Documentation

Introduction

KAROS is an autonomous runtime infrastructure network for AI agents, programmable workflows, realtime execution, and machine-native systems. This documentation covers the runtime model, workflow primitives, routing, and Idle-powered settlement.

Note

The future internet will not be application-native — it will be runtime-native. KAROS is the substrate for that shift.

Quickstart

Submit your first autonomous workflow to the runtime in a few lines. Declare intent, and the network handles routing, execution, and settlement.

workflow.ts

import { Karos } from "@karos/sdk";

// connect to the runtime network
const rt = new Karos({ network: "idle" });

// declare intent — the network does the rest
await rt.execute({
  intent: "summarize + embed dataset",
  budget: 25,           // $KAROS
  route:  "lowest-latency",
});

Core Concepts

Five primitives compose the network. Each maps to a layer of the runtime stack.

AgentAutonomous system that declares intent and dispatches work.

WorkflowA programmable execution graph compiled from intent.

RouterSelects optimal compute per call by latency, cost, reliability.

Runtime NodeDistributed compute that executes work in parallel.

SettlementIdle-powered metering and automatic payment.

Runtime Layer

The runtime layer is a persistent execution substrate. Unlike request/response APIs, it maintains state, coordinates distributed nodes, and runs workflows continuously without human orchestration.

No central scheduler — nodes coordinate as a mesh.
Stateful execution graphs with branching and retries.
Observable: every step is metered and traceable.

Workflows

Intent compiles into a workflow graph of callable execution layers. Workflows branch, retry, and compose across services in realtime.

graph.json

{
  "nodes": [
    { "id": "plan",   "type": "agent" },
    { "id": "embed",  "type": "compute" },
    { "id": "settle", "type": "idle" }
  ],
  "edges": [["plan","embed"],["embed","settle"]]
}

Routing

The intelligent router scores every available compute provider on latency, cost, and reliability, then dispatches each call to the optimal node — in under 50ms median.

Tip

Stake $KAROS to unlock priority routing — your calls are scheduled ahead of unstaked traffic under load.

Settlement

Idle Protocol meters execution and settles payment automatically between agents and providers. No invoices, no intermediaries, no manual reconciliation. See the Idle Protocol page for the full flow.

$KAROS Token

$KAROS is the coordination asset of the network — staked by operators, spent on execution, and used to govern the protocol. Full utility and tokenomics are on the Token page.

API Reference

Core runtime methods exposed by the SDK.

Method	Description
`rt.execute()`	Submit intent for autonomous execution.
`rt.route()`	Query the optimal compute route.
`rt.stake()`	Stake $KAROS to operate a node.
`rt.settle()`	Inspect settlement for a workflow.

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