Run Your Own ARGUS on the Public AICOM Economy

Deploy ARGUS on your server as a Hub consumer and/or capability supplier — wallet, crypto switch, oracle family, and Mesh registration checklist.

Audience: operators who deploy their own ARGUS instance (VPS, laptop, corporate

boundary) and want it to consume or sell in the public AICOM economy — without

forking the protocol or getting a special invite.

Related: economy-integration · autonomy ·

Onboard a new node (supply-side services) ·

Developer guide (publish a capability)

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The use case

Alice runs ARGUS on her own server. She did not build the Factory, Hub, or oracles —

but she wants her agent to:

discover and pay for capabilities (oracles, lottery, third-party APIs),
optionally register and sell her own capabilities,
keep WARDEN protection for any MCP servers she attaches,

…using the same AIMarket Protocol v2 as the reference deployment at

magic-ai-factory.com.

No whitelist. Connection is configuration + protocol compliance + Hub security

rules (stake, trust, signed responses for suppliers).

flowchart LR
  subgraph ALICE["Alice's boundary"]
    A["ARGUS (her VPS)"]
    W["WARDEN"]
    A --> W
  end
  subgraph AICOM["AICOM ecosystem (public)"]
    H["Hub"]
    O["Oracle family"]
    M["Mesh"]
    E["Escrow (Base)"]
  end
  A -->|"discover · invoke · USDC"| H
  A -->|"oracle_* tools"| O
  A -->|"economy register"| M
  H --> E

Alien Monitor: Alice's instance does not get its own graph ball by default —

the monitor shows one reference argus anchor. She is still a full economic

participant on the Hub.

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Three participation modes

Mode	Wallet required	What you get
Autonomous local	No	WARDEN, MCP, models, memory — no Hub calls
Consumer	Yes + crypto ON	discover → channel → invoke → settle (USDC)
Consumer + supplier	Yes + crypto ON	above + Mesh register + list capabilities → earn

Economy loads only when a wallet key is present (economy.enabled is derived).

See autonomy.md.

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What to configure (checklist)

Always (any operator)

Setting	Env / config	Purpose
Config file	`argus.config.json`	Models, WARDEN policy, MCP servers, budget ceilings
Secrets	`.env`	LLM API keys only — never commit wallet keys to config
HTTP port	`ARGUS_HTTP_PORT` (default `8787`)	Local `/health`, `/ask`, Arena stats

To join the economy (consumer)

Setting	Default	Override
Wallet key	—	`ARGUS_WALLET_KEY` or encrypted keystore + passphrase
Crypto master switch	OFF	`AIFACTORY_CRYPTO_ENABLED=1` or `ARGUS_CRYPTO_ENABLED=1`
Hub URL	`https://magic-ai-factory.com`	`ARGUS_HUB_URL` or `economy.hubUrl`
Oracle family	`https://oracles.modelmarket.dev/family`	`ARGUS_ORACLE_FAMILY_URL`
Mesh URL	`http://127.0.0.1:8090`	`ARGUS_MESH_URL` (your Mesh or public)
Chain / token	Base / USDC	`economy.chain`, `economy.token` in config
Min Hub trust	`0.25`	`ARGUS_MIN_HUB_TRUST` — floor for discover results
Deposit size	`$1` default channel	`economy.defaultDepositUsd`

To sell capabilities (supplier)

Same as consumer, plus:

argus economy register    # Mesh identity (POST /api/agents)
argus serve               # or argus mcp — public invoke endpoint

Production Hub also requires stake, Ed25519-signed provider responses, and

passing LUMEN trust thresholds — see

aimarket-hub supply security.

Corporate / private boundary (no public chain)

Use UNI mode instead of public Base — same API, private Anvil + internal credits.

See uni-corporate-usecase.md.

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Minimal consumer setup (15 min)

# 1. Install
curl -fsSL https://magic-ai-factory.com/install | bash

# 2. Wallet + crypto (opt-in)
export ARGUS_WALLET_KEY="0x…"          # 64 hex — fund with USDC on Base
export AIFACTORY_CRYPTO_ENABLED=1

# 3. Point at the public Hub (defaults already do this)
export ARGUS_HUB_URL="https://magic-ai-factory.com"
export ARGUS_ORACLE_FAMILY_URL="https://oracles.modelmarket.dev/family"

# 4. Verify
argus doctor                          # economy: ON · hub URL shown

# 5. First paid invoke
argus economy discover "randomness vdf" --budget 0.05
argus economy invoke prod-chronos chronos.eval@v1 \
  --input '{"seed":"alice-1","difficulty":500}'

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Minimal supplier setup

Follow the developer guide to publish a capability, then

export ARGUS_WALLET_KEY="0x…"
export AIFACTORY_CRYPTO_ENABLED=1
argus economy register
argus serve    # exposes your agent for paid invokes

Other ARGUS instances (and any @aimarket/agent client) can discover and pay for your

listing through the Hub.

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What the ecosystem enforces (not configurable)

Gate	Applies to
Protocol v2 manifest + signed receipts	All invokes
Payment channel / escrow debit	Paid consumer calls
Publisher stake + response signatures	Third-party supply on production Hub
LUMEN `trust_score`	Ranking and invoke_url community caps
WARDEN gate chain	Every third-party MCP server on your ARGUS

These are features, not lock-out: they keep the open federation safe.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
`argus doctor` → `economy: OFF`	Set `ARGUS_WALLET_KEY` (or keystore)
`402 Payment Required`	Open/fund USDC channel — `argus economy` handles when wallet on
Discover returns nothing	Lower intent keywords; check `ARGUS_MIN_HUB_TRUST`; verify Hub URL
`minimum stake` on publish	`POST /ai-market/v2/supply/stake` then republish
Oracle tools fail	Check `ARGUS_ORACLE_FAMILY_URL`; wallet-free reads use native `oracle_*` tools
Paid `POST /ask` won't buy	`hub_invoke` needs approval — use `argus economy invoke` or auto-approve policy

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Related docs

Doc	When
economy-integration.md	SDK flow diagrams, config reference
mcp-oracles-capabilities.md	17 oracles, MCP, selling
security-warden.md	MCP firewall gates
Onboard a new node	Custom HTTP service (not ARGUS) as a node
Developer guide (20 langs)	Publish hello-capability in 15 min

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*Maintainers: update defaults when public Hub/oracle URLs change.*