/ 04_ABOUT_PROTOCOL

A minimal protocol for verifiable machine commerce.

Karvhood is an open specification. It defines how agents request, prove, and settle payment for services without intermediaries.

[01]

GOALS

→ Make per-request settlement as cheap and ambient as a TCP handshake.
→ Decouple identity from settlement without giving up auditability.
→ Treat the network as neutral infrastructure, not a brand-owned platform.
→ Keep the spec small enough that a competent engineer can implement it in a weekend.

[02]

SCHEMES

Three settlement modes.

exact

Pay a precise amount up front. Atomic verify + settle. Best for known-cost requests.

upto

Pre-authorize a ceiling, settle the realized amount. Best for variable workloads (LLM tokens, compute).

batch

Open a channel, accumulate state, close once. Best for high-frequency agent traffic.

[03]

FEE_MARKET

Adaptive burns.

Network fees route through a deflationary hook contract. As usage grows, supply contracts. The token's role is purely operational — it secures relays and pays for cover traffic. There is no governance theater attached to it.

The total burned to date is published on-chain and reproducible from the contract's event log.

[04]

RFC_TRACK

RFC-001Core request/response envelopeFINAL
RFC-007Smart-wallet authorizationFINAL
RFC-011Onion-routed privacy layerFINAL
RFC-014Batch settlement channelsFINAL
RFC-019Cross-mesh relay handoffDRAFT