Animator
Follow the spark to where the iron answers.
LychD calls services for work: a model can answer, a search service can find, a renderer can draw. An Animator is the live handle through which LychD addresses, discovers, probes and invokes such a capability. A model is one possible source; independently managed search, rendering or speech services may answer under their own typed contracts. The handle carries neither the service's deployment manifest nor the application's purpose.
Two Sources of Power
| Source | What the operator declares | What LychD can control |
|---|---|---|
| Soulstone, The Furnace of Animus | Local Rune, rootless Podman/Quadlet service, models or profiles, devices, mounts, secrets, and lifecycle. | Admitted local service and supported runtime-native transitions. |
| Portal, The Rift to the Remote Sky | Remote endpoint, provider contract, explicit models or profiles, and credential reference. | Its own admitted connection; no provider start, stop, repair, or local VRAM. |
Portal Roads selects a remote custody and economic road. Audio hardware and host routes handles device attachments; a raw device or finite host helper does not become an Animator merely because its work uses audio.
The Holy Contract
Check what the service declares, what its bound surface has proved, and what is ready now. Capabilities keeps those records distinct: a probe may invalidate a declaration, but cannot invent a capability.
Adapters keep native protocols behind the stable surface requested by Graph or an extension. An Animator-backed web effect still needs Scout's separate grant, destination, budget, and receipt.
The Galvanic Arc
typed demand → declared eligible profile → current observation
├─ WARM and admitted → exact grant and lease → invocation → owned return
└─ managed but cold → handle-free transition → readiness → dispatch again
While readiness converges, the waiting Graph holds no Connector or lease. Dispatcher selects and grants; Orchestrator alone converges an admissible physical or runtime-native transition. The current implementation performs this handshake for its narrower v1 family/model demand and chat-model/toolset compatibility grant.
Animus: the power answering
Animus names the power answering through an admitted, active capability. A loaded model—Gemma behind llama.cpp—is its clearest instance. The term creates no new runtime object. Orchestrator owns activation; the Animator is the address, the Connector its conduit, and the CapabilityGrant the exact permission and lease.
A Spell shapes that draw into a typed request. The return becomes candidate material for the Circle: Blade discriminates, Spirit carries it in Flux, and Answer binds the act locally. Inference alone supplies neither Persona, identity, memory, authority, nor operational Cognizance.
Capability and Readiness
Use Capabilities to name the required operation and interpret its grant or refusal. Use Connectors to bind its exact dialect. For compatible local groups, enter Coven; to inspect or request a change, follow Runtime transitions. State of Work owns what each route proves.