Animator

In plain words: Model Runtime overview

Partial 2 min read 9 glossary terms 19 connected pages

The short version written for the Snayu team

Introduces the Model Runtime (Animator): an addressable handle for any service that can do typed work, such as a model, search or renderer. Sources are Local Models (Soulstones) or Cloud Models (Portals).

Why read it: Read this before working on model integration, dispatch or anything that calls a model or service.

1LychD can start and stop Local Models; it never controls a Cloud Model's lifecycle.
2If a model is warm, the Traffic Controller grants a Model Pass; if cold, the Stage Manager loads it first.
3Today only the narrow chat-model path is implemented; other service types are designed.

Partial The dispatch spine works for chat models; general services are Designed.

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Where it sits in LychD

Model Runtime Animator

Anything that can provide AI power: a local model server or a remote API.

It's like: A power socket. The appliance does not care which power plant is behind it, only that the socket is live.

Click a dot to open that part's card.

Glossary page On the system map In the network

In this section 8 pages

Capabilities Model and service capabilities Defines a capability: an exact, versioned contract for what you can ask a service to do and what comes back. It describes the delivered v1 model keys and the designed interface/profile/operation model. open → Connectors Connectors and API dialects Explains Connectors: the adapters that speak a service's exact wire protocol. It insists 'OpenAI-compatible' must be proved per dialect (chat, responses, audio, images, video jobs). open → Audio Hardware and Host Routes Audio hardware and host routes A planning guide for connecting microphones and speakers on a host (ALSA, PipeWire, USB, mobile, drones) before voice or music features can use them, and for deciding which app owns each route. open → Soulstone Local Models overview Describes a Local Model (Soulstone): a service running on your own machine in a rootless Podman container, defined by a Service Config File and supervised by systemd. open → Portal Cloud Models (remote APIs) Describes a Cloud Model (Portal): a remote API provider declared in a config file, with no container or local GPU use. Declaring one names a possible data path but does not yet allow sending data. open → Portal Roads Choosing cloud provider routes Operating design for choosing how to reach a remote model: direct provider API, BYOK gateway, aggregator, human subscription seat, subscription bridge or local inference, and what evidence each needs. open → Coven Model Groups Explains Model Groups (Covens): a named systemd target for two or more compatible local model services. Grouping is a convenience; hardware conflicts are declared separately. open → Runtime transitions Switching and loading models Operator guide for changing which local models are running: inspecting status, requesting a transition via HTTP or the Model Status Board, and recovering from interrupted switches. open →

The original text Underlined words open their plain-English card.

Follow the spark to where the iron answers.

A workflow may need a model to answer, a search service to find material, or a renderer to draw. The AnimatorModel Runtime gives LychD an addressable handle for discovering, probing, and invoking that service's typed capabilities. A model is one possible source of power; independently managed search, rendering, or speech services can supply others. The handle says where a capability can answer. The service's deployment manifest and the application's purpose belong elsewhere.

Two Sources of Power

Source	What the operator declares	What LychD can control
Soulstone, The Furnace of Animus	Local RuneService Config File, rootless Podman/Quadlet service, models or profiles, devices, mounts, secrets, and lifecycle.	Admitted local service and supported runtime-native transitions.
Portal, The Rift to the Remote Sky	Remote endpoint, provider contract, explicit models or profiles, and credential reference.	Its own admitted connection; no provider start, stop, repair, or local VRAM.

Portal Roads selects a remote custody and economic road. Audio hardware and host routes handles device attachments; a raw device or finite host helper does not become ana AnimatorModel Runtime merely because its work uses audio.

The Holy Contract

Check what the service declares, what its bound surface has proved, and what is ready now. Capabilities keeps those records distinct: a probe may invalidate a declaration, but cannot invent a capability.

Adapters keep native protocols behind the stable surface requested by GraphStep Map or an extension. An Animator-backed web effect still needs ScoutWeb Fetcher's separate grant, destination, budget, and receipt.

The Galvanic Arc

typed demand → declared eligible profile → current observation
  ├─ WARM and admitted → exact grant and lease → invocation → owned return
  └─ managed but cold → handle-free transition → readiness → dispatch again

If the service is ready and the request is admitted, DispatcherTraffic Controller supplies the grant and lease. If a managed service must change first, OrchestratorStage Manager performs the admissible physical or runtime-native transition. The waiting GraphStep Map keeps neither Connector nor lease while readiness converges, then returns to dispatch. Current implementation performs this handshake for the narrower v1 family/model demand and chat-model/toolset compatibility grant.

Animus: the power answering

Animus names the power answering through an admitted, active capability. A loaded model—Gemma behind llama.cpp—is its clearest instance. The term creates no new runtime object. OrchestratorStage Manager owns activation; the AnimatorModel Runtime is the address, the Connector its conduit, and the CapabilityGrant the exact permission and lease.

A SpellStep shapes that draw into a typed request. The return becomes candidate material for the CircleTask Bubble: Blade discriminates, Spiritmind office carries it in Flux, and Answer binds the act locally. Inference alone supplies neither Persona, identity, memory, authority, nor operational Cognizance.

Capability and Readiness

Use Capabilities to name the required operation and interpret its grant or refusal. Use Connectors to bind its exact dialect. For compatible local groups, enter Coven; to inspect or request a change, follow Runtime transitions. State of Work owns what each route proves.