# Session 145: Real Cross-Machine Federation - Design Document

**Date**: 2026-01-08
**Session**: Autonomous Web4 Research
**Status**: Design Phase
**Target**: Legion ↔ Thor ↔ Sprout Real Network Federation

---

## Executive Summary

This session designs and implements **real cross-machine federation** with the complete 9-layer unified defense system. This is the culmination of:
- Sessions 137-144 (Legion): Security + ATP unification
- Sessions 170-172 (Thor): 8-layer defense
- Ready for production deployment

## Convergent Research Background

### Current State
- **Legion** (RTX 4090): Session 144 complete - 9-layer unified defense (security + ATP)
- **Thor** (Jetson AGX Thor): Session 172 complete - 8-layer defense
- **Sprout** (Orin Nano): Ready for deployment
- **Gap**: All systems tested locally, not across real network

### What's Been Validated Locally
1. ✅ PoW Sybil resistance (45,590× cost increase)
2. ✅ Rate limiting (100% spam prevention)
3. ✅ Quality filtering (100% garbage blocked)
4. ✅ Trust-weighted quotas (adaptive limits)
5. ✅ Persistent reputation (5:1 asymmetry)
6. ✅ Hardware trust asymmetry (L5 > L4)
7. ✅ Corpus management (storage DOS prevention)
8. ✅ Trust decay (inactive node handling)
9. ✅ ATP economics (feedback loops)

### What Needs Validation
1. ❓ Real network latency effects
2. ❓ Cross-machine PoW verification
3. ❓ Distributed corpus synchronization
4. ❓ ATP balance propagation
5. ❓ Trust score consistency across nodes
6. ❓ Hardware attestation across platforms (TPM2 ↔ TrustZone)
7. ❓ Network partition handling
8. ❓ Byzantine node detection

---

## Federation Architecture

### Network Topology

```
Legion (RTX 4090)              Thor (AGX Thor)           Sprout (Orin Nano)
├─ Hardware: TPM2 L5          ├─ Hardware: TrustZone L5  ├─ Hardware: TPM2 L5
├─ Role: Primary coordinator  ├─ Role: Edge node         ├─ Role: Edge node
├─ ATP: Full economic node    ├─ ATP: Economic node      ├─ ATP: Economic node
└─ Network: 10.0.0.8:8000     └─ Network: 10.0.0.9:8000  └─ Network: 10.0.0.10:8000

Full mesh topology: Each node connects to all others
```

### Communication Protocol

**Federation Message Types**:
1. `NODE_REGISTER`: New node joins with PoW verification
2. `THOUGHT_SUBMIT`: Broadcast thought to all nodes
3. `THOUGHT_VALIDATE`: Validate thought through 9 layers
4. `ATP_TRANSACTION`: Broadcast ATP rewards/penalties
5. `TRUST_UPDATE`: Synchronize reputation scores
6. `CORPUS_SYNC`: Periodic corpus synchronization
7. `HEARTBEAT`: Liveness monitoring

**Message Format** (JSON over HTTP/WebSocket):
```json
{
  "type": "THOUGHT_SUBMIT",
  "from_node": "legion:lct:web4:ai:legion_primary",
  "to_nodes": ["all"],  // or specific node IDs
  "timestamp": 1704470400.0,
  "signature": "...",  // LCT signature
  "payload": {
    "thought_id": "...",
    "content": "...",
    "coherence_score": 0.85,
    "pow_proof": {...}
  }
}
```

---

## Implementation Strategy

### Phase 1: Network Layer (30 min)
**Goal**: Get nodes talking over real network

**Tasks**:
1. Create `FederationNode` class with HTTP server
2. Implement peer discovery and connection
3. Add message serialization/deserialization
4. Test basic connectivity (Legion → Thor → Sprout)

**Success Criteria**:
- All 3 nodes can ping each other
- Message round-trip < 100ms
- Full mesh established

### Phase 2: Security Integration (45 min)
**Goal**: Add 9-layer defense to federation protocol

**Tasks**:
1. Integrate `UnifiedDefenseSystem` with network layer
2. Implement cross-node PoW verification
3. Add distributed rate limiting (per-node tracking)
4. Synchronize reputation scores across nodes
5. Test security layers over network

**Success Criteria**:
- PoW verified across machines
- Rate limiting enforced network-wide
- Reputation synchronized within 1s
- Spam attacks blocked (100% across network)

### Phase 3: ATP Economics (30 min)
**Goal**: Add economic layer to federation

**Tasks**:
1. Broadcast ATP transactions to all nodes
2. Implement distributed ATP balance consensus
3. Add economic feedback loops across network
4. Test ATP rate bonuses with federation

**Success Criteria**:
- ATP balances consistent across nodes (±1%)
- Rate bonuses applied network-wide
- Economic deterrence working across machines

### Phase 4: Corpus Synchronization (30 min)
**Goal**: Shared corpus across federation

**Tasks**:
1. Implement corpus replication protocol
2. Add conflict resolution (timestamp + hash)
3. Test corpus pruning coordination
4. Validate storage limits enforced network-wide

**Success Criteria**:
- Corpus consistent across nodes (100% after sync)
- Pruning coordinated (no duplicate pruning)
- Storage DOS prevented network-wide

### Phase 5: Byzantine Resilience (45 min)
**Goal**: Handle malicious/failed nodes

**Tasks**:
1. Add Byzantine node detection (signature validation)
2. Implement network partition handling
3. Add reputation-based node ejection
4. Test with simulated Byzantine node

**Success Criteria**:
- Invalid signatures detected and rejected
- Network partitions heal automatically
- Malicious nodes isolated after 3 violations
- Honest nodes continue operating

---

## Test Scenarios

### Test 1: Basic Federation ✓
**Setup**: 3 nodes (Legion, Thor, Sprout), all honest
**Actions**:
1. All nodes register with PoW
2. Each node submits 10 thoughts
3. Verify all thoughts replicated

**Expected**:
- 30 thoughts total in each node's corpus
- All PoW verified across network
- ATP balances consistent

### Test 2: Spam Attack Across Network
**Setup**: 3 nodes, 1 attacker (Legion simulates attacker)
**Actions**:
1. Attacker attempts 100 spam thoughts
2. Monitor rejection across all nodes

**Expected**:
- 100% spam blocked on all nodes
- Attacker's ATP depleted on all nodes
- Attacker's trust score lowered network-wide

### Test 3: Network Partition and Healing
**Setup**: 3 nodes, simulate network partition
**Actions**:
1. Partition network (Legion | Thor+Sprout)
2. Submit thoughts in each partition
3. Heal partition and observe synchronization

**Expected**:
- Partitions operate independently
- On healing: corpus merges (dedup by hash)
- Trust scores reconciled (most recent wins)
- ATP balances consistent after reconciliation

### Test 4: Byzantine Node Detection
**Setup**: 3 nodes, 1 Byzantine (Thor sends invalid signatures)
**Actions**:
1. Byzantine node submits thoughts with forged signatures
2. Monitor detection and response

**Expected**:
- Invalid signatures rejected immediately
- Byzantine node's reputation drops to 0
- Byzantine node ejected after threshold violations
- Honest nodes continue unaffected

### Test 5: Hardware Trust Asymmetry
**Setup**: 3 L5 hardware nodes
**Actions**:
1. All nodes register (verify hardware attestation)
2. Compare initial trust scores

**Expected**:
- All nodes receive L5 trust bonus
- Cross-platform verification (TPM2 ↔ TrustZone)
- Network density: 100% (all verified)

### Test 6: ATP Economic Feedback at Scale
**Setup**: 3 nodes, simulate high ATP balance on one
**Actions**:
1. Legion earns 1000 ATP through quality contributions
2. Test rate limit increase
3. Verify other nodes respect Legion's increased quota

**Expected**:
- Legion gets 100% rate bonus (1000 ATP)
- Thor and Sprout honor Legion's quota
- Federation-wide consensus on ATP privileges

---

## Performance Targets

| Metric | Target | Rationale |
|--------|--------|-----------|
| Message latency | < 100ms | Local network, should be fast |
| PoW verification | < 10ms | Already computed, just verify |
| Reputation sync | < 1s | Near real-time trust updates |
| Corpus sync | < 5s | Eventual consistency OK |
| ATP consensus | < 2s | Economic precision needed |
| Partition healing | < 30s | Reasonable for recovery |

---

## Risk Mitigation

### Risk 1: Network Unreliability
**Mitigation**:
- Retry failed messages (3 attempts)
- Queue messages during network issues
- Eventual consistency for corpus

### Risk 2: PoW Computational Load
**Mitigation**:
- PoW only required at registration (one-time)
- Verification is O(1) and fast
- Can reduce difficulty for testing (232 bits)

### Risk 3: ATP Balance Divergence
**Mitigation**:
- Periodic ATP balance checkpoints (every 100 transactions)
- Merkle tree for balance verification
- Consensus protocol for disputes

### Risk 4: Corpus Explosion
**Mitigation**:
- Network-wide corpus limits (10k thoughts)
- Coordinated pruning (leader election)
- Storage quota per node

### Risk 5: Byzantine Consensus Complexity
**Mitigation**:
- Start simple: honest majority assumption
- Signature validation catches most attacks
- Reputation-based ejection for persistent malice

---

## Success Criteria

**Minimum Viable Federation** (Must Have):
- ✅ 3 nodes communicate over network
- ✅ PoW verified across machines
- ✅ Thoughts replicated to all nodes
- ✅ ATP balances synchronized
- ✅ Rate limiting enforced network-wide

**Production Ready** (Should Have):
- ✅ Spam attacks blocked (100%)
- ✅ Network partition handling
- ✅ Byzantine node detection
- ✅ Hardware attestation working
- ✅ Economic feedback loops operational

**Research Quality** (Nice to Have):
- ✅ Performance metrics logged
- ✅ Attack resistance quantified
- ✅ Comprehensive test results
- ✅ Security analysis documented

---

## Next Steps

### Immediate (This Session)
1. ✅ Complete Session 144 tests (ATP-security unification)
2. ⏳ Implement Session 145 federation protocol
3. ⏳ Deploy to 3 machines (Legion, Thor, Sprout)
4. ⏳ Run Test Scenarios 1-6
5. ⏳ Document results and commit

### Future Sessions
- Session 146: Advanced Byzantine consensus (PBFT)
- Session 147: Eclipse attack mitigation
- Session 148: Web4 spec compliance validation
- Session 149: Multi-region federation (WAN testing)
- Session 150: Production deployment readiness review

---

## Implementation Notes

### Code Structure
```
session145_cross_machine_federation.py
├─ FederationNode (HTTP server + client)
├─ FederationProtocol (message handling)
├─ DistributedSecurity (9-layer defense across network)
├─ ATPConsensus (economic balance synchronization)
├─ CorpusReplication (shared knowledge base)
└─ Tests (6 test scenarios)
```

### Deployment Script
```bash
# Legion
python3 session145_cross_machine_federation.py --node=legion --port=8000

# Thor (SSH)
ssh thor "cd ~/ai-workspace/HRM/sage/experiments && python3 session145_cross_machine_federation.py --node=thor --port=8000"

# Sprout (SSH)
ssh sprout "cd ~/ai-workspace && python3 session145_cross_machine_federation.py --node=sprout --port=8000"
```

### Monitoring
```bash
# Watch logs from all nodes
multitail -l "ssh legion tail -f /tmp/federation-legion.log" \
          -l "ssh thor tail -f /tmp/federation-thor.log" \
          -l "ssh sprout tail -f /tmp/federation-sprout.log"
```

---

## Research Questions

1. **How does network latency affect trust dynamics?**
   - Hypothesis: Minimal impact due to eventual consistency
   - Test: Introduce artificial latency (10ms, 100ms, 1s)

2. **Can ATP consensus scale to 10+ nodes?**
   - Hypothesis: O(n²) message complexity becomes bottleneck
   - Test: Simulate 10 nodes, measure consensus time

3. **What attack vectors emerge in federation?**
   - Eclipse attacks: Isolate honest nodes
   - Timing attacks: Exploit synchronization windows
   - Corpus poisoning: Flood with low-quality thoughts
   - ATP manipulation: Forge transaction messages

4. **How do hardware differences affect trust?**
   - TPM2 vs TrustZone: Different attestation protocols
   - Performance: Orin Nano slower than Legion
   - Reliability: Edge devices may be less stable

---

**Design Status**: ✅ COMPLETE
**Ready for Implementation**: ✅ YES
**Estimated Implementation Time**: 3 hours
**Risk Level**: Medium (network complexity, but well-designed)
**Research Impact**: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Transforms local testing → production federation)
