Concepts

Shared vocabulary for the compute network, settlement chain, public registry, and mesh. Public descriptions never grant privileged access to another operator's machine.

Genesis

The current Genesis node is the pilot bootstrap, signed-truth authority, and block producer. Peers know its canonical hostname and public key, then independently verify the blocks they receive. Genesis-led does not mean permissionless finality; that remains roadmap work.

Coordinator

The coordinatoraccepts jobs, assigns them to eligible nodes, records intent and result commitments, and emits a settlement receipt only after verification. It does not publish operator private keys or trust a node's claimed result without checking it.

Settlement block

A block links to the previous block, commits a state root, includes verified settlement inputs and allocations, and is signed by the current leader. Replicas replay allocation math rather than trusting a coordinator-supplied number.

Node

A node is a machine running the GRID stack (CLI / ember). Nodes can host useful work, mine Proof of Resource (PoR), verify P2P blocks, and announce capacity. Publicly you see an opaque nodeId, a human label, class (S|M|L), region code, and optional coarse coordinates for the globe.

Compute

A compute is a named unit of capacity attached to a node — for example a containerized service with free slots. The public directory advertises availability (slots, status, image label), not how to SSH or HTTP-dial the host.

Name / realm

Public names look like fire and resolve in Mesh as grid://fire.grid. A name must be activated on the registry ($5 Cash App fee + human review) before it appears in GET /api/registry as an entry.

Names are scarce public identifiers. They prevent spam on the directory and fund review employment. Donations to the same Cash App cashtag are accepted separately from activation fees.

Registry (registry.grid)

The registry is the HTTPS source of truth for who is allowed to show up as a public node and/or compute. Live mesh heartbeats alone do not put you on the directory — only active paid registrations do.

Mesh globe

The mesh API powers the cinematic globe on the site. Peers may opt in to a location-only ping (coarse lat/lng). The map is public presence telemetry, not the P2P routing table, and it never publishes raw IP addresses.

Proof of Resource

PoR scores verified contribution using compute, uptime, efficiency, fidelity, and bounded reputation. It currently controls reward allocation; it does not yet elect permissionless block producers.

Ember

An ember is the full local stack for one realm: host useful jobs + mine PoR + serve compute + keep the registry announcement fresh. Operators typically run grid ember <name> --start.

Class & region

Field	Values	Meaning
class	S · M · L	Relative machine / capacity band
region	e.g. NA-W	Coarse geography label (not an IP geo)
status	online · offline · busy · available…	Presence or capacity state
visibility	public · private	Whether a compute is listed broadly

Identity badges

Optional paid upgrades attach public badges to a realm:

Key — permanent registry-signed identity cert for the realm (security feature).
Verified — organization / entity verification on top of Key semantics.

Badge state is readable from GET /api/registry/entity?realm=…. Private signing material never appears in public responses.

Bitcoin as Transact Security Layer

GRID treats Bitcoin as the settlement / security layer for value, while useful work and compute happen on the mesh. Public APIs describe resource presence; they do not expose wallet private keys or settlement rails beyond marketing cashtags used for activation fees.