Core Concepts
The public primitives that make Splendor runs inspectable and governable.
Core Concepts
Splendor makes autonomous runtime behavior explicit. The same primitives appear in the local runtime, SDKs, daemon API, examples, traces, and replay outputs.
Identity
Splendor keeps runtime identities separate so authority cannot be blurred:
| Primitive | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Tenant | Policy, data, quota, and audit boundary. |
| Agent | Autonomous runtime identity inside a tenant. |
| Runtime context | Isolated local execution context for an agent. |
| Run | One execution of an objective. |
| Tick | One cycle of the governed loop. |
| Action | One proposed operation mediated by the gateway. |
| State node | Versioned state commit or explicit state reference. |
| Trace event | Append-only event in a run trace stream. |
| Message | Typed coordination object between agents. |
| Work order | Signed, scoped authority to start or resume a run. |
| Approval | Scoped governance evidence consumed by verifiers. |
Percepts and policies
Percepts are structured observations. Policies receive state and percepts, then propose actions and state changes. Policies do not execute privileged side effects directly.
Constraints and verifiers
Constraints describe rules and invariants. Verifiers enforce runtime boundaries: tenant policy, agent permissions, adapter allowlists, quotas, preconditions, network/filesystem scope, approval state, safety evidence, and policy validity.
When a required verifier cannot decide safely, Splendor fails closed as denial, approval needed, intervention needed, or pause depending on the runtime context.
Action Gateway
The Action Gateway is the boundary between proposed work and real side effects. Only verified actions reach adapters. Denied, approval-required, intervention, or failed actions are traceable outcomes.
State graph
Agent state is explicit and versioned. State commits identify the tenant, agent, run, parent state node, state hash, trace linkage, and timestamp. Hidden mutable state must not affect runtime behavior without a state commit or reference.
Trace and replay
Traces are runtime contract data. A successful tick records percept intake, policy invocation, action proposals, constraint evaluation, verification, action outcomes, state commit, and completion.
Replay reconstructs behavior from trace and state evidence. By default, replay does not call adapters, resend messages, publish artifacts, contact approval systems, or control devices.
Messages and delegation
Messages let agents coordinate through typed, trace-linked payloads. Delegation is scoped by allowed actions, adapters, permissions, data references, quotas, expiry, and trace linkage. Specialist agents do not inherit broad caller authority by default.
Work orders and governance
Work orders authorize runs. Governance objects such as approvals, circuit breakers, policy TTLs, and audit exports are verifier inputs and traceable runtime state. They do not replace the Action Gateway.