From 0ef8c46ef73c35d40fb59d10fa469de08f918af2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: gilesb <giles.bradshaw@sigyl.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2026 02:19:30 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] docs: Art DAG architecture and revenue model
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- Two-layer architecture (L1 rendering, L2 social/federation)
- Provenance chain for automatic attribution
- Revenue distribution down the chain
- Proof of Creativity concept
- Trust model: honourable servers vs defederation

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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+# Art DAG Architecture
+
+## Overview
+
+Art DAG is a content-addressed creative system with federated ownership. It separates rendering (L1) from social/ownership (L2), enabling distributed creative work with automatic attribution and revenue sharing.
+
+## Two-Layer Architecture
+
+### Level 1 - Rendering Layer
+
+**L1 Server** (Celery workers)
+- Executes rendering jobs
+- Records provenance in the DAG
+- Returns content-addressed outputs (SHA3-256)
+- Stateless, horizontally scalable
+- Most renders are junk/experiments - that's fine
+
+**L1 Client** (AI-assisted front-end)
+- "Make me a video that rotates" → AI designs config
+- Sends configs + assets to L1 server
+- Receives rendered output with provenance
+- Decides what's worth keeping
+
+### Level 2 - Social/Federation Layer
+
+**L2 Server** (ActivityPub)
+- Ownership registry: "I made this with X, Y, Z"
+- Federation: follow/followers across the fediverse
+- Web UI: creators share their work
+- Revenue distribution: ads flow down provenance chain
+- Only shared content is persistent (curated from L1 junk)
+
+**Key insight**: L1 produces lots of experimental renders. L2 is where the creator decides "this is the good stuff" and shares it via ActivityPub. Persistence = intentional sharing.
+
+## Data Flow
+
+```
+User prompt: "make me a cat video"
+         │
+         ▼
+   ┌─────────────┐
+   │  AI Client  │  Designs config from natural language
+   └─────────────┘
+         │
+         ▼
+   ┌─────────────┐
+   │  L1 Server  │  Renders, records provenance in DAG
+   └─────────────┘
+         │
+         ▼
+   User reviews output
+         │
+         ▼ (if good)
+   ┌─────────────┐
+   │  L2 Server  │  Shares via ActivityPub, registers ownership
+   └─────────────┘
+         │
+         ▼
+   Federated web (followers see it)
+```
+
+## Provenance Chain
+
+Every output knows its lineage:
+
+```json
+{
+  "output": {"name": "cool-video", "content_hash": "abc123..."},
+  "inputs": [
+    {"name": "cat-footage", "content_hash": "def456..."}
+  ],
+  "effects": [
+    {"name": "effect:glitch", "content_hash": "ghi789..."}
+  ],
+  "infrastructure": {
+    "software": {"name": "infra:artdag", "content_hash": "..."},
+    "hardware": {"name": "infra:render-farm", "content_hash": "..."}
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## Revenue Model
+
+### How money enters
+- Advertising on L2 server web interface
+- Premium features (faster rendering, more storage)
+- Direct payments for outputs (commissions, licensing)
+
+### How money flows
+Revenue splits down the provenance chain:
+
+```
+Ad revenue from video view
+    │
+    ├── 40% → footage creator (input)
+    ├── 25% → effect author
+    ├── 20% → recipe/config designer
+    └── 15% → L1 render infrastructure
+```
+
+Exact splits could be configurable per-output or protocol-defined.
+
+### Trust and Federation
+
+**Honourable L2 servers:**
+- Distribute revenue fairly down provenance chain
+- Respect attribution
+- Federate openly
+
+**Dishonourable L2 servers:**
+- Keep revenue for themselves
+- Strip attribution
+- Get "sent to Coventry" - defederated by peers
+
+Self-policing network like Mastodon instance blocking. Reputation matters.
+
+## Proof of Creativity
+
+Unlike Proof of Work (burn electricity) or Proof of Stake (lock capital):
+
+**Proof of Creativity** = your contribution is measured by downstream usage
+
+- Make useful footage → gets used → you earn
+- Write clever effects → gets used → you earn
+- Design good recipes → gets used → you earn
+
+Not artificial scarcity. Not speculation. Actual creative value.
+
+## Why share here vs Facebook/YouTube?
+
+**Facebook/YouTube:**
+- You upload → they own it
+- Their algorithm decides visibility
+- They monetize, you get scraps
+- They can delete/demonetize anytime
+- Your audience belongs to them
+
+**Art DAG (federated):**
+- You publish → you own it (cryptographically signed)
+- Your server, your algorithm
+- Provenance ensures fair payment
+- Nobody can delete your work
+- Your audience connects directly to you
+
+## Repository Structure
+
+```
+GitHub (gilesbradshaw/art-dag)
+    └── Core primitives: DAG, signing, ActivityPub, effects
+
+git.rose-ash.com/art-dag/
+    ├── registry    → Asset registry + signatures
+    ├── effects     → Effect implementations (dog, etc.)
+    ├── recipes     → Render scripts
+    ├── art         → Rendered outputs
+    ├── celery      → L1 distributed rendering
+    └── document    → This documentation
+```
+
+## Technical Foundation
+
+- **Hashing**: SHA3-256 (quantum-resistant, full 64 char)
+- **Signing**: RSA-2048 with RsaSignature2017
+- **Federation**: ActivityPub protocol
+- **Identity**: @user@domain.com format
+- **URLs**: Immutable via git commit hashes
+- **Rendering**: Celery + Redis for distributed jobs