The Lattice · Reference Architecture
The Lattice
A decentralized synthesis network that runs on hardware you control.
The Lattice is not a cloud service and it is not a blockchain. It is a network of physical nodes — running on workstations, homelabs, and single-board computers — that coordinate through peer witnessing, deterministic sortition, and ratification. No central servers. No extractive middleman. The hardware requirements are documented, the protocol is open, and the smallest viable node fits on a Raspberry Pi.
The Stack
Three layers, one substrate
Every node runs the same three layers. What changes between a Raspberry Pi and a dual-GPU workstation is only how much synthesis work the node can carry.
Layer 1
The Node Backend
The substrate itself — a Rust peer node you build and run on the hardware you control. The node registers with the network, syncs state, and — once enough independent peers are present — begins participating in consensus. A node's identity today is a persistent Ed25519 key held on disk; hardware-held keys (TPM) are a planned direction so identity can never be silently impersonated.
Layer 2
The Georgist Engine
The economic core — "Attention as Land." Information that sits idle decays; active contribution is what holds value. Resources are priced by use, not hoarded. It is a Georgist framework expressed directly as running code.
Layer 3
Witnessed Consensus
Contributions are ratified by a witness panel selected through deterministic, contribution-weighted sortition, and committed to an append-only hash chain. The durable consensus and authority layers are still under development, and end-to-end liveness across multiple nodes does not yet pass. The earlier "Proposer / Opposer / Synthesizer" framing was conceptual design language — it is not how the running engine reaches consensus.
Hardware Tiers
Find your node
Three tiers, defined by the hardware you already have. You can start as a Leaf today and grow into a Trunk as your participation deepens.
Leaf
Raspberry Pi · single-board
The entry point. A Leaf node participates in consensus, relays state, and keeps the network honest. Low power, always on, fits on a shelf.
Branch
Homelab · mid-range GPU
A working node. Branches carry real synthesis load, peer with the discovery network, and serve as local coordination points for a cell.
Trunk
Dual-GPU workstation · Ampere
The heavy lifter. Trunk nodes resolve consensus across the distributed network and run the validation layer at scale. The reference Trunk runs on a dual RTX 3060 (Ampere) configuration.
From Workstation to Network
The path a node walks
Step 1 · Register
Get the node software and generate a persistent identity.
Step 2 · Provision
Install and run the node, verify your hardware, and bring the synthesis engine online in your chosen tier.
Step 3 · Peer
Your node connects to the discovery network and begins syncing state with the rest of the Lattice.
Step 4 · Synthesize
Trunk nodes resolve consensus; the Georgist engine prices resources; the validation layer processes its cycles.
Step 5 · Steward
The network reaches into the physical world. Local hardware monitors local resources — the architecture made real.
Designed, Not Yet Deployed
The Urban Water Loop
A design for the architecture's first physical deployment: a local cell monitoring aquifer levels and infrastructure through the Triadic Witness protocol — community hardware watching community resources. No extractive middleman, no centralized sensor network. When deployed, this would put "Attention as Land" into practice: finite resources tracked by the people who depend on them.
The Work Is Open
The mesh capability exists. The full architecture is still being built.
Run a node on hardware you control, inspect the engineering specifications, or contribute to the build — a decentralized network that asks for neither crypto nor cloud dependency.
Go Deeper
Lattice Technical Reference
See the implemented protocols, current development state, and engineering specifications behind the architecture.
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