Realm and Runtime as Siblings
Realm and Runtime operate as independent, peer authorities.
| Subsystem Domain | Realm Governance | Runtime Governance |
|---|---|---|
| Identity & Lifecycle | Persistent Character identity & Character Source definitions | LocalAgent instantiation & on-device lifecycle |
| World & AI Compute | World Source specifications & planned World State/History contracts | Local (Ollama/llama.cpp) & cloud AI model scheduling |
| State & Sessions | Social relationship graphs, economy, and world settings | Active conversations, session state, and Cognition memory mediation |
| Security & Policy | Realm access policies and cloud audit trails | Inference driver selection, token budgets, API keys, and session-scoped app access |
Inter-Domain Coordination
Realm issues Character Source and World Source definitions. Runtime consumes those authorized definitions to instantiate a LocalAgent on the user's device and bring in allowed world context during execution.
Strict boundaries prevent cross-domain contamination:
- Transient memory or reasoning outputs from Runtime are never written back to Realm without explicit validation.
- Realm does not run LocalAgent conversation turns or dictate Runtime inference drivers.
- Any state change across domains must go through the owning domain's public contract.
The SDK exposes a bounded surface for consumers. Nimi Home (hosted by Desktop), Avatar, and apps consume these projections without merging Realm and Runtime into a private local authority.
NOTE
Long-term memory is isolated per agent in Cognition and mediated by Runtime. Knowledge V1 currently has no active public client interface.