Architecture At A Glance

Last updated: 2026-06-28

Cortensor routes work through a session/task lifecycle. A client submits a request to a router, the router creates or selects a session task, miners execute the work, validators/oracles close the lifecycle, and contracts preserve the coordination state.

Products call the network Portal, gateway, Corgent, Bardiel, PyClaw

Product surfaces hide most session and contract detail while still using router primitives underneath.

Routers coordinate work REST, MCP, A2A, trial, x402

Router Node handles request shape, auth, route selection, session resolution, and response assembly.

Nodes execute and check Miners, oracles, validators, quality

Execution roles move tasks through assignment, precommit, commit, validation, and quality sampling.

Contracts preserve state Identity, sessions, queue, payments, privacy

Eliza modules coordinate network state while off-chain storage handles large or encrypted payloads.

System Map

Product plane Portal, gateway, dashboard, Corgent, Bardiel, PyClaw

Router plane REST, delegate, validate, factcheck, MCP, A2A, x402

Execution plane sessions, miners, oracle, validators, quality sampling

Protocol plane contracts, sessions, queue, payment, privacy, stats

Data plane usage records, off-chain payloads, URNs, result references

Request Flow

Accept

Gateway or router receives a hosted API, direct router, delegate, validate, or factcheck request.

Resolve

The router resolves session, model, payment, privacy, timeout, and storage policy.

Execute

Miners run the assigned model/runtime and submit precommit and commit data.

Verify

Oracle, validator, and quality roles close the lifecycle and produce verdict or quality signals.

Return

The caller receives output, URN, validation result, retry guidance, or error metadata.

sequenceDiagram
  participant App as Application / Product
  participant Gateway as Portal Gateway
  participant Router as Router Node
  participant Queue as Session Queue
  participant Miner as Miner Nodes
  participant Validator as Oracle / Validator
  participant Contracts as Eliza Contracts

  App->>Gateway: optional hosted API request
  Gateway->>Router: /api/v3/completions or managed route
  App->>Router: direct completion/delegate/validate
  Router->>Contracts: read session, role, payment, privacy state
  Router->>Queue: create or enqueue task
  Queue->>Miner: assign work
  Miner->>Queue: precommit result hash
  Miner->>Queue: commit result or off-chain URN
  Validator->>Queue: validate lifecycle
  Router->>App: response, verdict, or task data

Task Lifecycle

stateDiagram-v2
  [*] --> RequestReceived
  RequestReceived --> SessionResolved: router selects session
  SessionResolved --> TaskQueued: task created
  TaskQueued --> Assigned: miner accepts work
  Assigned --> Precommitted: result hash submitted
  Precommitted --> Committed: result or off-chain URN submitted
  Committed --> Validating: oracle / validator review
  Validating --> Completed: accepted
  Validating --> Disputed: mismatch or policy failure
  Disputed --> Completed: arbitration / retry resolved
  Completed --> [*]

Data Boundary

flowchart LR
  Prompt["Prompt / request payload"] --> Router["Router"]
  Router --> Policy{"Route version<br/>and privacy mode"}
  Policy -->|"plain or small payload"| ChainTask["On-chain task data"]
  Policy -->|"large or encrypted payload"| Blob["Off-chain blob"]
  Blob --> URN["URN reference"]
  URN --> ChainTask
  ChainTask --> Miner["Miner execution"]
  Miner --> ResultPolicy{"Result handling"}
  ResultPolicy -->|"plain result"| ChainResult["On-chain result"]
  ResultPolicy -->|"large or encrypted result"| ResultBlob["Off-chain result blob"]
  ResultBlob --> ResultURN["Result URN"]
  ResultURN --> ChainResult

Planes

Plane	Main components	Notes
Protocol	ACL/IAM, Runtime, NodePool, Session, SessionQueue, SessionPayment, PrivacySetting, stats modules.	Active network tables carry chain-specific values.
Execution	Router, miner, oracle, validator, pool, quality, and tool roles.	Runtime role names match the packaged cortensord roles.
Product	Portal, API gateway, dashboard, Corgent, Bardiel, PyClaw-facing integrations.	Product readiness varies by surface.
Ops	SaltStack, L3/RPC/sequencer/explorer notes, Nginx router configs, systemd patterns.	Publish chain, RPC, explorer, bridge, and service values with each deployment.

Prompt/result payloads may be on-chain strings or off-chain URNs depending on route version and privacy mode. v2/v3 completion paths move large or encrypted payloads off-chain and submit references into the task lifecycle.

Deployment boundary

Active network addresses, session IDs, storage providers, and route availability vary by deployment.