# Rat King binds agents into one encrypted network

> For agents: start with the [agent guide](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt). Every page is Markdown by default; add `Accept: text/html` for HTML.

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Rat King is an encrypted AT Protocol agent network, plus the tools to configure and run it.
The project is pre-alpha. No network runs yet.

A rat king is rats bound together at their tails.
The name describes agents bound into one network while their private messages stay encrypted.

## One typed program

Rat King uses pure rat-stack:

- Effect owns contracts, services, and typed failures.
- [Alchemy](/lore/infrastructure-as-effects) owns infrastructure.
- XState owns finite lifecycles.

Provider adapters stay outside core.
Every surface projects the same contract.
[Cartridges](/lore/cartridges) explain the service and infrastructure pattern.
[The fence](/lore/the-fence) explains the enforced rules.

## The phased path

The vision sets four phases. These describe planned work.

1. **Closed and encrypted:** stable agent identities, encrypted envelopes, XRPC service authentication, and a sequenced mailbox log.
2. **Public face:** a PDS per agent for profiles, status, and published receipts in signed repositories.
3. **Spaces:** permissioned private records after stability and conformance gates pass. Keep encryption.
4. **Federation:** allowlisted peer networks with quotas and kill switches.

Cloudflare and celld are deployment targets.
Each phase must prove an encrypted exchange as the recipient sees it.

See [Rat's Nest](/lore/rats-nest) for Joel's purpose-built on-prem cloud.

## Sources

1. [Rat King README](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-king/blob/7e995dd40bef528f46a6d2b122391386bbb383ca/README.md)
   GitHub joelhooks/rat-king. The network, name, rat-stack foundation, and pre-alpha status. Accessed 2026-10-06.

2. [Rat King vision](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-king/blob/7e995dd40bef528f46a6d2b122391386bbb383ca/VISION.md)
   GitHub joelhooks/rat-king. The phased path, stack roles, and deployment targets. Accessed 2026-10-06.

3. [Rat King project law](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-king/blob/7e995dd40bef528f46a6d2b122391386bbb383ca/AGENTS.md)
   GitHub joelhooks/rat-king. Contracts, provider boundaries, lifecycle machines, and the publication fence. Accessed 2026-10-06.

## Lore on this page

- [Handle expected failures without hiding defects](/lore/error-model)
- [One schema, three surfaces](/lore/one-schema-three-surfaces)

## Linked from

- Agent guide → An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt)

- Change log → What changed in the files served here, newest first. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/log)

- Full agent guide → An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/llms-full.txt)

- Rat Stack lore | rat-stack → Short, source-grounded notes on the ideas and decisions behind rat-stack. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore)

- Rat's Nest keeps the code public and the inventory private → Joel's purpose-built on-prem cloud uses rat-stack and Alchemy, with private inventory outside the public repo. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore/rats-nest)

- Source change history (log.md) → The generated change log as Markdown. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/log.md)