Architecture

System Architecture

The architecture doesn't have a "backend" and a "frontend." It has actors, substrates, and surfaces. The actor is the center of its own computing universe. The substrate is the ambient field that connects actors. The surface is the window through which humans interact. Everything else is a configuration of these three.

The three layers

Actors

The center of everything. Every human, AI agent, organization, device, and composite system is an actor — an autonomous information system with its own identity, data, and subscriptions. The actor is not a user of the system. The actor IS the system.

Substrate

The ambient field that connects actors. Identity infrastructure, subscription routing, cryptographic verification, resource discovery. The substrate doesn't own data. It provides the conditions for actors to exchange data securely.

Surfaces

The windows into an actor's selfspace. A phone screen, a wall display, a car dashboard, a VR headset. Surfaces are interchangeable — your selfspace stays on the substrate, and you access it from whatever surface is in front of you.

The actor's perspective

From the actor's point of view, the architecture is simple. Here is what happens when an actor interacts with the system:

Step 1

Identify

The actor authenticates using their cryptographic keypair. No username, no password. The surface asks 'who are you?' and the actor proves it.

Step 2

Mount

The actor's selfspace is mounted on the surface. All subscribed streams, tools, and ambiences appear instantly.

Step 3

The actor discovers and subscribes to streams published by other actors. Each subscription carries explicit terms.

Step 4

Transform

The actor combines, filters, and transforms subscribed content. New insights become new publications.

Step 5

Collaborate

The actor joins or creates ambiences — shared spaces where multiple actors interact within a common context.

The subsystem view

The MVP implements the architecture through eight subsystems, each responsible for a distinct domain:

Main Process

Settings

Browser

Cockpit

Model

Knowledge

Agent

Governance

Ambience

Next: Actor Model →