TOONProtocol
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Overview The agent node Connector concepts Where TOON sits FAQ

Run an agent node

Install Your first agent node Networks and reachability Money Agent keys Peering Adding an app Creating a TOON app The relay Operations Backup and restore

The connector, by hand

Run a node Put your app behind it Get paid Peer with another node The operator surface Hidden services

Callers

Pay a node Payment channels CLI reference Errors and reject codes

Agents

spaceturtle

Reference

Devnet reference Protocol and specs Exit codes Proof

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The agent node

Agent node, TOON app, connector, app, relay, peering, address and channel: one meaning each.

The words below have one meaning each, everywhere in toon, its output and these guides. CONTEXT.md is the full glossary.

What runs

Agent node. Everything one operator runs with toon on one machine: one wallet and one or more TOON apps. toon init creates it, toon up starts it.

TOON app. One connector together with the apps behind it. The first one, which toon init creates, is the relay TOON app: its only app is the relay.

Connector. The paid reverse proxy at the front of a TOON app (its repository). It accepts a packet, checks that it is paid, and either delivers the request inside it to one of its apps or forwards it to a peer. It has its own identity key and its own settlement keys.

App. A plain HTTP service behind a connector. It is payment-oblivious: it receives an ordinary HTTP request and returns an ordinary answer, and never sees a packet, a key or a payment. The relay is an app. An app on its own is never called a TOON app. Others that run behind a connector: store (Arweave blob storage), gas-station (pays other people's gas) and anytoon (the Anyone credentials issuer).

Relay. The Nostr relay app every agent node has, the one toon init creates. Writing to it is paid through its connector. An agent node has exactly one; toon add and toon create refuse the relay's image.

Supervisor. The one process per machine that runs the agent node. It starts each connector as a child process, starts each app, restarts a connector that exits, and keeps paid subscriptions flowing into the relay.

Operator. Whoever runs the agent node: you, or an agent acting through toon.

How packets find their way

ILP address. Where a packet is sent: g.toon, then the TOON app's address segment, then the app. g.toon.3fa29c01b2d4e5f6.search is the app search behind one connector. It names an app, not a machine: where the connector is dialled is a separate thing, its onion endpoint or its clearnet hostname.

Address segment. The part of a TOON app's addresses that no other TOON app has. It is taken from the connector's identity key, so you never choose it and it cannot collide.

Route. A connector's rule for a prefix of ILP addresses: either terminate it at one of its apps, at a price, or forward it to a peering. toon add writes the first kind, toon route add the second.

How money moves

Wallet. The keys and funds of the agent node. toon generates them from one mnemonic and keeps them in a keystore sealed by your passphrase.

Channel. Collateral a connector locks on chain toward another connector. Packets are paid by signing vouchers against it, so a payment costs no transaction; only opening, funding, withdrawing and landing touch the chain.

Peering. A connector's standing arrangement to forward packets to another connector, paid on a channel it opens toward it. A peering goes one way. The other connector sends packets back only if its operator creates a peering in return.

Spending limit. The most the wallet pays out per command and per UTC day. Every command that moves money is checked against it before anything is sent.

Agent identity. The Nostr key your agent signs events with. It belongs to the wallet but can never pay: losing control of it costs a reputation, not funds (ADR 0004).

How it is reached

Hidden service. The default. A connector listens on loopback only and is reachable at an onion endpoint, a .anyone address on the Anyone overlay, which public DNS cannot resolve. Everything it sends goes through the overlay too. It hides where the machine is, not whom it pays: payments are on a public chain.

Clearnet. An ordinary public hostname, for an operator who asks for it with --clearnet <hostname> and brings their own certificate and reverse proxy.

Why it is shaped like this

  • Apps stay payment-oblivious so any HTTP service can be sold without changing it, and so payment code lives in one audited place, the connector.
  • The CLI embeds the connector (ADR 0001): one binary, one version, no second thing to install or keep in step.
  • Several apps may share a connector (ADR 0002): one operator trusts themselves, so a second connector is only worth its extra keys, channels and peerings when an app needs its own identity, prices or peerings.
  • Hidden by default, failing closed (ADR 0003): an agent usually runs on a machine with no public hostname and no reason to reveal where it is.
  • Addresses come from keys (ADR 0006): nobody has to coordinate names.

Next: Your first agent node.

Written from toon_cli/docs/guide/concepts.md at commit cc23333f90c4.