Rotifer Playground

August 31, 2026 · View on GitHub

Development environment for the Rotifer Protocol — WASM-Native, Polyglot by Design: build genes in TypeScript / Rust / AssemblyScript / Go / C, compete in Arenas, share via Cloud, and simulate agent evolution.

Status: v0.24.x — rotifer wrap now offers to publish the gene it just created, and the answer defaults to yes: a registry only helps people find genes that reached it, and the upload is the step most often skipped. It asks rather than uploads, and only when there is someone to answer — no terminal (CI, a pipe, a script) means no prompt and no upload, so a build that wraps genes does not start filling the registry on its own; signed out or uncompiled, it points at the command that would fix that instead. rotifer config set default-publish false turns the prompt off for good, and publishing this way runs the same gates as rotifer publish, V(g) security scan included — see Publishing by default. The anonymous usage signal introduced in v0.23.x is unchanged: no identity, on by default, answering only "was any machine active, from which channel, how many times", with every field and every way to turn it off (rotifer telemetry off, ROTIFER_TELEMETRY=0, or the cross-tool DO_NOT_TRACK=1) documented in TELEMETRY.md. See CHANGELOG.md for full release history. Automatic peer discovery, internet-wide reach, and L4 Collective Immunity are later milestones — see Implementation Status below.

Install

npm install -g @rotifer/playground

Or use directly via npx:

npx -y @rotifer/playground@latest init my-agent

Requirements: Node.js >= 22.18.0 (genes are TypeScript; the CLI relies on Node’s built-in type stripping to run them from source)

First Agent in Seconds

rotifer init my-agent && cd my-agent
rotifer hello --template quality-advisor

rotifer init bootstraps the local Arena and Genesis genes. rotifer hello --template quality-advisor is the recommended preset-agent entrypoint for a first run.

30-Second Demo

$ rotifer init my-agent

  Rotifer Protocol - Agent Workspace Initialization
  ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
✓ Agent workspace scaffolding created
ℹ Installing Genesis genes...
✓ 5 Genesis genes installed
✓ 1 starter gene installed for the recommended template (quality-advisor)

  Starter Genes
  ───────────────
  Name                        Domain            Fidelity
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  genesis-file-read           filesystem        Native
  hello-world                 general           Wrapped
  gene-health-scanner         meta.diagnostics  Native
  genesis-l0-constraint       safety            Native
  genesis-web-search          search            Native
  genesis-web-search-lite     search            Native
  genesis-code-format         tooling           Native
ℹ 7 starter gene(s) across 6 domain(s)

  Agent workspace "my-agent" is ready!

One command scaffolds the workspace and ships the starter genes, including the one the recommended template needs. rotifer hello --template quality-advisor then turns them into your first preset agent.

Three-Act Experience (ADR-11)

Act 1 — Wow (30 seconds)

rotifer init my-agent && cd my-agent

You see an Arena with 6 genes ranked by fitness. No configuration needed.

Act 2 — Aha (5 minutes)

rotifer hello --template quality-advisor # Run the recommended preset Agent
rotifer agent list                 # Inspect the generated hello-* agent

Bundled genes become a working preset agent in seconds.

Act 3 — Hooked (30 minutes)

Turn your own code into a gene, then build a custom agent:

# Wrap existing code as a gene
rotifer scan genes/                    # Discover candidate functions
rotifer wrap hello-world               # Wrap as a gene (generates Phenotype)
rotifer test hello-world               # Run sandbox tests (WASM sandbox for compiled genes)
rotifer test hello-world --compliance  # Run structural compliance checks
rotifer arena submit hello-world       # Submit to Arena (admission gate)
rotifer arena list                     # See your gene's ranking

# Write a gene in TypeScript — same language, zero learning curve
mkdir genes/my-search && cat > genes/my-search/index.ts << 'EOF'
export function express(input: { query: string }) {
  return { results: [`Found: ${input.query}`], total: 1 };
}
EOF

rotifer wrap my-search --domain search
rotifer compile my-search           # TS → JS → WASM → Rotifer IR
rotifer arena submit my-search      # Watch it climb the rankings
rotifer arena list --domain search # Compare against Genesis genes

# Create an Agent with a gene genome (supports Seq, Par, Cond, Try)
rotifer agent create search-bot --genes genesis-web-search my-search
rotifer agent create parallel-bot --genes web-search doc-search --composition Par
rotifer agent list

# Run the Agent — WASM sandbox execution preferred
rotifer agent run search-bot --input '{"query":"rotifer protocol"}'
rotifer agent run search-bot --no-sandbox  # Force Node.js fallback

rotifer compile auto-detects TypeScript genes and compiles them to Native WASM. No separate toolchain required.

Architecture

playground/
├── crates/
│   ├── rotifer-core/        Rust: types, sandbox, arena, algebra, fitness, storage
│   └── rotifer-napi/        Native bridge: Rust ↔ Node.js FFI
├── src/                     TypeScript CLI and supporting modules
│   ├── commands/            CLI command modules
│   ├── cloud/               Cloud Binding client (auth, API, types)
│   └── utils/               Config, display, native binding, IR compiler
├── genes/                   Bundled gene directories
├── supabase/                Cloud Binding self-hosting guide
├── templates/               Gene + composition scaffolds
└── tests/                   Unit + E2E test suites

Layers

Layer	Technology	Responsibility
CLI	TypeScript + commander.js	User interface, command routing, display
Bridge	Native bridge (cdylib)	Rust-to-Node.js FFI binding
Core	Rust + WASM runtime	WASM sandbox (Direct + WASI), Arena engine, Algebra executor, Fitness computation, SQLite storage

CLI Commands

Run rotifer --help for the grouped command list. The commands below cover the main local, cloud, arena, and agent workflows.

Command	Description
`rotifer init [workspace-name]`	Initialize a new Agent workspace with Genesis genes
`rotifer hello [--template <id>]`	Create and run a preset agent from curated templates inside a Rotifer Agent workspace
`rotifer scan [path]`	Scan for candidate genes and local skills
`rotifer wrap <gene-name>`	Wrap a function or SKILL.md as a gene (offers to publish, default yes — see Publishing by default)
`rotifer test [gene-name]`	Test a gene (WASM sandbox preferred, `--compliance` for structural checks)
`rotifer compile [gene-name]`	Compile gene to Rotifer IR (auto TS→WASM)
`rotifer run <gene-name>`	Execute a single local gene directly
`rotifer list`	List local genes in the current Agent workspace
`rotifer login`	Log in to Rotifer Cloud (OAuth)
`rotifer logout`	Log out from Rotifer Cloud
`rotifer publish [gene-name]`	Publish gene(s) to Rotifer Cloud
`rotifer search [query]`	Search genes on Rotifer Cloud
`rotifer install <gene-ref>`	Install a gene from Cloud (UUID, name, or content hash)
`rotifer info <gene-ref>`	View gene details (local or Cloud)
`rotifer stats <gene-ref>`	View download statistics for a gene
`rotifer compare [gene-refs...]`	Compare 2–5 genes by reputation and downloads
`rotifer reputation [gene-ref]`	View gene and creator reputation scores
`rotifer versions <owner> <gene-name>`	View version history chain for a gene
`rotifer arena submit <gene-name>`	Submit a gene to the Arena (`--cloud` for Cloud Arena)
`rotifer arena list`	List Arena rankings (`--cloud` for Cloud Arena)
`rotifer arena watch <domain>`	Watch Arena rankings live (`--cloud` for Cloud Arena)
`rotifer agent create <agent-name>`	Create an Agent (`--composition Seq\|Par\|Cond\|Try\|TryPool`)
`rotifer agent list`	List all agents
`rotifer agent run <agent-name>`	Execute genome pipeline (WASM sandbox, `--no-sandbox` for Node.js)
`rotifer vg [path]`	V(g) security scan for gene/skill code
`rotifer network`	P2P gene network commands (see `rotifer network --help`)
`rotifer self-update`	Check for updates and upgrade Rotifer packages
`rotifer config`	Manage global Rotifer configuration
`rotifer whoami`	Show current authentication status

Publishing by default

rotifer wrap asks whether to publish the gene it just created, and the answer defaults to yes — pressing Enter uploads it to Rotifer Cloud:

Publishing is on by default — turn it off with 'rotifer config set default-publish false'
Publish 'my-search' to Rotifer Cloud? [Y/n]

Answering n keeps the gene local; rotifer publish my-search uploads it later. The default exists because a registry only helps people find genes that reached it, and the step most often skipped is the upload.

It asks rather than uploads, and it only asks when there is someone to answer:

Situation	What happens
`rotifer config set default-publish false` (or `ROTIFER_AUTO_PUBLISH=0`)	Never asks. `rotifer publish` still works.
No terminal — CI, a pipe, a script	Never asks and never publishes, so a build that wraps genes does not upload them.
Signed out	Never asks; points at `rotifer login`.
`Native` gene with no `gene.ir.wasm`	Never asks; points at `rotifer compile`, which publishing would require anyway.

Publishing this way runs the same gates as rotifer publish: V(g) security scan, IR integrity, phenotype schema, secret scan, and dependency audit. A gene that fails them is not uploaded, and wrap still reports the gene as created.

Genesis Genes

Five pre-installed genes ship with every Agent workspace:

Gene	Domain	Fidelity	Description
`genesis-web-search`	search	Native	Full web search with multiple results
`genesis-web-search-lite`	search	Native	Lightweight single-answer search
`genesis-file-read`	filesystem	Native	Read local files (L0 sandbox restricted)
`genesis-code-format`	tooling	Native	Format source code (JSON, TS, etc.)
`genesis-l0-constraint`	safety	Native	L0 sandbox constraint checker

Gene Composition (Algebra)

Genes can be composed using the Rotifer Algebra:

Operator	Description	Example
Seq	Sequential pipeline	Search → Format
Par	Parallel with merge	Search + Search-Lite, take first
Cond	Conditional branch	If query.length > 100 → Lite, else → Full
Try	Fault tolerance	Primary with fallback
Transform	Map/transform	Inner gene → mapper gene

See templates/composition/ for JSON examples.

Examples

The examples/ directory contains reference implementations and experiments:

Directory	Description
`examples/mcp-migration/`	How to migrate MCP Tools into Rotifer Genes
`examples/api-apocalypse/`	API fault-tolerance experiment — baseline vs Rotifer agent with domain failover

Development

git clone https://github.com/rotifer-protocol/rotifer-playground.git
cd rotifer-playground

# TypeScript CLI
npm install
npm run build          # Build to dist/
npm test               # Run the TypeScript test suite (Vitest)
npm run lint           # Type-check and lint src/

# Rust Core (requires Rust toolchain)
cargo check -p rotifer-core
cargo test -p rotifer-core

# Full demo
bash demo.sh

Implementation Status

This project is in alpha. The table below shows the honest implementation status of each URAA layer.

URAA Layer	Spec Name	Status	What Works	What's Planned
L0	Kernel	~35%	`L0Gate` pre-execution checks (domain, resource, network, filesystem); Audit log	EthicalBoundary, State Anchoring, Trust Anchor
L1	Synthesis	~95%	WASM sandbox, IR compiler, TS→WASM compilation, native bridge	Full WASI capability negotiation
L2	Calibration	~40%	Schema validation, sandbox testing, `--compliance` checks	Static analysis, controlled field trial
L3	Competition	~60%	Arena ranking, F(g) multiplicative model, R(g) reputation, Cloud Registry	P2P HLT broadcasting (planned), hot-loading, retirement
L4	Collective Immunity	0%	—	Threat broadcasting, emergency rollback, cross-node consensus
Algebra	Composition	~90%	All 5 operators in Rust; CLI supports Seq/Par/Cond/Try	DataFlowGraph

Key limitation: L4 depends on a mature L3 P2P layer. P2P is runnable today but experimental and off by default, and still lacks automatic peer discovery and internet-wide reach. Full L4 is targeted for v1.x.

Protocol Compliance

Targets Rotifer Protocol Specification (Frozen). See Implementation Status for detailed layer-by-layer coverage.

Depth	Components	Notes
Full	Phenotype, AlgebraExpr, Fitness F(g), Arena	Core gene lifecycle
Functional	WASM Sandbox, L0 Gate, Reputation R(g)	L0 at ~35%, expanding
Simplified	Agent Lifecycle, Gene Lifecycle, RotiferBinding	MVP subset
Planned	P2P HLT, Formal Verification, Cross-Binding Consistency, ZK Proofs, L4 Immunity	Roadmap items

Changes driven by implementation feedback are proposed through the ADR process.

Roadmap

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed release history. Upcoming milestones:

v0.9 — economic framework design
v0.9.1 — P2P network (metadata discovery)
v1.0 — Stable release: L0-L3 complete, economic system, security audit

Community

Discord — Join the conversation
GitHub Discussions — Questions and proposals

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

License

Apache-2.0 with Rotifer Safety Clause

This project uses the Apache License 2.0 with an additional Rotifer Safety Clause that requires any deployment to either preserve the L0 Constraint Layer or clearly disclose modifications to it.

The Rotifer Protocol is alive.