01
Vessel & Ghouls
Async runtime and background workers
The Vessel is the app runtime and web server that holds the Lich together. Ghouls are short-lived background jobs that do the heavy lifting and then rest.
LychD · The Dark Arts of LLMs
A daemon that keeps your agents alive
LychD is a persistent Linux service that runs AI agents on your own machine, with long-term memory, local model engines, an operator web UI and sandboxing. Open source, MPL-2.0, no CLA.
lychd --about
- what
- systemd-native agent daemon
- runs_on
- Linux · Python 3.12 – 3.15
- license
- MPL-2.0 · no CLA
- status
- pre-alpha · loopback · single user
- inference
- llama.cpp | vLLM | SGLang | ExLlamaV3
- memory
- PostgreSQL + pgvector · Btrfs
- sandbox
- rootless Podman Quadlets
How Snayu uses LychD
An open core, custom compositions on top
LychD is the platform. What we deploy for each client is a composition: an application built on LychD and designed around that client's workflows, data and rules.
LychD itself is pre-alpha, so client work is delivered as a supervised engagement: Snayu engineers install, configure and run the composition for you, and the statement of work spells out what is in scope today and what is still on the roadmap.
LychD core
- Open source under MPL-2.0, no CLA
- Developed in public on GitHub
- The same core under every deployment
- Free to read, run and fork
Client compositions
- Designed for one client’s workflows
- Built and deployed by Snayu on your hardware
- The custom work is yours, per your contract
- Supported and improved as your needs change
Architecture
Five foundations, one Lich
Each part has a name from the grimoire and a plain job description. Here are both.
02
Phylactery & Soulforge
Persistent memory and training
The Phylactery is the PostgreSQL state store where the Lich keeps its memory. The Soulforge is where training happens.
03
Animators Matrix
Local inference engines
Animators are model endpoints. A Soulstone runs on your own GPUs; a Portal reaches a remote one. Swap engines without rewriting agents.
04
Altar
Operator web UI and logs
The web console where the Magus watches over the Lich. Its instruments are Atlas, Bridge, Loom, Nexus and Orb. Structured logs are recorded today; OpenTelemetry tracing is planned.
05
Coffin
Sandboxing for lower-trust jobs
Agents you trust less are sealed in a Coffin: a rootless Podman Quadlet supervised by systemd, holding only the tools you grant.
Anatomy of a run
Follow one task through the Lich
How the parts are meant to work together on a single run, from the operator's request to the trace it leaves behind.
anatomy of a run intended design · pre-alpha
- 1 Altar → Vessel task · Sigil
- 2 Vessel → Phylactery recall Karma
- 3 Phylactery → Vessel precedent
- 4 Vessel → Animator prompt + tools
- 5 Animator → Vessel tool call
- 6 Vessel → Coffin run tool (sealed)
- 7 Coffin → Vessel result
- 8 Vessel → Phylactery trace + Karma
- 9 Vessel → Altar answer · trace
9/9
The answer shows up in the Altar, with the full trace behind it.
The stack
Boring, well-known parts. On purpose.
Top to bottom, the layers a request passes through on its way to your hardware and back.
Altar & docs Interface
Vessel Runtime
Animators Inference
Iron Host
Requirements
- Linux
- Python 3.12 to 3.15
- NVIDIA GPU (assumed by the install guide)
- A GGUF model that supports tool calls
Hardware profiles
- Workstation1–2 × RTX 3090 / 4090 / 5090Qwen3.8 27B · Gemma 4 31B
- Private cluster4–8 × RTX 4090 / 5090DeepSeek V4 Flash · gpt-oss-120b
- Data centreDGX H200 / B200 / GB200DeepSeek V4 Pro · GLM-5.3 · Kimi K3
Lit squares show the minimum GPU count; outlined ones are optional. Models are current open-weight examples that fit each tier. No LychD benchmarks are published yet.
Roadmap
Metamorphosis: five books into 2027
The roadmap is written as a story in five books. The first chapter, Genesis, is next.
Book I · Chapter 1 Current
Genesis
- A shared agentic lab
- A phone and voice experience
- A Minecraft showcase
- Visual work
Enthusiast release Planned for 21 Dec 2026
Book II Sealed
Book III Sealed
Book IV Sealed
Book V Sealed
Glossary
A short grimoire
The docs speak in their own tongue. This is the translation. Hover or tap a term to see what it connects to.
- The whole running system, over time.
- The human operator.
- The app runtime and web server.
- A short-lived background job.
- The PostgreSQL state store.
- Governed memory: traces, Karma and provenance.
- An attributable record of past actions, corrections and consent, used as precedent.
- A model endpoint: a Soulstone (local) or a Portal (remote).
- A validated TOML configuration file.
- The configuration tree.
- The identity and permission context carried through a request or run.
- The sandbox profile for lower-trust agent jobs.
- Training.
- The web UI, with instruments Atlas, Bridge, Loom, Nexus and Orb.
- A workflow definition.
- An accepted architecture decision record.
- An app built on LychD.
- The docs.
Community
Built in the open. Join the coven.
- 1Pick a help-wanted issue
- 2Say hello in Discussions
- 3Open a pull request
- 4Review, then merge
Get started
Want a composition built for your team?
We run fixed-scope pilot projects that put LychD to work on one real workflow, with our maintainers alongside your team.