@palliora.org/chainsdk 0.3.3 → 0.5.0

package/CHAIN-RULES.md

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+# Palliora chain rules
+
+The behavioural rules of the Palliora chain, for anyone — human or agent — building an
+application on `@palliora.org/chainsdk`.
+
+The SDK README documents *which function to call*. This document covers *what the chain
+does with the call*: what it charges, what it reserves, who has to agree, and why a
+correctly-shaped transaction still gets rejected. These rules are not visible from the
+SDK's TypeScript signatures, which is why they are written down separately.
+
+Source citations point into [`palliora-org/palliora`](https://github.com/palliora-org/palliora)
+(the chain) and this SDK. Line numbers drift; the function and type names are the stable
+anchors. When this document and the pallet disagree, the pallet is right.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Orientation: which repository owns which fact
+
+| Repository | Owns | You need it when |
+|---|---|---|
+| [`palliora`](https://github.com/palliora-org/palliora) | The chain. `pallets/compute` (agreements, fees, settlement), `pallets/dactr` (DA + guardian groups), `runtime` (constants), `guardian` (threshold crypto service) | Deciding what the chain will accept or charge |
+| [`palliora-sdk`](https://github.com/palliora-org/chainsdk) | TypeScript wrappers, type registrations (`src/chain/spec.ts`), crypto helpers | Writing application code |
+| `compute-core` | `orchestrator` (executes jobs), `result_relay` (submits `compute.result`), `docker_gateway` | Running a compute node, or understanding how a result reaches the chain |
+| [`palliora-core`](https://github.com/palliora-org/palliora-core) | Kate commitments, DA primitives shared by the chain | Working on DA internals — rarely needed by applications |
+
+**An application developer only ever signs transactions from `palliora-sdk`.** The
+orchestrator and result relay are node-operator infrastructure: you do not call them,
+but the fees you offer pay them, and the results you wait for come from them.
+
+---
+
+## 2. The money model
+
+This is the single most common source of failure, so it comes first.
+
+### 2.1 Two gates, not one
+
+An `Active` or `Subscription` agreement must pass **two independent checks**. They test
+different fields, they are enforced in different places, and passing one tells you nothing
+about the other.
+
+| | Gate 1 — the chain's fee floor | Gate 2 — the guardians' rate threshold |
+|---|---|---|
+| **Tests** | `compute.fees` (the absolute amount) | `compute.computeRate` (the per-ms rate) |
+| **Against** | A formula over live chain parameters | Each guardian's own declared minimum |
+| **Enforced by** | `CheckCompute` signed extension, at validation | Guardians' offchain workers, before inclusion |
+| **Enforced in** | [`pallets/compute/src/lib.rs`](https://github.com/palliora-org/palliora/blob/main/pallets/compute/src/lib.rs) — `ensure_min_free_balance` | [`pallets/compute/src/offchain.rs`](https://github.com/palliora-org/palliora/blob/main/pallets/compute/src/offchain.rs) — `decide` |
+| **Failure looks like** | Transaction rejected: `InsufficientFreeBalance` | Transaction included, then `AgreementFailed` event |
+| **Failure timing** | Immediate, at submission | After all guardians respond — or never, if one is offline |
+
+**How Gate 2 actually plays out.** `CheckCompute` gives a `compute.agreement` transaction a
+`requires` tag *per named guardian*, satisfied only when that guardian submits its
+`agreement_response`. Until all of them have, your transaction sits in the node's **future
+queue** — not rejected, not included, no error. Guardians read that same future queue to
+decide (`accept_agreements` in `offchain.rs`), which is what lets them judge an agreement
+before it is ever in a block.
+
+The consequences are worth stating explicitly, because the failure is silent:
+
+- If a named guardian is offline or never responds, the agreement **never gets included and
+  never errors**. A hanging `signAndSend` is the expected symptom.
+- If every guardian responds and any one rejected, the transaction *is* included, and
+  `compute.agreement` emits `AgreementFailed` and returns without reserving anything.
+- So name guardians you have reason to believe are live — from `getGuardianList()` or the
+  current era's `guardian.guardians` — and treat a stalled agreement as a guardian
+  availability problem, not a fee problem.
+
+A generous `fees` does not buy you past Gate 2, and a generous `computeRate` does not by
+itself satisfy Gate 1 — though it does *raise* Gate 1, because `computeRate` is one of the
+floor's four components. Raising the rate to satisfy guardians raises the minimum `fees`
+you must also offer.
+
+`Dormant` contracts are exempt from both gates. They reserve nothing, so they may offer
+any `fees`, including zero.
+
+### 2.2 Gate 1: the fee floor
+
+`fees` must be at least the sum of four components, and the signer must actually hold
+that much free balance:
+
+```
+result_fee              = MaxDaStorageSize × ProviderStorageRate
+input_fee               = usage_price of the input contract   (0 if no ContractId input)
+threshold_decryption_fee = ThresholdDecryptionFee              (flat)
+offered_component       = computeRate × MillisecondsPerBlock   (one block of compute)
+
+min_fees = result_fee + input_fee + threshold_decryption_fee + offered_component
+```
+
+Defined once in `pallet_compute::Pallet::fee_components` and used from three places —
+`ensure_min_free_balance` at validation, the guardian offchain worker, and `compute.result`
+at settlement — specifically so the three cannot drift apart.
+
+**Do not hard-code these numbers.** The first three parameters are root-settable at
+runtime (`compute.setMaxDaStorageSize`, `setProviderStorageRate`,
+`setThresholdDecryptionFee`). A stale copy fails silently, as an
+`InsufficientFreeBalance` you cannot explain. Query them:
+
+```ts
+import { estimateMinFee, getFeeParams, fromAtomicPaliAmount } from "@palliora.org/chainsdk";
+
+const floor = await estimateMinFee({ computeRate: "0.000000001" });
+console.log(fromAtomicPaliAmount(floor.minFee));      // smallest acceptable `fees`
+console.log(floor.resultFee, floor.offeredComponent); // the breakdown, in atomic units
+
+const params = await getFeeParams(); // the four raw chain values
+```
+
+`estimateMinFee` mirrors `fee_components` exactly. Offer at least `minFee`; offer more to
+buy more compute time.
+
+Worked example, at the genesis parameters (`MaxDaStorageSize` 10485760,
+`ProviderStorageRate` 1e9, `ThresholdDecryptionFee` 1e15, block time 500ms, 18 decimals):
+
+```
+result_fee               = 10485760 × 1e9 = 1.048576e16   ≈ 0.0105 PALI
+threshold_decryption_fee = 1e15                            = 0.001  PALI
+offered_component        = computeRate × 500
+min_fees (no input contract, rate 0) ≈ 0.0115 PALI
+```
+
+Verify against the live chain rather than trusting these figures — they are genesis
+values for one network, not constants.
+
+### 2.3 How much compute your fee buys
+
+Beyond the floor, `fees` is a *budget*. Compute is billed at `computeRate` per millisecond
+of actual execution, settled when the result lands:
+
+```
+compute_fee   = computeRate × compute_duration_ms
+budget_for_compute = fees − result_fee − input_fee − threshold_decryption_fee
+max_duration_ms    = budget_for_compute ÷ computeRate
+```
+
+Anything unspent is returned to you when the contract settles.
+
+### 2.4 Gate 2: guardian rate thresholds
+
+Every guardian declares a minimum rate it will take work at, **per compute type**:
+
+```rust
+pub enum ComputeType { Trusted, Tee, Mpc, Fhe, Zkp }
+pub type FeeThresholds = BoundedVec<(ComputeType, u128), ConstU32<8>>;
+```
+
+A compute type absent from a guardian's list carries **no threshold and reads as zero** —
+that guardian accepts any rate for it. The compute type is not something you set directly;
+it is derived from your contract's `confidentiality` field:
+
+| `confidentiality` in your contract | `ComputeType` the threshold is looked up under |
+|---|---|
+| `{ Trusted: <index> }` | `Trusted` |
+| `"TEE"` | `Tee` |
+| `"SMPC"` | `Mpc` |
+| `"FHE"` | `Fhe` |
+
+Each guardian named in `contract.guardians` independently decides. If **any** of them
+rejects, the agreement fails — `compute.agreement` emits `AgreementFailed` and returns
+without reserving anything. Choosing a confidentiality level therefore changes the price
+floor you must clear, because it changes which threshold applies.
+
+A guardian may instead be pointed at an **oracle quote**: pass an `oracle_quote_id` to
+`compute.agreement`, and guardians price against the oracle's quoted rate rather than
+their own threshold. If the oracle is unreachable, times out (500ms), or does not know the
+quote ID, each guardian silently falls back to its own threshold — so an oracle quote is a
+hint, never a guarantee.
+
+### 2.5 Who gets paid, and when
+
+At `compute.result`, the reserved deposit is split:
+
+| Recipient | Amount |
+|---|---|
+| Owner of the input contract | `input_fee` (only when input is a `ContractId`) |
+| The contract's guardians | `threshold_decryption_fee`, split equally — **only when there is more than one guardian** |
+| The result submitter | `result_fee + (computeRate × compute_duration_ms)` |
+| You, the contract owner | Everything still reserved, refunded at settlement |
+
+The guardian split divides by `max(guardian_count, 3)`, so a 2-guardian contract leaves a
+third share reserved, which returns to you at settlement rather than being paid out.
+
+---
+
+## 3. The `Contract` object
+
+`compute.agreement` takes exactly one structured argument, and you build it by hand. The
+SDK types it loosely (`compute: Record<string, unknown>`, `preCheck?: unknown`,
+`resultCipher: unknown`), so TypeScript will not catch a wrong shape — the chain will,
+usually as an opaque decode failure. This section is the field reference.
+
+Two conventions apply throughout, and both bite:
+
+- **Field names are camelCase**, not the Rust snake_case. `computeRate`, not
+  `compute_rate`; `resultCipher`, not `result_cipher`. The names come from the manual type
+  registry in `src/chain/spec.ts`.
+- **Omitted fields do not error.** `Option` fields default to `None`, and missing struct
+  members default to zero. Passing `{ Url: { url } }` without `size` silently sends
+  `size: 0`. Be explicit about anything that matters.
+
+### 3.1 Shape at a glance
+
+```ts
+{
+  contractType: "Dormant" | "Active" | "Subscription",
+  guardians: string[],              // account IDs; indices referenced below
+  preCheck: null,                   // Option<ComputeInfo> — input verification
+  compute: {                        // ComputeInfo — the primary step
+    cipher: "Plaintext",            // how `input` is encrypted
+    computerIndices: [0, 1, 2],     // which of `guardians` execute this step
+    fees: "10000000000000000",      // atomic units; see §2.2 for the floor
+    computeRate: "1000000000",      // atomic units, per millisecond
+    deadline: 0,                    // block number; 0 = none
+    confidentiality: { Trusted: 0 },// selects the ComputeType priced in §2.4
+    feeFunction: null,              // Option<u8>
+    programEnv: null,               // Option<Vec<u8>> — env vars for the program
+    input: { Inline: { data: [] } },// DAInput — the data
+    program: { NativeExecute: "Inference" }, // DAInput — the code
+    metadata: null,                 // Option<ComputeMetadata>
+  },
+  postCheck: null,                  // Option<ComputeInfo> — result verification
+  resultCipher: "Plaintext",        // how the result is encrypted back to you
+  currencyId: "Native",
+}
+```
+
+`buildFee({ amount, computeRate })` fills in `fees` and `computeRate` from human PALI
+strings — prefer it over writing atomic units by hand.
+
+### 3.2 `Contract` fields
+
+| Field | Type | Notes |
+|---|---|---|
+| `contractType` | enum | Governs reservation, settlement and invocability. See §3.6 |
+| `guardians` | `Vec<AccountId>` | The participant set. Every index elsewhere in the contract points into **this list, in this order** |
+| `preCheck` | `Option<ComputeInfo>` | Input verification step. `null` to skip |
+| `compute` | `ComputeInfo` | The primary step. Required — this is what gets billed |
+| `postCheck` | `Option<ComputeInfo>` | Result verification step. `null` to skip |
+| `resultCipher` | `CipherSuite` | Encryption applied to the result on its way back to you |
+| `currencyId` | enum | `"Native"` \| `"USDC"` \| `{ ForeignAsset: n }`. The deposit is reserved in, and settlement paid from, this currency. `createAgreement` defaults it to `"Native"` |
+
+`guardians` is validated by `CheckCompute` before the contract is ever decoded by the
+pallet, with three separate rules — each a distinct rejection code:
+
+| Rule | Rejected as |
+|---|---|
+| Must be non-empty, unless `compute.program` is `"Null"` | `Custom(149)` |
+| Entries must be unique — no duplicates | `Custom(145)` |
+| Every entry must be a registered, staked guardian | `Custom(148)` |
+
+### 3.3 `ComputeInfo` fields
+
+The same struct is used for `preCheck`, `compute` and `postCheck`. **Only `compute` is
+billed** — fee fields on the check steps are not what settlement reads.
+
+| Field | Type | Notes |
+|---|---|---|
+| `cipher` | `CipherSuite` | How `input` is encrypted. `"Plaintext"` when it is not |
+| `computerIndices` | `Vec<u32>` | Indices into `Contract.guardians` that execute this step. Usually all of them: `guardians.map((_, i) => i)` |
+| `fees` | `u128` | Total offered, atomic units. Must clear the floor (§2.2) for `Active`/`Subscription` |
+| `computeRate` | `u128` | Atomic units **per millisecond**. Must be non-zero except on `Dormant`. Weighed against guardian thresholds (§2.4) |
+| `deadline` | `u64` | Block number by which the step must complete. `0` means no deadline — and is not the same as the contract-level deadline (§3.6) |
+| `confidentiality` | enum | `{ Trusted: <index into guardians> }`, or `"TEE"` / `"FHE"` / `"SMPC"`. Determines which guardian threshold prices the offer |
+| `feeFunction` | `Option<u8>` | Dynamic fee function selector. `null` in every current SDK helper |
+| `programEnv` | `Option<Vec<u8>>` | Environment for program execution. Omitted by all SDK helpers — set it explicitly if you need it |
+| `input` | `DAInput` | Where the data comes from |
+| `program` | `DAInput` | Where the code comes from. Same type as `input` |
+| `metadata` | `Option<ComputeMetadata>` | `{ name, description, storeType, groupId }`. `groupId` links the entry to a guardian group (§4.3). Used when registering datasets/models via `Dormant` contracts |
+
+### 3.4 `DAInput` — how `input` and `program` are located
+
+One enum serves both fields, which is why `program` can be a URL, a container image
+reference, or a built-in. Variants:
+
+| Variant | Shape | Use |
+|---|---|---|
+| `"Null"` | — | Nothing. On `program`, this is the one case where `guardians` may be empty |
+| `Inline` | `{ data: number[] }` | Bytes carried in the extrinsic. Simplest, but counts against block size |
+| `ChainTransaction` | `{ blockNumber, extrinsicIndex }` | Points at data already submitted on-chain |
+| `ContractId` | `{ id: [u8; 32] }` | References another contract. **This is what triggers `input_fee`** — the referenced contract's owner is paid its `usage_price` (§2.5) |
+| `Ipfs` | `{ cid: number[], size: u64 }` | Content-addressed pointer |
+| `Url` | `{ url: number[], size: u64, hash: Option<number[]> }` | Remote fetch. `url` is UTF-8 bytes, not a string |
+| `NativeExecute` | `"Inference"` \| `"ContractAccess"` | Built-in programs. `"Inference"` routes to the orchestrator's Ollama path |
+| `NativeData` | `"DaFalse"` \| `"DaTrue"` | Built-in static data flags |
+
+`Subscription` contracts are intended to take a `ContractId` input on each invocation —
+that is how a subscription references the dataset it runs against.
+
+### 3.5 `CipherSuite` and confidentiality — two different things
+
+These are easy to conflate, and they are unrelated:
+
+- **`cipher` / `resultCipher`** are about *encryption of bytes*: `"Plaintext"`,
+  `{ ThresholdHybrid: {...} }` (needs a guardian group, §4.3), or
+  `{ AsymmetricHybrid: {...} }`. Use the `encryptedInference*` helpers rather than
+  assembling these by hand — the parameter structs are large and order-sensitive.
+- **`confidentiality`** is about *where execution happens*: `Trusted`, `TEE`, `FHE`,
+  `SMPC`. It carries no key material. It selects which guardian fee threshold applies
+  (§2.4), so it is also a pricing decision.
+
+A `"Plaintext"` contract with `{ Trusted: 0 }` is the normal starting point: unencrypted
+data, executed by the guardian at index 0.
+
+### 3.6 Contract types and lifecycle
+
+`ContractType` decides nearly everything about how a contract behaves.
+
+| | `Dormant` | `Active` | `Subscription` |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Reserves a deposit | No | Yes, `fees` | Yes, `fees` (upfront budget) |
+| `computeRate` required non-zero | No | **Yes** (`ZeroComputeRate`) | **Yes** |
+| Subject to the fee floor | No | Yes | Yes |
+| Subject to guardian thresholds | No | Yes | Yes |
+| `compute.invoke` allowed | No | No | **Yes** |
+| Settles on | Never (registration only) | First result | Budget exhausted, or deadline |
+| `usage_price` set to | `fees` | 0 | 0 |
+
+**`Dormant`** registers something — a dataset, a model, a program, a set of terms — without
+buying execution. Its `fees` becomes its `usage_price`: the amount another contract pays
+its owner when referencing it via `DAInput::ContractId`. This is how you charge for data
+you publish.
+
+**`Active`** is one job. It reserves, runs, settles on the first result.
+
+**`Subscription`** is a long-lived funded contract. `compute.agreement` reserves the whole
+budget; each `compute.invoke` runs one job against it and stamps `invocation_block`.
+`compute.result` bills that invocation but leaves the contract open. It settles when the
+remaining reserve drops below one block of compute (`BudgetExhausted`) or the deadline
+passes (`DeadlineReached`) — and, importantly, `invoke` **settles and returns `Ok`** in
+both cases rather than erroring. A successful `invoke` is not proof that a job started;
+check for a `ComputeInvoked` event, and treat `ContractSettled` as the terminal signal.
+
+Every contract also gets a deadline at creation: `current_block + ContractDeadlineDuration`
+(14400 blocks at genesis), independent of the `deadline` field inside `ComputeInfo`.
+
+### 3.7 Contract IDs are derived, not returned
+
+```
+contract_id = blake2_256(signer_account_id ++ signer_nonce)
+```
+
+using the nonce the `agreement` call is applied with. `createAgreement` reads the ID off
+the `AgreementCreated` event, which is the reliable way to get it. Note the consequence:
+the ID depends on the nonce, so a resubmitted or reordered transaction produces a
+different contract.
+
+Read a contract back with `api.query.compute.contracts(contractId)` — status, owner,
+`origin_block`, `invocation_block`, `usage_price`, `contract_type`.
+
+**`origin_block` is zero on a `Dormant` contract.** The pallet sets it only for `Active`
+and `Subscription`, because the field doubles as the settlement clock and a `Dormant`
+contract never settles. `index` is zero on every contract type. So neither field tells you
+where a registered artifact lives — which matters, because a `ContractId` reference points
+at exactly the contracts that lack it. The registration block survives in the deadline
+instead:
+
+```ts
+// ContractDeadlines[id] = registration_block + ContractDeadlineDuration,
+// and a Dormant contract never settles, so the entry is never cleared.
+const deadline = await api.query.compute.contractDeadlines(contractId);
+const duration = await api.query.compute.contractDeadlineDuration();
+const registrationBlock = BigInt(deadline.toString()) - BigInt(duration.toString());
+```
+
+This is a derivation, not a record: it is wrong if root changed
+`ContractDeadlineDuration` between registration and lookup.
+
+---
+
+## 4. Guardians
+
+### 4.1 Listing guardians
+
+```ts
+const guardians = await getGuardianList();          // custom RPC: guardian.guardianList
+const detail    = await getGuardianParticipants();  // current + upcoming, with prefs and stake
+```
+
+`getGuardianParticipants` reads `guardian.guardians` (active this era) and
+`guardian.nextGuardians` (active next era). The guardian set rotates per era, so a
+long-lived contract should name guardians present in both.
+
+> `getGuardianParticipants` calls `disconnectApi()` in its `finally` block. It tears down
+> the shared API connection on the way out — call it before other SDK work, not between
+> two transactions.
+
+### 4.2 Joining as a guardian
+
+`joinGuardian(account, prefs)` submits `staking.guard` with a `GuardianPrefs`. The chain
+expects `fee_thresholds` as a list of `(ComputeType, rate)` pairs, one per compute type,
+and `prefs.fee` accepts either shape:
+
+```ts
+// One rate for every compute type named in `compute`
+await joinGuardian(account, { compute: "tee,fhe", fee: 1_500_000_000_000_000_000n });
+//   -> fee_thresholds: [[Tee, 1.5e18], [Fhe, 1.5e18]]
+
+// A rate per compute type
+await joinGuardian(account, {
+  compute: "tee,fhe",
+  fee: { tee: 1_500_000_000_000_000_000n, fhe: 3_000_000_000_000_000_000n },
+});
+//   -> fee_thresholds: [[Tee, 1.5e18], [Fhe, 3e18]]
+
+// No thresholds — accepts any rate for every compute type
+await joinGuardian(account, { compute: "tee", standard: true });
+//   -> fee_thresholds: []
+```
+
+`fee` is in **atomic units**, not PALI — the CLI converts with `tokenToBigint` before
+calling. Pricing a compute type absent from `compute` throws rather than being sent, and
+duplicate types are impossible in either shape: `staking.guard` rejects them with
+`InvalidGuardianPrefs`.
+
+### 4.3 Guardian groups — and why they are hard to find
+
+**A guardian group has no on-chain storage.** Neither `dataAvailability.daccGuardianGroup`
+nor `daccGuardianGroupInfo` writes anything; both only emit a `DaccGuardianGroup` event.
+This single fact explains every difficulty around groups, so it is worth stating plainly:
+there is no `api.query` that returns a group, and no way to enumerate groups from state.
+
+What you get instead:
+
+- **The group ID is derivable.** `group_id = blake2_256(concat(SCALE-encoded guardian
+  account IDs, in order))`. Order matters — the same guardians in a different order are a
+  different group.
+- **The crypto parameters are not derivable.** `group_pk`, `tau_params` and `agg_key` come
+  from the guardian network's distributed key generation and exist only as arguments to
+  the `daccGuardianGroupInfo` extrinsic. To obtain them you must read that extrinsic back
+  out of its block.
+
+So there are exactly two supported ways to get a `GuardianGroupInfo`:
+
+```ts
+// 1. Create a group and watch for the follow-up extrinsic (needs 3 guardians exactly)
+const info = await createGuardianGroupAndWatch(account, guardians);
+
+// 2. Reconstruct one you created earlier, from the block+index you recorded at the time
+const info = await getGuardianGroupInfo(
+  { blockNumber, index },  // the daccGuardianGroup creation extrinsic
+  undefined,               // optional: the daccGuardianGroupInfo extrinsic; scanned for if omitted
+);
+```
+
+**Persist `{ blockNumber, index }` when you create a group.** It is the only handle that
+lets you recover the group later. Losing it means scanning the chain, or creating a new
+group. (The `sealed-bid-auction` demo stores exactly this in a `.group.json` file.)
+
+Group creation is a **two-transaction protocol**: your `daccGuardianGroup` call registers
+the intent, and the guardian network responds with a separate `daccGuardianGroupInfo`
+transaction carrying the computed parameters, typically a few blocks later. `maxBlocks`
+(default 20) bounds how long the SDK waits.
+
+To *list* groups, index `DaccGuardianGroup` events or `daccGuardianGroupInfo` extrinsics
+from block history yourself, and keep your own record. There is no chain-side index.
+
+You only need a group for **threshold-encrypted** work (`encryptedInference*`, encrypted
+DA uploads). Plaintext and trusted compute need a guardian *list*, not a group.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Compute results
+
+Applications submit agreements; **node operators submit results.** If you are building an
+app, this section is about what to wait for, not what to call.
+
+`compute.result(request_id, contract, submitor, compute_duration_ms, execution_outcome)`
+is submitted by `result_relay` after the orchestrator finishes a job. The SDK deliberately
+ships no wrapper for it.
+
+The rules that make results fail:
+
+- **`compute_duration_ms` is bounded.** It must not exceed
+  `(elapsed_blocks + 4) × MillisecondsPerBlock`, measured from `invocation_block` (or
+  `origin_block` for non-subscriptions). Overstating duration fails with
+  `ComputeDurationTooLarge`. A very fast chain (500ms blocks) makes this bound tight.
+- **The contract must exist.** `request_id` is the contract ID; an unknown one is
+  `AgreementNotFound`.
+- **The `contract` argument must be re-supplied in full**, matching the original.
+- **`CheckCompute` gates the extrinsic.** `compute.result` is one of a small allowlist of
+  calls permitted to carry a non-default `ComputePayload` (§8); anything else carrying one
+  is rejected as `ForbiddenCompute`.
+
+To observe a result as an application, watch for these events on your contract ID:
+
+| Event | Meaning |
+|---|---|
+| `compute.ComputeResult(request_id)` | A result landed |
+| `compute.ExecutionSuccess` / `ExecutionFailed` / `ExecutionTerminated` | How the job ended |
+| `compute.ExecutionFullSettlement` / `ExecutionPartialSettlement` | How the budget resolved |
+| `compute.ContractSettled { refunded, reason }` | Contract closed, funds returned |
+| `compute.SubmitorFeePaid` / `InputFeePaid` / `DecryptionFeePaid` | Who was paid |
+
+`ComputeResult` and `ExecutionFailed` can both fire for the same request: a job that ran
+and failed still consumed compute and still pays out.
+
+---
+
+## 6. Writing a compute image
+
+This section is for whoever builds the Docker image a contract runs. Everything here is
+enforced by the **orchestrator**, a sidecar every guardian node runs alongside its compute
+node (`compute-core/orchestrator`). It watches the chain, resolves your program and inputs,
+drives the container through `docker_gateway`, and submits the result. You never call it —
+you satisfy its conventions.
+
+### 6.1 How your image is located
+
+`contract.compute.program` decides both *what* runs and *how the image is obtained*. The
+variants are not interchangeable:
+
+| `program` | Image resolution |
+|---|---|
+| `{ Inline: { data } }` | Bytes are UTF-8 decoded into an **image reference** (`"myorg/app:v1.2.3"`) and pulled from a registry. This is the normal path |
+| `{ Url: { url } }` | The URL is fetched and its body written to `<staging>/program/image-<b>-<e>.tar`, then loaded as a **local archive**. The URL must serve a `docker save` tarball, *not* a registry reference |
+| `{ Ipfs: { cid } }` | Same as `Url`, fetched via the configured IPFS gateway |
+| `{ NativeExecute: "Inference" }` | No container at all — routed to Ollama (§6.6) |
+
+A registry reference passed as `Url` will be downloaded as if it were a tarball and fail.
+
+### 6.2 Inputs: `/input`, read-only
+
+Every entry in `contract.compute.input` is resolved to bytes and written to a file before
+your container starts:
+
+```
+/input/<blockHeight>-<extrinsicIndex>-<i>      read-only
+/output/                                        read-write
+```
+
+`<i>` is the zero-based position of the input. A single-input job gets exactly one file.
+The host side lives at `<STAGING_DIR>/<blockHeight>-<extrinsicIndex>/`, and the whole tree
+is deleted once the result is submitted.
+
+Rules worth building around:
+
+- **Do not hard-code the filename.** It embeds the block height and extrinsic index, which
+  you cannot know in advance. List `/input`, sort, and read — this is exactly what the
+  built-in inference path does.
+- **Inputs arrive decrypted.** If `contract.compute.cipher` is not `"Plaintext"`, the
+  orchestrator decrypts before writing. Your container always sees plaintext.
+- **Multi-input encrypted jobs are rejected**, because one `CipherSuite` carries one nonce
+  and it cannot be safely reused across inputs. Multiple inputs are fine when plaintext.
+- All DA variants (`Inline`, `Url`, `Ipfs`, `ChainTransaction`, `ContractId`) are resolved
+  by the orchestrator. Your image only ever sees a file.
+
+### 6.3 Output: **stdout is the result**
+
+This is the single most important rule, and the one most likely to surprise you:
+
+> **The result submitted on-chain is your container's combined stdout + stderr.**
+
+`/output` is mounted read-write, but **nothing reads it.** The orchestrator collects the
+container's logs, and then deletes the entire staging tree — `/output` included. Writing
+your result to a file there means submitting an empty result.
+
+The consequences:
+
+- **stdout and stderr are interleaved** into one stream in chronological order. Anything
+  you log for diagnostics — progress bars, warnings, a stray library banner on stderr —
+  is concatenated into the on-chain result. Emit the result and nothing else; send
+  diagnostics nowhere, or accept that they become part of your output.
+- **Output is read as UTF-8 text.** Binary written to stdout is decoded lossily and
+  corrupted. Base64- or hex-encode anything that is not text.
+- **Keep it small.** The result is embedded *inline* in the `compute.result` extrinsic, so
+  it is bounded by extrinsic and block size limits — far below the gateway's 100 MiB log
+  ceiling. That ceiling protects the host's disk; it is not a budget for your result.
+- **Encryption is applied for you.** If `contract.result_cipher` is not `"Plaintext"`, the
+  orchestrator encrypts your bytes to the requester before submission. Emit plaintext.
+
+### 6.4 Exit codes and execution outcome
+
+Your exit code selects the `ExecutionOutcome` reported on-chain (§5):
+
+| Container ends with | `ExecutionOutcome` |
+|---|---|
+| Exit code `0` | `Success` |
+| Any non-zero exit code | `Failed` |
+| Exceeds its timeout (container is force-removed) | `Terminated` |
+| Orchestrator cannot determine the outcome | `Failed` |
+
+**A failed run still submits a result and is still billed.** Compute time is metered from
+container start regardless of outcome, so a crash costs the requester real money. Exit
+non-zero to signal failure honestly — but note the logs captured up to that point are what
+gets submitted as the result.
+
+### 6.5 What you cannot rely on
+
+Two fields look available from the contract but do not currently reach your container:
+
+- **Environment variables.** `ComputeInfo.programEnv` exists on-chain, but the orchestrator
+  reads `env` from a top-level extrinsic argument that `compute.agreement` does not have.
+  A chain-submitted job therefore runs with **no environment variables** from the contract.
+- **Port publications.** The orchestrator looks for `ports` on the compute step, but
+  `ComputeInfo` has no such field. Ports are reachable only through the orchestrator's
+  direct HTTP job API, not from an on-chain contract.
+
+Design your image to take everything it needs from `/input`.
+
+Also note that `contract.compute.deadline` is documented on-chain as a **block number**
+(§3.3) but is consumed by the orchestrator as a **timeout in seconds**, defaulting to 300
+when zero or absent. Until that is reconciled, treat it as your container's wall-clock
+budget in seconds.
+
+### 6.6 The built-in inference path
+
+`{ NativeExecute: "Inference" }` runs no image of yours. The orchestrator reads the **first**
+input file as a complete OpenAI-compatible `/v1/chat/completions` request body, POSTs it to
+Ollama, and submits the raw JSON response as the result. Supply a full request body as your
+input — not a bare prompt. `"ContractAccess"` is defined on-chain but not implemented by the
+orchestrator; any other `NativeExecute` command is rejected.
+
+### 6.7 Minimal example
+
+```dockerfile
+FROM python:3.12-slim
+COPY main.py /main.py
+ENTRYPOINT ["python", "/main.py"]
+```
+
+```python
+import os, sys, json, base64
+
+input_dir = "/input"
+files = sorted(os.listdir(input_dir))          # never hard-code the filename
+with open(os.path.join(input_dir, files[0]), "rb") as f:
+    payload = f.read()
+
+result = {"length": len(payload), "sha": base64.b64encode(payload[:8]).decode()}
+
+# The result is stdout. Nothing else may be printed - not even to stderr.
+sys.stdout.write(json.dumps(result))
+sys.exit(0)
+```
+
+---
+
+## 7. Known drift — read before debugging
+
+Verified against the current `dev` branches at the time of writing. These are real
+inconsistencies between the repositories, not documentation gaps.
+
+1. **`joinGuardian` now tracks the `dev` runtime, not the deployed one.** `spec.ts` and
+   `GuardianJoinPrefs` were updated together to `fee_thresholds: Vec<(ComputeType, u128)>`,
+   matching `dev`. A runtime predating that change has either a scalar `fee_threshold` or
+   no threshold field at all, and encoding against it fails or silently drops the value —
+   check which runtime you target before debugging a threshold that did not take effect.
+
+   Note that extrinsic arguments are encoded from *metadata*, not from `spec.ts` —
+   `api.tx.staking.guard` resolves `prefs` through the metadata lookup id, so the
+   `GuardianPrefs` entry in `spec.ts` is documentation, and the *shape* `joinGuardian`
+   passes is what actually has to match.
+
+   The general rule this illustrates: **entries in `spec.ts` that duplicate a metadata type
+   are inert** — metadata wins for everything it describes. Only types reached by *name*
+   (custom RPCs in `API_RPC`, signed extensions in `API_EXTENSIONS`) are load-bearing.
+
+2. **`MillisecondsPerBlock` is not in metadata.** It is a plain `Get<u64>` on
+   `pallet_compute::Config`, not a `#[pallet::constant]`, so `api.consts.compute` does not
+   expose it. `getFeeParams()` reads `babe.expectedBlockTime` instead — the runtime wires
+   both to the same `MILLISECS_PER_BLOCK`. Adding `#[pallet::constant]` would make this
+   exact rather than inferred.
+
+3. **The orchestrator assumes 6000ms blocks.** `computeMaxRunningTimeSecs` in
+   `orchestrator/src/chain.ts` hard-codes `blockTimeMs = 6000`, while the runtime's
+   `MILLISECS_PER_BLOCK` is `500`. Treat its running-time estimates as unreliable.
+
+4. **`scripts/test-compute-result.mjs` is stale.** It calls `compute.result` with three
+   arguments; the extrinsic now takes five.
+
+5. **`ComputeInfo` has fields the SDK helpers omit.** `program_env` and `metadata` exist
+   on the chain struct but are not set by `simpleCompute`, `inferenceCompute` or
+   `dataContract`. Supply them explicitly if you need them.
+
+6. **`deadline` means two different things.** `ComputeInfo.deadline` is documented on-chain
+   as a block number and used as one by `compute.invoke`'s expiry check, but the
+   orchestrator reads the same field as a **timeout in seconds** when running a container.
+   At 500ms blocks, a value meant as N blocks (N/2 seconds) becomes an N-second container
+   budget — twice the intended window.
+
+7. **`/output` is a dead mount.** The orchestrator bind-mounts
+   `<staging>/output` at `/output` read-write, then never reads it and deletes the staging
+   tree after submission. The result channel is stdout (§6.3). Either the mount should be
+   removed or it should be collected — as it stands it silently invites data loss.
+
+8. **`programEnv` and ports never reach the container.** The orchestrator sources `env` and
+   `ports` from top-level extrinsic arguments that `compute.agreement` does not define, so
+   the on-chain `ComputeInfo.programEnv` field is inert (§6.5).
+
+---
+
+## 8. The `ComputePayload` signer option
+
+Several SDK calls pass an `opts` object into `signAndSend` that is neither a normal
+extrinsic argument nor a standard signer option:
+
+```ts
+{ compute: { daType: 1, verification: 0, compute: 1 } }
+```
+
+This is `ComputePayload`, extra data carried by the `CheckCompute` **signed extension** —
+it travels with the transaction and is validated before dispatch. `CheckCompute` requires
+it to be *default/empty* for every call except an allowlist: `dataAvailability.submitData`,
+`compute.agreement`, `compute.result`, `compute.invoke`, and
+`guardSession.agreementResponse`. Attaching a non-default payload to any other call is
+rejected as `ForbiddenCompute`.
+
+| Field | Meaning |
+|---|---|
+| `daType` | `0` none, `1` DA, `4` compute request |
+| `compute` | `0` dormant, `1` active |
+| `verification` | Verification mode |
+| `agreement` | 32-byte guardian peer keys (base58-decode the peer ID, drop the first 6 bytes) |
+
+The SDK sets this for you in `createAgreement`, `submitData` and the encrypted-inference
+helpers. You need to construct one by hand only when calling `api.tx` directly.
+
+---
+
+## 9. Failure reference
+
+| Symptom | Cause |
+|---|---|
+| `InsufficientFreeBalance` | `fees` below the floor (§2.2), or free balance below `fees`. Call `estimateMinFee`. |
+| `ZeroComputeRate` | `computeRate` is 0 on an `Active`/`Subscription` contract. Only `Dormant` may be 0. |
+| `AgreementFailed` event, nothing reserved | A guardian rejected the offer — `computeRate` under its threshold (§2.4). |
+| `ForbiddenCompute` | Non-default `ComputePayload` on a call not in the allowlist (§8). |
+| `Invalid: Custom(149)` | `guardians` is empty while `compute.program` is not `"Null"` (§3.2). |
+| `Invalid: Custom(145)` | Duplicate entries in `guardians` (§3.2). |
+| `Invalid: Custom(148)` | A named guardian is not registered/staked (§3.2). |
+| Opaque decode failure on `agreement` | Wrong field shape — snake_case keys, or a missing enum payload (§3). |
+| `ComputeDurationTooLarge` | Reported duration exceeds `(elapsed_blocks + 4) × block_ms` (§5). |
+| `InvalidContractType` | `invoke` called on a non-`Subscription` contract. |
+| `ContractSettled` | Contract already settled — budget exhausted or deadline passed. |
+| `AgreementNotFound` | Unknown contract ID, or a `Subscription` with no settlement record. |
+| `ContractExpired` | Past the contract deadline. |
+| `invoke` returns Ok but nothing runs | Deadline or budget check settled the contract instead (§3.6). |
+| `compute.agreement` hangs, never included, no error | A named guardian has not submitted its `agreement_response`; the tx is parked in the future queue (§2.1). |
+| Result is empty on-chain | The image wrote to `/output`; only stdout is collected (§6.3). |
+| Result contains log noise or banners | stderr is interleaved into stdout (§6.3). |
+| Result is corrupted / mojibake | Binary written to stdout; it is decoded as UTF-8 (§6.3). |
+| Container sees no environment variables | `programEnv` is not plumbed through (§6.5). |
+| Image pull fails for a `Url` program | `Url` expects a `docker save` tarball, not a registry reference (§6.1). |
+| Group info cannot be found | No on-chain storage for groups; you need the creation block+index (§4.3). |
+| API disconnects mid-flow | `getGuardianParticipants` disconnects the shared API on exit (§4.1). |
+
+---
+
+## 10. Conventions
+
+- **Amounts.** PALI has 18 decimals. `Fee.amount` and `Fee.computeRate` take *human* PALI
+  values (`"1.5"`); `buildFee` converts via `toAtomicPaliAmount`. Everything read back off
+  the chain is in atomic units — convert with `fromAtomicPaliAmount`.
+- **`computeRate` is per millisecond**, not per block or per second.
+- **`deadline: 0` means no deadline.**
+- **`computerIndices`** indexes into `contract.guardians`, as does `Trusted { trust_index }`.
+- **Finality.** `signAndSend` resolves at in-block by default; pass
+  `init({ txWaitFinalization: true })` to wait for finalization.
+- **Currency.** `currencyId` defaults to `"Native"`; the deposit is reserved in and settled
+  from that currency.