5.6 KiB
neuron-tai — Alpha Hardening Handoff
Date: 2026-07-04
Repo: D:/DEV/git.d-popov.com/neuron-tai
Prior session: Pre-release alpha audit + grilling (design locked; planning artifacts complete)
1. Mission / where we are
neuron-tai is a volunteer-GPU, pipeline-parallel LLM inference network with a working routing layer and a broken money/trust path. Three independent audits agreed: unauthenticated gossip, free-credit faucet, double-pay risks, ephemeral bans, and node self-reported accounting undermine alpha release. The owner locked alpha scope (single settlement tracker, open node join, devnet mock-USDT, carried-forward reputation) and a fraud/verification design (TOPLOC adoption, adaptive audits, on-demand hop bisection, persisted graduated reputation, tracker-authoritative accounting). Research and planning artifacts are complete (ADRs 0016–0019, 22 issue files, README index). Next: implement Bucket 1 blockers test-first.
2. Locked decisions
Point to artifacts — do not re-derive from this handoff.
| Decision | Status | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha scope: one settlement tracker, open join, devnet mock-USDT, reputation carries forward | Locked | docs/adr/0016-alpha-scope-and-known-limitations.md |
| Two fraud types: correctness (bad output) vs accounting (inflated tokens/shard span) | Locked | Session grilling; research §8 |
Detection: ADOPT TOPLOC (MIT, pip install toploc); teacher-forced prefill; pin one canonical precision per model |
Locked | .scratch/alpha-hardening/research-verifiable-inference.md §8 |
| Audit rate: 5% default, not a cap; escalate on anomaly, low reputation, disputes | Locked | Research §1.1, §6, §8 |
| Blame: on-demand per-hop activation commitments + bisection to first divergent hop (Verde/Truebit pattern only) | Locked | Research §1.2; ADR-0018 §3–4 |
| Reputation: graduated multiplier (×0.8-per-strike shape), persisted, affects routing + audit rate | Locked | ADR-0018 §6; packages/validator/README.md |
| Penalty: full pending forfeiture is primary hammer (19× deterrence at 5% audit); ×0.8 is routing/payout decay | Locked | Research §1.1; ADR-0018 §1 |
| Accounting: tracker authoritative — count tokens from proxied stream; work units from tracker-assigned shard span | Locked | ADR-0018 §5; issue 04 |
| Persistence prerequisite: strike/ban/reputation/probation must survive tracker restart | Locked | Issue 05 |
| Validator service token for forfeit | Locked | ADR-0017 §4; issue 20 |
| Honest-noise corpus before prod audit thresholds | Locked | ADR-0018 consequences; issue 21 |
| Build vs adopt: TOPLOC ADOPT; Verde bisection ADAPT; zkML/TEE roadmap-only | Locked | Research §9 |
| Multi-tracker money-path (C2/C3/C4/A3/H1): design now, implement later | Locked | docs/adr/0019-money-path-consistency-multi-tracker.md |
| Routing layer | Solid — no redesign needed | ADR-0013 |
Existing ADRs still relevant: ADR-0003 (historical prototype), ADR-0015 (USDT custodial settlement).
3. Artifact index (read first)
| Path | What it contains |
|---|---|
.scratch/alpha-hardening/README.md |
Issue/ADR index + implementation order |
.scratch/alpha-hardening/issues/ |
22 work items (Buckets 1–3) |
.scratch/alpha-hardening/research-verifiable-inference.md |
SOTA research, layered alpha scheme (§8), build-vs-adopt (§9) |
docs/adr/0016–0019 |
Alpha scope, auth, fraud, multi-tracker design |
docs/agents/issue-tracker.md |
Issue file conventions |
packages/validator/meshnet_validator/__init__.py |
Current validator; _final_text_node blame bug |
packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py |
Auth gaps, gossip handlers, proxy accounting |
.claude/memory/MEMORY.md |
Agent memory index |
| Agent transcript (grilling session) | Alpha audit grilling |
Bucket summaries
Bucket 1 — Alpha blockers: C1 gossip auth; A2 unified auth + issue 20 validator token; C5 starting credit; H2 tracker accounting; A1/A5 persistence; C6 wallet binding; fraud arc 06–10.
Bucket 2 — Design deferred: C2, C3/C4, A3, H1 (issues 12–15).
Bucket 3 — Doc hygiene: US-006/07/34 reconciliation (16), MEMORY index (22), runbooks (18), cryptography test env (19).
4. Recommended implementation order
See .scratch/alpha-hardening/README.md for full table.
First 3:
- 02 + 20 — Unified auth boundary + validator service token
- 01 — Apply hive auth to billing/accounts/stats gossip endpoints
- 05 — Persist strike/ban/reputation
Prod gate: issue 21 (honest-noise corpus) before enabling production audit thresholds.
5. Open questions / deferred
| Topic | State |
|---|---|
| Multi-tracker consensus & settlement idempotency | Bucket 2 (ADR-0019) |
/v1/gossip node throughput auth |
Out of scope alpha — ADR-0017 §3 note |
| Seed-synchronized exact-token audits | Optional complement; depends on sampler control |
| ADR-0010 TLS everywhere | Relay TLS only in alpha; ADR amended |
6. Environment notes
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 |
| Repo path | D:/DEV/git.d-popov.com/neuron-tai |
| Python venv | .venv/Scripts/python.exe |
| CUDA node | RTX 4060 8 GB; tracker registration requires https:// |
| Secrets | Do not commit .env.devnet, keypairs, treasury material |
7. Suggested skills
| Skill | When |
|---|---|
| implement | Bucket 1 code work |
| tdd | All Bucket 1 fixes |
| diagnosing-bugs | Auth/gossip/accounting failures |
| domain-modeling | ADR cross-links |
| code-review | After each blocker milestone |
Read .claude/memory/MEMORY.md at session start.