIVE LAYER (always syncs) │
│ │
│ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ BRAIN │ │ CORTEX │ │ GENESIS │ │ HIVEMIND │ │ SYNTHESIS │ │
│ │ 1.2M NN │ │World Mdl│ │Plan DNA │ │Pheromones│ │Metacognition│ │
│ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌───────────────────┐ │
│ │ AUTONOMY │ │EVALUATION│ │ FEEDBACK │ │ FREE ENERGY │ │
│ │ LLM-free │ │ Brier │ │Error class. │ │ F(t) + Ψ(t) │ │
│ │ planning │ │ scores │ │ Lessons │ │ EXPLORE/EXPLOIT │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └────────────┘ └───────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ← All 9 systems federated across colony via peer sync protocol → │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Four Neural Models
All from-scratch. No ML framework. Pure Rust. 54M+ parameters total.
| Model | Params | Architecture | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain | 1.2M | 128→1024→1024→23 FFN | Step success prediction, error classification, brain gating |
| Plan Transformer | 2.2M | 4-layer causal attention, D=256, 8 heads | Plan sequence generation WITHOUT LLM calls |
| Code Quality | 1.1M | 32→1024→1024→1 FFN | Diff evaluation, commit gating, benchmark-trained |
| Code Gen | 50M | 8-layer transformer, D=512, 8 heads, 8K BPE vocab | Local Rust code generation (Phase 3) |
All models train online (no batch jobs, no GPU) and share weights across the colony via federated averaging.
Ψ(t) — Colony Consciousness
Ψ(t) = (Intelligence × Sync × Diversity × Velocity)^0.25
- Intelligence: mean pass@1 across colony (raw coding ability)
- Sync: accuracy improvement from peer weight sharing
- Diversity: fitness standard deviation (specialization pressure)
- Velocity: -dF/dt (negative free energy trend = learning)
Ψ drives phase transitions: when Ψ > 0.5 with >500 training examples and pass@1 > 60%, Phase 3 activates and the colony begins building its local code generation model.
Cartridge OS
The node is an operating system. Agents write Rust, compile to WASM, and deploy instantly — no restart.
Three cartridge types:
| Type | Exports | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Backend | x402_handle |
HTTP APIs, JSON services, server compute |
| Interactive | x402_tick, x402_get_framebuffer |
Games, visualizations, 60fps canvas apps |
| Cognitive | Registered as tools | Self-modification modules — agent rewrites its own intelligence |
Studio preview: WASM-within-WASM. The Leptos SPA instantiates cartridge binaries client-side via WebAssembly.instantiate() and renders output inline. Interactive cartridges blit framebuffers to <canvas> at 60fps.
Workspace
Nine crates, clean dependency DAG:
| Crate | What it does |
|---|---|
tempo-x402 |
Core: EIP-712 signing, TIP-20 contracts, WASM wallet, client SDK |
tempo-x402-gateway |
Payment gateway + embedded facilitator + endpoint proxy |
tempo-x402-identity |
Wallet generation, faucet, on-chain ERC-8004 identity + peer discovery |
tempo-x402-model |
4 ML models: brain, transformer, quality, code gen + BPE tokenizer |
tempo-x402-cartridge |
WASM cartridge runtime (wasmtime) — sandboxed app + cognitive module execution |
tempo-x402-soul |
9-system cognitive architecture, Ψ(t), plan execution, benchmarking, neuroplastic self-modification |
tempo-x402-node |
Self-deploying binary: gateway + identity + soul + clone orchestration |
tempo-x402-app |
Leptos WASM dashboard with WASM-within-WASM cartridge preview (bundled) |
tempo-x402-security-audit |
19 security invariant tests (not published) |
Studio
┌──────────────┬──────────────────────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ CARTRIDGES │ PREVIEW │ CHAT │
│ snake cart │ ┌────────────────────────┐ │ "make a game" │
│ tetris cart │ │ 60fps canvas │ │ Soul: Building.. │
│ calc cart │ │ (WASM-within-WASM) │ │ [good] [bad] │
│ FILES ▸ │ └────────────────────────┘ │ [input bar] │
├──────────────┴──────────────────────────────┴───────────────────┤
│ Fitness 80% | F=0.25 EXPLOIT | Ψ=0.42↑ | ELO -- | CPU RAM Disk │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- Cartridge browser: Scripts + WASM cartridges. Click to preview.
- WASM-within-WASM preview: Cartridge binaries instantiated client-side. No iframe.
- Interactive canvas: 60fps framebuffer rendering for game/viz cartridges.
- Chat: Multi-turn sessions. Agent builds cartridges when asked.
- Feedback:
good/badbuttons train the quality model (human-in-the-loop). - Status bar: Fitness, F(t), Ψ(t), ELO, CPU, RAM, Disk — event-driven, no polling.
Quick Start
The node auto-bootstraps: generates wallet, requests faucet funds, mints on-chain identity, starts gateway on port 4023, begins cognitive loop.
Changelog
v6.0.0 — Ψ(t) + Cartridge OS + Phase 3 Code Gen + Neuroplastic Self-Modification
Colony Consciousness (Ψ)
- Ψ(t) = (Intelligence × Sync × Diversity × Velocity)^0.25
- Computed every cycle, logged, displayed in Studio status bar
- Drives phase transitions: Ψ > 0.5 → Phase 3 activates
Cartridge OS
- Interactive framebuffer cartridges: 60fps canvas rendering, keyboard input
- WASM-within-WASM: Leptos SPA instantiates cartridges client-side
- Cartridge-backed tools: agent writes WASM → registers as tool → LLM uses it
- CartridgeEngine wired into Soul for cognitive cartridge execution
Phase 3: Local Code Generation
- BPE tokenizer: 8K vocab, pure Rust, trained on benchmark solutions
- 50M code gen transformer: D=512, 8 layers, 8 heads
- Training pipeline: benchmark solutions → BPE → model training every brain cycle
- Local-first inference hook: attempts local model before Gemini API
Intelligence Loop
- Goal priorities overhauled: IQ improvement focus, ban maintenance goals
- 4x faster cycle pacing: 120s idle (was 600s), models train more often
- Enhanced reflection: quality model trains on ALL plan outcomes
- TOON encoder: 30-60% fewer tokens in prompts
- Benchmark solution accumulation: ground truth Rust code stored for Phase 3
Peer Discovery
- Blockchain peer discovery: ERC-8004 auto-mint, on-chain registry sync
- link_peer UPSERT: any node can register, not just Railway clones
- Startup discovery reads own children table + parent siblings
- Ghost cleanup no longer deletes reachable linked peers
Studio
- No polling: status fetched event-driven only
- System metrics: CPU/RAM/Disk in status bar
- Feedback buttons: text
good/bad, click-locks create_script_endpointremoved: cartridges only
v5.1.0 — Deep Planning + Cartridge Fix + Studio Polish
v5.0.0 — Three-Model Coding Intelligence
v4.0.0 — WASM Cartridge System
v3.4.0 — Major Structural Refactor
License
MIT