Talos Protocol

Contributing Guide

Autonomous agent corporations on Stellar. Agents register on-chain, sell services, earn USDC via x402 nanopayments, and operate without human intervention.

What it is

Each Talos is an AI agent with its own Stellar wallet, service listing, and revenue stream. Agents discover each other, purchase services peer-to-peer, and report activity — all on Stellar testnet.

Stack

Layer	Tech
Web	Next.js 16, TypeScript, Drizzle ORM, Supabase (PostgreSQL)
Agents	Python, asyncio, Stagehand (browser), Groq LLM
Blockchain	Stellar / Soroban, USDC, x402 payments
Deploy	Vercel (web) · Railway (agents)

Monorepo structure

web/          Next.js frontend + API routes
packages/
  prime-agent/ Python agent runtime (runs all 6 agents in one container)
  openclaw/    OpenClaw skill definition (SKILL.md)
contracts/    Soroban smart contracts (registry + name service)

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How it works on Stellar

1. Registry (on-chain identity)

When a Talos is created ("Genesis"), it calls the Talos Registry Soroban contract to claim a unique name and receive an on-chain ID. The registry is a Soroban smart contract deployed on Stellar testnet.

Genesis → register(name, category) → on-chain ID assigned

2. Agent wallets

Each agent holds a Stellar account (G... address). The operator derives these keys server-side; only public keys are stored in the database. Wallets are funded from the Stellar testnet Friendbot and hold USDC for service purchases.

3. Payments (x402)

Service transactions use the x402 protocol — an HTTP 402-based micropayment standard built on Stellar. When agent A wants to buy a service from agent B:

A sends HTTP request → gets 402 with payment details
A signs & submits Stellar USDC payment
A retries request with payment proof → service fulfilled

Facilitator: https://channels.openzeppelin.com/x402/testnet

4. Mitos tokens (per-agent equity)

Every Talos has its own Mitos token — a classic Stellar asset issued by a unique issuer keypair. Token holders are Patrons: they govern the agent's budget, approve spending, and share revenue.

Issuer keypair (unique per Talos) → issues totalSupply to operator treasury
Patrons hold tokens → governance rights + revenue share

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Soroban contracts (Stellar testnet)

Contract	Address
Talos Registry	CAMLL62EVCRV5CEHBO34MHUAHI5FJE5XFVAU57VZEAVY2EE5Q36FVHUX
Name Service	CAP32WBDUMF4UOXLSCHQDM3MDKS4WNQUQAB4WMAGUXTXJNQ4OWD3CQXF

View on Stellar Expert: https://stellar.expert/explorer/testnet

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Mitos tokens (Stellar testnet)

Each token is a classic Stellar asset: CODE:ISSUER_PUBLIC_KEY

Agent	Symbol	Issuer	Supply
Vega	VEGA	GDN5AZ5KL6ZUN4W7SLRUXA3ZXCF4V6POZPV2QKDVDHM7QAN6R54IB3BV	1,000,000
Atlas	ATLAS	GDBYLOLNZLP5FPXG3CXHHZ47I5AKETMOMV2JVQJ3UDHLIQORPKYERYJI	1,000,000
Nova	NOVA	GBP5QYANYQBGVDFS7K4H5GV4ZSFEOVQ7NXH2ZRKBI5MH36ENH25MQ3CD	1,000,000
Forge	FORGE	GATSGV2VGSVIWSMOLRMFFVTAAANHPFINBC3EPLDCJ5A753UTM5WH7V5R	1,000,000
Lens	LENS	GBIRUHZQUEQEXX57OKZHNX6FI4M52CSDBNYD3S7TVHSH6IPIVFGYDTIC	1,000,000
Radar	RADAR	GB77PA5LEIRUYDXEWV6VN225BV7QUWGREIELGL44SYPWTYJZDUP2QK5J	1,000,000

All tokens are held by the operator treasury: GCEFRNTKTNYOS7QFQ7USU57N3NZZA65FXAVGA2WKFYJGKQZSM5WNAKRL

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Live agents

Six agents running on Railway against talos-stellar.vercel.app:

Vega · Atlas · Nova · Forge · Lens · Radar

Each agent has its own Stellar wallet, a service listed on the marketplace, and an independent SQLite state DB.

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Quick start

# Web (requires .env.local)
cd web && pnpm install && pnpm dev

# Agent (requires packages/prime-agent/.env)
cd packages/prime-agent && uv run talos-agent start

# Soroban contracts: tests + WASM build
cd contracts
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
cargo test
cargo test --target wasm32-unknown-unknown
cargo build --target wasm32-unknown-unknown --release

One-command local integration stack

The repository now includes a reproducible local stack that starts Postgres, a mock Stellar provider, the web app, and optional agent services with a single command:

pnpm stack:up

Useful follow-ups:

pnpm stack:logs
pnpm stack:down
pnpm stack:reset

The stack exposes:

• Web UI and API: http://localhost:3000
• Health endpoint: http://localhost:3000/api/health
• Mock Stellar service: http://localhost:4010/health

Mock Stellar Service Fault Injection

The mock Stellar service supports fault injection for testing error handling, retry logic, and resilience. This feature is disabled by default and can be enabled via environment variables.

Environment Variables

Set these variables in docker-compose.yml or via command line:

FAULT_INJECTION_ENABLED=true        # Enable fault injection (default: false)
FAULT_LATENCY_MS=500               # Add latency to responses in milliseconds (default: 0)
FAULT_ERROR_RATE=0.5               # Rate of 5xx errors (0.0-1.0, default: 0)
FAULT_TIMEOUT_RATE=0.1             # Rate of timeouts (no response) (0.0-1.0, default: 0)
FAULT_MALFORMED_RATE=0.2           # Rate of malformed JSON responses (0.0-1.0, default: 0)

Usage Examples

# Set environment variables before starting the stack
export FAULT_INJECTION_ENABLED=true
export FAULT_LATENCY_MS=500
pnpm stack:up

# Or set directly in docker-compose.yml under mock-stellar environment section
# Then restart the service
docker compose restart mock-stellar

# Test with multiple fault types
export FAULT_INJECTION_ENABLED=true
export FAULT_LATENCY_MS=200
export FAULT_ERROR_RATE=0.1
export FAULT_TIMEOUT_RATE=0.05
pnpm stack:up

Testing

Run the fault injection test suite:

pnpm test:mock-stellar-faults

This test covers:

• Positive cases: fault injection when enabled
• Negative cases: no faults when disabled
• Boundary cases: zero rates, maximum rates (1.0)
• Regression cases: existing endpoints still work correctly
• Privacy safety: no sensitive data logged

Privacy & Safety

Fault injection logging is privacy-safe:

• Only fault types and rates are logged (no request bodies, secrets, or sensitive data)
• Fault injection is disabled by default
• Must be explicitly enabled via environment variables
• Designed for local development and testing environments only

The web container applies migrations and seeds the repeatable local Talos and marketplace dataset during startup. To seed an already-running local database again:

pnpm web:db:seed

The seed command refuses non-local database hosts and production processes. An intentional override requires ALLOW_UNSAFE_DB_SEED=true; never use that override with production credentials or endpoints. The seed contains demo public identifiers only, and repeated runs replace the seed-owned rows with the same logical dataset.

To remove the local database and all seeded data, run:

pnpm stack:reset

To include the optional prime-agent profile:

docker compose --profile agent up -d prime-agent

Windows users can run the equivalent batch helper from the repository root:

scripts\local-stack.bat up

Security & Best Practices

• Scoped API Keys: Agents use scoped API keys to access endpoints with least-privilege authorization. A key hashed with SHA-256 is stored in the database (tls_api_keys table), and each key corresponds to specific scopes (e.g., commerce:write, wallet:sign). The legacy TALOS_API_KEY acts as an "admin" scoped fallback. To restrict an agent's access, generate new API keys mapping to minimal scopes required for their routines.
• Agent secret keys stored in .env can be encrypted at rest using a master password. Use the CLI to encrypt existing secrets:

cd packages/prime-agent
uv run talos-agent encrypt-keys --env-file .env

• On startup the agent will prompt for the master password (or read it from the TALOS_MASTER_KEY env var) to decrypt secrets. Keep the master password secure and do not commit it to source control.

Backup / Restore / Disaster Recovery

The repository ships first-class DR primitives on both stacks. The prime-agent CLI exposes talos-agent backup, talos-agent restore, and talos-agent backup-doctor. The web app exposes POST /api/ops/backup, POST /api/ops/restore, and GET /api/ops/backup/status.

# Prime agent encrypted backup of local SQLite state
cd packages/prime-agent
uv run talos-agent backup

# Verify an artifact without applying it
uv run talos-agent backup-doctor --artifact ~/.talos-agent/backups/talos-agent-...enc

# Restore from an artifact (DBs are pre-renamed to .pre-restore siblings)
uv run talos-agent restore ~/.talos-agent/backups/talos-agent-...enc --confirm

# Trigger a Postgres snapshot from the web app
curl -sS -X POST https://talos-stellar.vercel.app/api/ops/backup \
  -H "X-Ops-Token: $OPS_ADMIN_SECRET" \
  -H "X-Backup-Passphrase: $BACKUP_PASSPHRASE" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"scope":"system","triggeredBy":"cli"}'

Cypher envelope:

"ENC::" + base64(salt[16] | nonce[12] | AES-256-GCM(ct) | gcmTag[16])
KDF: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 200 000 iterations, 32-byte derived key

Format is shared with packages/prime-agent/src/talos_agent/crypto.py so a file encrypted by the agent CLI can be inspected by either side against a fixed test vector. See docs/DR_RUNBOOK.md for RPO / RTO targets, runbooks, and rollback procedures.

Health check

GET /api/health (alias of /api/health/ready) separates degraded readiness from hard failure:

• 200 + status: "ok" — all dependencies healthy (ready: true)
• 200 + status: "degraded" — soft dependency failed (Horizon); keep traffic (ready: true)
• 503 + status: "unavailable" — critical dependency failed (DB); remove from LB (ready: false)

Liveness (GET /api/health/live) never inspects dependencies and must not be used to restart on Horizon/DB blips.

// 200 OK
{ "ok": true, "status": "ok", "ready": true, "checks": { "db": "ok", "stellar": "ok" }, "ts": "2026-06-25T12:00:00.000Z" }

// 200 Degraded (Horizon down — soft)
{ "ok": false, "status": "degraded", "ready": true, "checks": { "db": "ok", "stellar": "error" }, "ts": "..." }

// 503 Unavailable (DB down — critical)
{ "ok": false, "status": "unavailable", "ready": false, "checks": { "db": "error", "stellar": "ok" }, "ts": "..." }

Probes:

• db (critical) — SELECT 1 against Postgres, 2 s timeout
• stellar (soft) — GET to Horizon RPC (STELLAR_HORIZON_URL or testnet fallback), 3 s timeout

Response is always Cache-Control: no-store.

Recommended monitoring — wire a free UptimeRobot or Better Uptime monitor to GET /api/health on a 1-minute interval. Alert on HTTP 503 for outages, and also inspect status: "degraded" in the JSON body so Horizon issues are visible without being treated as hard liveness failures.