AXL, the transport

Why AXL is the coordination layer for Zuno.

Gensyn AXL is a peer-to-peer transport for agents. ed25519 peer ids, HTTP API on localhost:9002, endpoints POST /send, GET /recv, GET /topology.

Zuno treats AXL as the coordination layer for a multi-agent debate, not a one-shot pipeline. Without it, “multi-agent” is just function calls wearing a costume.

What ships in the box

• packages/strategy/src/axl/transport/client.ts: AxlClient with send, request, recv, topology, listen.
• packages/strategy/src/axl/transport/discovery.ts: reads configured peer ids for cli, scout, strategist, critic, arbiter.

Why it matters in Zuno

• The CLI is a peer, not a special case.
• Scout, Strategist, Critic, and Arbiter exchange envelopes directly - no central queue, no orchestrator process.
• Strategist ↔ Critic loops over multiple rounds; Arbiter only joins on deadlock. AXL routing makes that pattern natural; HTTP request/response would force a heavier coordinator.
• Roles are open: anyone with a peer id can plug in a competing Strategist or Critic, and the position owner picks which they trust.

Configuration

Zuno expects real AXL nodes and real peer ids:

export ZUNO_AXL_CLI_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9002
export ZUNO_AXL_SCOUT_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9012
export ZUNO_AXL_STRATEGIST_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9022
export ZUNO_AXL_CRITIC_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9032
export ZUNO_AXL_ARBITER_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9042

export ZUNO_AXL_CLI_PEER_ID=...
export ZUNO_AXL_SCOUT_PEER_ID=...
export ZUNO_AXL_STRATEGIST_PEER_ID=...
export ZUNO_AXL_CRITIC_PEER_ID=...
export ZUNO_AXL_ARBITER_PEER_ID=...

Generate keys and config with bash tooling/axl-bootstrap.sh, then run each agent in its own terminal:

pnpm --filter @zuno/strategy start:scout
pnpm --filter @zuno/strategy start:strategist
pnpm --filter @zuno/strategy start:critic
pnpm --filter @zuno/strategy start:arbiter

Envelope kinds

kind	from	to	meaning
flow_start	cli	scout	start a recommendation
context_observed	scout	strategist	regime + market context
proposal	strategist	critic	initial candidate set
critique	critic	strategist	revise feedback per candidate
revision	strategist	critic	revised candidate set
deadlock	critic	arbiter	no convergence after maxRounds
plan_ready	critic|arbiter	cli	final plan
flow_failed	any	cli	unrecoverable error
agent_thought	any	cli	live narration line

Why long-poll instead of websockets

Long-poll matches what the real Gensyn AXL node does. Switching the transport to websockets later would be a client.ts change only - the agent code never sees the wire.

Inspecting the mesh

curl http://localhost:9002/topology | jq

The CLI uses this on startup to confirm all four agent peers are reachable before sending flow_start. If any are missing, the CLI falls back to the in-process debate orchestrator (same handlers, same prompts) so the demo still works.