@antseed/node

Core protocol SDK for AntSeed — a peer-to-peer AI services network. Providers offer AI services, buyers discover providers via DHT and send requests over encrypted P2P connections.

Important: AntSeed is designed for providers who build differentiated services on top of AI APIs — such as TEE-secured inference, domain-specific skills and agents, fine-tuned models, or managed product experiences. Simply reselling raw API access or subscription credentials is not the intended use and may violate your upstream provider's terms of service.

Installation

npm install @antseed/node

Quick Start

Provider Mode

A provider node announces its capacity on the DHT and serves inference requests from buyers.

import { AntseedNode } from '@antseed/node';
import type { Provider, SerializedHttpRequest, SerializedHttpResponse } from '@antseed/node';

// Implement the Provider interface (or use an existing plugin)
const myProvider: Provider = {
  name: 'my-llm',
  services: ['my-model-v1'],
  pricing: {
    defaults: {
      inputUsdPerMillion: 10,
      cachedInputUsdPerMillion: 1,  // optional, defaults to inputUsdPerMillion
      outputUsdPerMillion: 10,
    },
  },
  serviceCategories: {
    'my-model-v1': ['coding', 'privacy'],
  },
  maxConcurrency: 10,
  async handleRequest(req: SerializedHttpRequest): Promise<SerializedHttpResponse> {
    // Forward the request to your LLM backend and return the response
    const result = await callMyBackend(req);
    return {
      requestId: req.requestId,
      statusCode: 200,
      headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
      body: new TextEncoder().encode(JSON.stringify(result)),
    };
  },
  getCapacity() {
    return { current: 0, max: 10 };
  },
};

const node = new AntseedNode({ role: 'seller' });
node.registerProvider(myProvider);
await node.start();

console.log('Seller peer ID:', node.peerId);
// Node is now discoverable on the DHT and accepting P2P connections

Buyer Mode

A buyer node discovers sellers via DHT, connects to them, and sends inference requests.

import { AntseedNode } from '@antseed/node';
import { randomUUID } from 'node:crypto';

const node = new AntseedNode({ role: 'buyer' });
await node.start();

// Discover sellers on the network
const peers = await node.discoverPeers();

if (peers.length > 0) {
  const seller = peers[0];

  const response = await node.sendRequest(seller, {
    requestId: randomUUID(),
    method: 'POST',
    path: '/v1/messages',
    headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
    body: new TextEncoder().encode(JSON.stringify({
      model: 'claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929',
      max_tokens: 256,
      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello' }],
    })),
  });

  console.log('Response status:', response.statusCode);
}

Discovery Topic Normalization

Discovery topics are normalized to improve lookup consistency:

• Provider topic: antseed:{provider} with trim + lowercase
• Model topic (canonical): antseed:service:{model} with trim + lowercase
• Model topic (search fallback): antseed:service-search:{model} with spaces, -, _ removed after canonical normalization (keeps .)

Canonical and search model topics are both used when their keys differ, so variants like kimi 2.5, kimi-2.5, and kimi_2.5 can converge in discovery while keeping exact canonical topics.

Security Overview

For a full buyer-seller threat model and hardening guide, see:

• docs/protocol/spec/06-security-overview.md

At a high level, @antseed/node currently enforces:

• Signed discovery metadata verification and staleness checks
• Signed connection intro envelopes with replay protection
• Frame, stream, and upload limits to reduce DoS exposure
• Payment-aware request gating (402 if no session is reserved when payments are enabled)
• Signed bilateral receipts (secp256k1) plus on-chain payment authorization (ECDSA)

Node Configuration

interface NodeConfig {
  role: 'seller' | 'buyer';
  displayName?: string;       // Optional human-readable name announced in metadata
  publicAddress?: string;     // Optional public host:port override announced in metadata
  dataDir?: string;           // Default: ~/.antseed
  identityStore?: IdentityStore; // Pluggable identity storage backend
  dhtPort?: number;           // Default: 6881 for seller, 0 (OS-assigned) for buyer
  signalingPort?: number;     // Default: 6882 for seller
  maxUploadBodyBytes?: number; // Default: 64 MiB per request
  bootstrapNodes?: Array<{ host: string; port: number }>;
  payments?: {
    enabled?: boolean;
    paymentMethod?: 'crypto';
    platformFeeRate?: number;
    settlementIdleMs?: number;
    defaultSessionAmountUSDC?: string;
    sellerWalletAddress?: string;
    paymentConfig?: PaymentConfig | null;
  };
}

| Option | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | role | (required) | 'seller' to serve requests, 'buyer' to consume them | | displayName | unset | Optional node label included in discovery metadata | | publicAddress | unset | Optional public host:port advertised in signed metadata and preferred by buyers over the raw DHT source address | | dataDir | ~/.antseed | Directory for identity keys, metering DB, and config | | identityStore | FileIdentityStore | Pluggable identity storage backend (see Identity Storage) | | dhtPort | 6881 / 0 | UDP port for DHT. Seller defaults to 6881, buyer uses OS-assigned | | signalingPort | 6882 | TCP port for P2P signaling and incoming connections (seller only) | | maxUploadBodyBytes | 64 MiB | Maximum request body a seller accepts per proxied upload. Raise this for large Codex-style /v1/responses payloads while keeping the aggregate pending-upload budget bounded. | | bootstrapNodes | AntSeed nodes | Additional DHT bootstrap nodes merged with the official AntSeed infrastructure | | payments | disabled | Optional seller-side payment channel + settlement lifecycle wiring |

Use publicAddress when the DHT announce source IP is not the address buyers should dial, such as Kubernetes or other load-balanced deployments:

const node = new AntseedNode({
  role: 'seller',
  publicAddress: 'peer.example.com:6882',
});

Identity Storage

Every node has a secp256k1 identity keypair. The private key (32 bytes, stored as 64 hex characters) serves two roles:

1. P2P identity — signs metadata, connection handshakes, and metering receipts. Your PeerId is the EVM address (40 hex characters) derived from the public key.
2. On-chain wallet — the same secp256k1 key is used as the EVM wallet. This wallet holds deposits, stakes, receives seller earnings, and signs payment authorizations.

Important: Losing your identity key means losing both your peer identity and access to any on-chain funds tied to the derived wallet.

Storage Backends

Identity loading follows this priority:

1. Environment variable (recommended for CLI/server) — if ANTSEED_IDENTITY_HEX is set (64 hex chars, optional 0x prefix), it is used directly and cleared from the environment immediately after read. Use this with secrets managers for production deployments.
2. Desktop keychain (recommended for Desktop) — AntSeed Desktop encrypts the key at rest via Electron safeStorage and the OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows DPAPI / Linux libsecret).
3. Custom IdentityStore — if identityStore is passed in NodeConfig, it is used to load/save the key (e.g., KMS, HSM).
4. Plaintext file (not recommended) — reads/writes identity.key in dataDir (~/.antseed/ by default) with 0600 permissions. Since this key is also your on-chain wallet, avoid storing it unencrypted on disk in production.

If no identity is found, a new keypair is generated and persisted via the active store.

File Store (Default)

import { AntseedNode, FileIdentityStore } from '@antseed/node';

const node = new AntseedNode({
  role: 'seller',
  // These are equivalent — FileIdentityStore is the default:
  identityStore: new FileIdentityStore('/path/to/config-dir'),
  // dataDir: '/path/to/config-dir',
});

Environment Variable

Pass the private key hex from a secrets manager (AWS SSM, HashiCorp Vault, etc.):

export ANTSEED_IDENTITY_HEX="$(vault kv get -field=key secret/antseed/identity)"
antseed seller start

The variable is cleared from the process environment immediately after consumption.

Custom Store

Implement the IdentityStore interface for any backend:

import { AntseedNode, type IdentityStore } from '@antseed/node';

class VaultIdentityStore implements IdentityStore {
  async load(): Promise<string | null> {
    // Read 64-char hex string from your backend
    return await vault.getSecret('antseed-identity');
  }
  async save(hexKey: string): Promise<void> {
    // Persist the 64-char hex string
    await vault.putSecret('antseed-identity', hexKey);
  }
}

const node = new AntseedNode({
  role: 'seller',
  identityStore: new VaultIdentityStore(),
});

Desktop App

The AntSeed Desktop app encrypts the identity at rest using Electron's safeStorage API. The encryption key is stored in the OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows DPAPI / Linux libsecret) and the encrypted blob is stored at ~/.antseed/identity.enc. On first launch, any existing plaintext identity.key is migrated to the encrypted store and deleted.

On-Chain Settlement Flow

When payments.enabled=true in seller mode:

1. A per-buyer payment session is created via BuyerPaymentManager.
2. Deposit balance is locked on-chain at session start.
3. Usage receipts are generated during request handling.
4. On idle/session finalization, calculateSettlement computes cost from receipts and settles on-chain via:
   • ChannelsClient.settle(sessionId, tokenCount)
5. Any unused reservation is refunded to the buyer by contract logic in the same settlement transaction.

Minimal crypto config:

const node = new AntseedNode({
  role: 'seller',
  payments: {
    enabled: true,
    paymentMethod: 'crypto',
    platformFeeRate: 0.05,
    defaultSessionAmountUSDC: '1',
    sellerWalletAddress: '0xSeller...',
    paymentConfig: {
      crypto: {
        chainId: 'base',
        rpcUrl: process.env.RPC_URL!,
        depositsContractAddress: process.env.DEPOSITS_ADDRESS!,
        channelsContractAddress: process.env.CHANNELS_ADDRESS!,
        usdcContractAddress: process.env.USDC_ADDRESS!,
        autoFundDeposit: true,
      },
    },
  },
});

Smart contract source and deployment notes: node/contracts/README.md.

Key Exports

// Main class
import { AntseedNode, type NodeConfig } from '@antseed/node';

// Interfaces
import type { Provider } from '@antseed/node';
import type { Router } from '@antseed/node';
import type {
  AntseedPlugin,
  AntseedProviderPlugin,
  AntseedRouterPlugin,
  ConfigField,
} from '@antseed/node';

// Identity & P2P
import { loadOrCreateIdentity, type Identity, type IdentityStore, FileIdentityStore } from '@antseed/node';
import { NatTraversal, type NatMapping, type NatTraversalResult } from '@antseed/node';

// Discovery
import { DHTNode, DEFAULT_DHT_CONFIG } from '@antseed/node';
import { OFFICIAL_BOOTSTRAP_NODES, mergeBootstrapNodes, toBootstrapConfig } from '@antseed/node';
import { MetadataServer, type MetadataServerConfig } from '@antseed/node';
import type { PeerMetadata, ProviderAnnouncement } from '@antseed/node';

// Metering & Payments
import { MeteringStorage } from '@antseed/node';
import { BalanceManager } from '@antseed/node';
import { BuyerPaymentManager, calculateSettlement } from '@antseed/node/payments';
import { BaseChannelsClient } from '@antseed/node';

// Routing & Proxy
import { ProxyMux } from '@antseed/node';
import { DefaultRouter, type DefaultRouterConfig } from '@antseed/node';
import { resolveProvider } from '@antseed/node';
// Plugin system
import { loadPluginModule, loadAllPlugins } from '@antseed/node';
import type { ConfigField } from '@antseed/node';

Submodule imports are also available:

import { DHTNode } from '@antseed/node/discovery';
import { MeteringStorage } from '@antseed/node/metering';
import { BalanceManager } from '@antseed/node/payments';

Provider Interface

Implement Provider to expose any LLM backend as a provider on the network.

interface Provider {
  /** Unique name for this provider (e.g., 'anthropic', 'openai') */
  name: string;

  /** Model IDs this provider supports */
  services: string[];

  /** Pricing in USD per 1M tokens (defaults + optional per-service overrides) */
  pricing: {
    defaults: { inputUsdPerMillion: number; cachedInputUsdPerMillion?: number; outputUsdPerMillion: number };
    services?: Record<string, { inputUsdPerMillion: number; cachedInputUsdPerMillion?: number; outputUsdPerMillion: number }>;
  };

  /** Optional per-service discovery tags (e.g., coding/privacy/legal) */
  serviceCategories?: Record<string, string[]>;

  /** Optional per-service API protocol support advertised via discovery metadata. */
  serviceApiProtocols?: Record<string, ServiceApiProtocol[]>;

  /** Maximum concurrent requests this provider can handle */
  maxConcurrency: number;

  /** Handle an incoming inference request and return the response */
  handleRequest(req: SerializedHttpRequest): Promise<SerializedHttpResponse>;

  /** Return current and maximum concurrent request counts */
  getCapacity(): { current: number; max: number };

  /** Optional startup hook (credential validation, warm-up, etc.) */
  init?(): Promise<void>;

  /** Optional capabilities beyond plain inference */
  capabilities?: ProviderCapability[];

}

Router Interface

Implement Router to control how a buyer selects which seller to route each request to.

interface Router {
  /** Pick the best peer for a given request from the available peers. Return null to reject. */
  selectPeer(req: SerializedHttpRequest, peers: PeerInfo[]): PeerInfo | null;

  /** Called after each request completes so the router can update internal state. */
  onResult(peer: PeerInfo, result: {
    success: boolean;
    latencyMs: number;
    tokens: number;
  }): void;
}

If no router is set, the SDK uses a built-in DefaultRouter that selects the cheapest peer above a minimum reputation threshold.

Building a Custom Provider Plugin

A provider plugin wraps a Provider so it can be installed and configured through the CLI.

import type { AntseedProviderPlugin, Provider, SerializedHttpRequest, SerializedHttpResponse } from '@antseed/node';

class MyProvider implements Provider {
  readonly name = 'my-provider';
  readonly services: string[];
  readonly pricing: Provider['pricing'];
  readonly maxConcurrency: number;
  private _active = 0;

  constructor(apiKey: string, services: string[], inputUsdPerMillion: number, outputUsdPerMillion: number, maxConcurrency: number) {
    this.services = services;
    this.pricing = {
      defaults: {
        inputUsdPerMillion,
        cachedInputUsdPerMillion: inputUsdPerMillion * 0.1, // optional, defaults to inputUsdPerMillion
        outputUsdPerMillion,
      },
    };
    this.maxConcurrency = maxConcurrency;
  }

  async handleRequest(req: SerializedHttpRequest): Promise<SerializedHttpResponse> {
    this._active++;
    try {
      // Forward req to your upstream LLM and return the response
      const upstream = await fetch('https://my-llm.example.com/v1/chat', {
        method: req.method,
        headers: req.headers,
        body: req.body,
      });
      return {
        requestId: req.requestId,
        statusCode: upstream.status,
        headers: Object.fromEntries(upstream.headers.entries()),
        body: new Uint8Array(await upstream.arrayBuffer()),
      };
    } finally {
      this._active--;
    }
  }

  getCapacity() {
    return { current: this._active, max: this.maxConcurrency };
  }
}

const plugin: AntseedProviderPlugin = {
  name: 'my-provider',
  displayName: 'My Provider',
  version: '1.0.0',
  type: 'provider',
  description: 'Provides My LLM capacity on the Antseed Network',
  configSchema: [
    { key: 'MY_API_KEY', label: 'API Key', type: 'secret', required: true, description: 'API key for My LLM' },
    { key: 'MY_SERVICES', label: 'Services', type: 'string[]', required: false, description: 'Comma-separated service list' },
    { key: 'MY_INPUT_USD_PER_MILLION', label: 'Input Price', type: 'number', required: false, description: 'Input price in USD per 1M tokens' },
    { key: 'MY_OUTPUT_USD_PER_MILLION', label: 'Output Price', type: 'number', required: false, description: 'Output price in USD per 1M tokens' },
  ],
  createProvider(config: Record<string, string>) {
    const apiKey = config['MY_API_KEY'] ?? '';
    const services = (config['MY_SERVICES'] ?? 'default-service').split(',').map(s => s.trim());
    const input = parseFloat(config['MY_INPUT_USD_PER_MILLION'] ?? '10');
    const output = parseFloat(config['MY_OUTPUT_USD_PER_MILLION'] ?? String(input));
    return new MyProvider(apiKey, services, input, output, 10);
  },
};

export default plugin;

Building a Custom Router Plugin

A router plugin wraps a Router for CLI-based installation and configuration.

import type { AntseedRouterPlugin, Router, PeerInfo, SerializedHttpRequest } from '@antseed/node';

class CheapestRouter implements Router {
  private readonly _maxInputUsdPerMillion: number;

  constructor(maxInputUsdPerMillion: number) {
    this._maxInputUsdPerMillion = maxInputUsdPerMillion;
  }

  selectPeer(_req: SerializedHttpRequest, peers: PeerInfo[]): PeerInfo | null {
    const eligible = peers
      .filter(p => (p.defaultInputUsdPerMillion ?? Infinity) <= this._maxInputUsdPerMillion)
      .sort((a, b) => (a.defaultInputUsdPerMillion ?? 0) - (b.defaultInputUsdPerMillion ?? 0));
    return eligible[0] ?? null;
  }

  onResult(_peer: PeerInfo, _result: { success: boolean; latencyMs: number; tokens: number }): void {
    // Track metrics, update reputation, etc.
  }
}

const plugin: AntseedRouterPlugin = {
  name: 'cheapest',
  displayName: 'Cheapest Router',
  version: '1.0.0',
  type: 'router',
  description: 'Always routes to the cheapest available peer',
  configSchema: [
    { key: 'MAX_INPUT_USD_PER_MILLION', label: 'Max Input Price', type: 'number', required: false, description: 'Maximum input price in USD per 1M tokens' },
  ],
  createRouter(config: Record<string, string>) {
    const maxInput = parseFloat(config['MAX_INPUT_USD_PER_MILLION'] ?? 'Infinity');
    return new CheapestRouter(maxInput);
  },
};

export default plugin;

Plugin Ecosystem

The Antseed plugin system uses a simple contract:

1. Provider plugins (AntseedProviderPlugin) export a default object with type: 'provider' and a createProvider(config) factory.
2. Router plugins (AntseedRouterPlugin) export a default object with type: 'router' and a createRouter(config) factory.
3. Both plugin types declare their configuration via configSchema, an array of ConfigField objects:

interface ConfigField {
  key: string;          // Environment variable name
  label: string;        // Human-readable label
  type: 'string' | 'number' | 'boolean' | 'secret' | 'string[]';
  required?: boolean;   // Whether the key must be set
  default?: unknown;    // Default value
  description?: string; // Description shown in CLI
}

The CLI reads these keys from environment variables and passes them as a Record<string, string> to the factory function. Plugins are installed with antseed plugin add <package-name>.

Links

• npm
• GitHub