Rat King binds agents into one encrypted network

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:

Provider adapters stay outside core. Every surface23 projects the same contract. Cartridges36 explain the service and infrastructure pattern. The fence39 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 Nest6 for Joel’s purpose-built on-prem cloud.

Sources

  1. Rat King README. GitHub joelhooks/rat-king. The network, name, rat-stack foundation, and pre-alpha status. Accessed 2026-10-06.
  2. Rat King vision. GitHub joelhooks/rat-king. The phased path, stack roles, and deployment targets. Accessed 2026-10-06.
  3. Rat King project law. GitHub joelhooks/rat-king. Contracts, provider boundaries, lifecycle machines, and the publication fence. Accessed 2026-10-06.

Last changed 2026-10-06 in 489e6c4. Source on GitHub. Change log.

Linked from

  1. Agent guide. An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush.

    Rat King binds agents into one encrypted network — Rat King plans an encrypted AT Protocol agent network built on rat-stack.

  2. Change log. What changed in the files served here, newest first.

    Rat King binds agents into one encrypted network — new page: docs: add public Rat King and Rats Nest lore

  3. Full agent guide. An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush.
  4. Rat Stack lore | rat-stack. Short, source-grounded notes on the ideas and decisions behind rat-stack.

    Rat King binds agents into one encrypted network — Rat King plans an encrypted AT Protocol agent network built on rat-stack.

  5. 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.

    See Rat King for the encrypted AT Protocol agent network.¶

  6. Source change history (log.md). The generated change log as Markdown.

    Rat King binds agents into one encrypted network — new page: docs: add public Rat King and Rats Nest lore